There’s nothing worse than an unhappy gut. Just ask Alex Corsini, the founder of Alex’s Awesome Sourdough. Several years back, Corsini developed food-related autoimmune symptoms, which led him to question what he ate. After cutting traditional bread from his diet, Corsini started feeling better. But he still loved bread. So, he shifted to eating sourdough with its gut-friendly properties that feed “good” bacteria in your intestines and is lower in gluten and easier to digest.
Corsini also decided to leave a career in the tech industry, complete an apprenticeship at a Michelin-star restaurant and go on to create and launch Alex’s Awesome Sourdough, the first-ever USDA-organic sourdough-based frozen pizza made with 100-percent grass-fed cheese and non-GMO ingredients. We caught up with Corsini to learn more.
Try Alex’s Awesome Sourdough Organic Mozzarella Sourdough Pizza
LN: How did you come up with the idea for your line of pizzas?
Alex Corsini: I developed a wheat sensitivity out of the blue in 2017 and had stomach pains and skin inflammation as a result of eating modern (i.e., conventional) wheat products. Based on a recommendation, I began eating sourdough (a naturally fermented wheat product) and felt great without any negative symptoms. After researching the well-documented health benefits of sourdough, I wanted to build a platform showcasing its unique taste and health advantages.
LN: Tell us about your choice of ingredients.
AC: We meticulously source our ingredients to ensure each supplier lives up to our standards of environmental stewardship and our ethos of being organic and clean label.
LN: Why sourdough crust?
AC: Sourdough is a unique dough that shares a fermentation process similar to health foods like yogurt and kombucha. Similarly, sourdough involves “gut-friendly” lactic acid bacteria, which results in a dough that is more bioavailable in nutrients and easier to digest for many folks like myself.
LN: Why grass-fed cheese?
AC: Simply, it’s better for cows, better for the soil and better for human health. Grass-fed cows contribute to environmental health by regenerating the soil by fertilizing the soil while they eat. Additionally, grass is higher in healthy omega fatty acids and other beneficial nutrients than alternative feed sources, so when cows eat grass it results in more nutrient-dense cheese.
Alex’s Awesome Sourdough Pizza comes in a variety of delicious flavors.
LN: How did you decide on which organic tomatoes to use?
AC: This was an easy decision as DiNapoli grows the best organic tomatoes in the country and even the top pizzerias in America use them. Secondly, they are a small family-run business with lots of passion and integrity.
LN: You incorporate “proofing” in your cooking process. What the heck does this mean and why is it important?
AC: Proofing is part of the fermentation process when yeast creates air bubbles in the dough and lactic acid bacteria creates delicious flavor complexity. The later process is unique to sourdough only. While the average pizza company ferments their dough for only one hour, we ferment our dough overnight for up to 16 hours. This sourdough process results in a much more artisan pizza and is the traditional way of making pizza back in Italy hundreds of years ago.
LN: Was it hard to produce a pizza that is USDA Organic and non-GMO?
AC: It’s hard to offer such a premium pizza at an affordable price, but we feel as though we offer great value today and we are thrilled to be the cleanest label pizza on the market.
LN: Any new products coming out? If yes, tell us more!
AC: We have some delicious innovation on the horizon! Stay tuned on our website or follow us on Instagram at awesomesourdough.