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3D printers craft gourmet pizza

In the past, 3D printers have crafted toys and car parts. But now, one company has created the first 3D printed pizza with 80-year old yeast. It is also working on a 3D printing kiosk that can crank out one pizza every 60 seconds.

July 18, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Hold on to your rolling pins, pizza restaurateurs — things are about to get a little weird. That's because today the world's first 3D pizza printing company, BeeHex Inc. announced it has teamed up with Ribalta Neopolitan Restaurant Executive Chef Pasquale Cozzolino to make a 3D printed pie. 

Cozzolino, who also owns the New York City and Atlanta restaurants, is the pizza pro behind the venture, in charge of devising the right dough, sauce and cheese to work in the printer. He is working with a team of people at BeeHex, including Anjan Contractor, to create the best recipes for the futuristic pie-maker and baker.  

The BeeHex group builds systems that solve food production and dispensing problems. The company's pneumatic 3D printing hardware and app-to-order delivery system are bringing big changes to the pizza marketplace. 

How big and how new?

To get an idea of how this type of system might actually change things for pizza lovers and pizza restaurateurs, you need only look at the prep and cook times for the new devices. For instance, the company developmental prototype prints oven-ready pizzas in any shape imaginable in under four minutes. Likewise, BeeHex is developing a 3D food printing kiosk that creates and bakes a pizza every 60 seconds.

It's the kind of instantaneous satisfaction that has led some to compare the technology to the "Replicator" of Star Trek fame and the "Hydrator" of Back to the Future II. Only difference, this machine is not fictional, but very real, just like it's products.

Ironically, the ingredients that Cozzolino has created to be used in the machine are anything but instantaneous. For instance, according to a company news release, Cozzolino created a dough made with a mother yeast that has been aged 80 years. Likewise, the maturation process for that aged concoction takes up to five days. All other products are imported from Italy, including tomatoes grown around the ancient landmark of Mount Vesuvius and mozzarella from the milk of cows in Naples. 

"We are excited to be working with such an inventive and forward-thinking company," said Cozzolino. "I am looking forward to using my experience in the culinary industry to create a pizza that can be 3D-printed without sacrificing quality ingredients and taste."

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.