By Charlie Pogacar
By its creator’s definition, Jim Mumford’s Kalamazoo-style pizza isn’t a bona fide style. Not yet, at least.
“I think a couple of things make a pizza style,” Mumford told PMQ Pizza. “One, it has to be made by different pizzerias, and there has to be some sort of common factor—be it the shape, the cheese—whatever it is, [where there’s a] sort of line you can draw through it. I think there also has to be some regionality to it as well.”
The Kalamazoo style hasn’t yet made its way onto any menus in Southwestern Michigan—that’s a point against it—but it’s not lacking in signature traits. Mumford’s quest to create a pizza style in honor of his hometown begs a pair of questions: Can you create a pizza style out of thin air by borrowing from other established styles? And isn’t that how every pizza style comes to be in the first place?
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In 2018, Mumford founded his own blog, Jim Cooks Food Good, to document his adventures as a home chef. His goal was to create delicious food that landed somewhere between healthy and comforting. He was led to pizza during an impromptu road trip and has spent the past several years immersing himself so deeply in the industry that he now co-hosts Pizza Roundtable, a podcast under the Pizza Club umbrella.
Mumford invented Kalamazoo-style pizza when he was working on his new book, “PizzaPedia: Favorite Recipes from Across America,” which became available today, June 24. The book is a chef’s tour of the country’s unique regional pizza styles and teaches readers how to make each one at home. Readers will find the classics—New York-style, Neapolitan-style, Detroit-style and Chicago deep-dish—alongside some lesser-known styles, like New England Greek pizza and Brier Hill pizza.
Mumford, who lives in Kalamazoo—located in Southwestern Michigan, between Detroit and Chicago—wanted to create a style that would “honor…both the region and culture of [Kalamazoo].”
Here’s what Kalamazoo-style pizza entails: The dough is similar to that which you’d use for a tavern-style pie, but it’s spiked with a bit of beer in honor of Kalamazoo’s many craft breweries. The sauce is sweet like a pub-style pie, but the cheese is “akin to the brick cheese we use for traditional Detroits,” Mumford writes in his book. Baked in a pan, the finished pie has Detroit-style “frico” on the outside of its crust.
“What I tried to do is take the best of each world,” Mumford said. “Take the best of Detroit, the best of both Chicago styles, and mash it all together. It’s kind of like making a ‘best of’ album. I didn’t really expect it to work, honestly, but it’s awesome.”
Mumford called it a “perfect homage to Kalamazoo” and “one of the tastiest pies I’ve ever made.” As far as whether or not area pizzerias will put the style on the menu to further legitimize it, Mumford said he’s the only one “formally” making Kalamazoo-style pizza—for now.
“I have spoken with, and shared ideas with, some local chains about bringing the style onto their menus,” Mumford told PMQ. “I’d love to see Kalamazoo-style take ahold in the area, as a pizza-led representation of the cultural vibe of the region.”
Charlie Pogacar is PMQ Pizza’s senior editor.
