Dough Brothers: Best Pizza in Ireland
My passionate search for great pizza had already taken me across America, through much of Italy, and to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Punta Del Este, Uruguay by 1999. It was in that year that I did a controversial opinion piece about the Best Pizza in the World on America’s National Public Radio. Suffice to say, I have a long history of pizza fanaticism.
But the Covid pandemic has shattered so many of our high ideals.
The lockdown trapped me at home with two teenagers. Armed with their own cell phones and Revolut cards, my hungry progeny embarked on a year-long takeaway frenzy. Boxes upon boxes of substandard pizza slid across my dining room table in a steady procession that slowly eroded my resolve. I doctored slices with crushed red pepper, parmesan, and sausage–I even put them in the oven to make them crisp–but in the end it was still just fast-food pizza.
Last week, I found salvation at Dough Bros Wood-Fired Pizza in Galway. Yes, it’s an hours drive each way from my house in County Clare, but after son Joe and I ate two of their 12 inch pizzas sitting on a bench across the street from the restaurant, we were hooked. We ordered a third pie to take home to my wife and my daughter.
We chose from the menu offerings posted in the restaurant’s front window. The Irish Margherita featured San Marzano tomato sauce and Toonsbridge fior di latte fresh mozzarella. The Posh Pepperoni added sliced sausage, jalapeño and rocket to the Irish Margherita. Joe opted for the weirdly wonderful American Pie with spicy Buffalo chicken, mozzarella, and ranch dressing on a white sauce base.
Other favorites offer your choice of Italian pepperoni or Gubbeen chorizo. There’s a Caesar Salad pizza on the menu too. Experimental pizza toppings are a Dough Brothers trademark–Vietnamese Banh Mi pizza and all manner of chilli-spiked pizzas have been featured in the past.
Passionate pizziolos Eugene and Ronan Greaney started out with a food truck in the Galway farmers market. Their take-away only restaurant is now located on Galway’s Middle St.
Giant sacks of Caputo Flour, imported from Naples, are displayed in the window to advertise the fact that the pizzeria adheres to the strict standards of the Neopolitan pizza tradition. Naples flour mill, Caputo makes some 18 kinds of flour, including their classic Pizzeria flour for long-fermenting doughs, the Pizza A Metro flour for New York style pizza, and 00 Americana flour for artisinal American pizzas.
Dough Brothers was recently ranked the best pizza in Ireland and best takeaway pizza in Europe by 50 Top Pizza, a guide to the best pizzerias in the world. Dough Brothers was also named as the 27th best pizzeria overall, at the 2021 awards ceremony in Milan, Italy.
(In case you’re wondering, Pepe Pizzeria in Paris took this year’s number one ranking as “Best Pizza in the World.”)
50 Top Pizza noted: “During these past 18 months that have been so challenging for the worldwide restaurant sector, two brothers from Galway have transformed the roadblock of the health crisis into an opportunity.
“They never lost courage, but instead perfected their delivery service and even created a kit to make pizza at home. The pizza is baked in a wood-fired oven in their establishment near Galway. They have done a great job. Besides the doughs, their selection of raw materials is always at the highest of standards.
When we get them home, we stick our pizzas in the oven for a few minutes to crisp them up. So I was intrigued to hear about The Dough Brothers DIY Kit--3 of their top quality pizza crusts and your choice of toppings delivered to your door for home assembly.
I intend to keep a steady supply of Dough Brothers pre-baked bases on hand–it could save me a lot of driving.
