[Photograph: Pizza Hut]
If you're generally outraged by Pizza Hut's continued riffs on pizza crust, you might enjoy hearing that the company is taking a bare-bones approach and rolling out a line of Firebaked Style Flatbread Pizzas.* Or, you might, you know...not.
*What, you ask is "firebaked" style? Honestly, we're not remotely sure. Connoisseurs of misleading pizza terminology are encouraged to speculate.
The announcement follows close on the heels of more outlandish creations, like Pizza Hut Canada's recently released Cheesy Beef Poutine and Creamy Butter Chicken pies. Clearly geared toward customers disinterested in such far-fetched experiments, the flatbreads "can be topped three different ways with up to three toppings each," and come six to a box for $11.99. Considering that the Hut has continuously tried to push the crust boundaries to their absolute limit, forging new, often questionably successful, frontiers in the art of pizza edges, this latest development verges on boringly simple.
For those pizza fanatics who want their every morsel to push the envelope, regardless of negative health effects, the chain offers more than its fair share of options. But healthy fast food is in right now, and the company seems to be taking note. Kurt Kane, Chief Marketing Officer of the chain, notes, "We wanted to give our fans a lighter crust experience." Looks like Pizza Hut's ready to join the fast food industry's quest to appeal to more health- and weight-conscious consumers. Oh, and yes, we'll be giving this guy a try sometime soon, so stay tuned!
About the authors: Sam Bresnick is a Serious Eats intern, rising junior at Brown University, and dumpling addict. Niki Achitoff-Gray is the Associate Editor of Serious Eats and a part-time student at the Institute of Culinary Education.