It was a family trip to Naples more than 20 years ago that first sparked the Greaney brothers’ interest in Neapolitan-style pizza. “It was the first time we saw authentic pizza in its original form, cooked in the flames of a wood-fired oven. We couldn’t understand how there wasn’t proper Neapolitan pizza in Ireland,” recalls Eugene, one half of the Dough Bros.
Fast forward two decades or so, Eugene had just lost his job in sales and marketing and Ronan was due to finish college. The brothers felt it was the time and opportunity to do something different in Galway. “It became our mission to merge the fundamentals of Neapolitan pizza with the best of Irish produce and to do something that Galway and Ireland could be proud of,” says Eugene.
Ranked 15th best pizza in the world in 2023 and best pizza in Ireland in 2021, 2022 and 2023 consecutively, it’s fair to say the Greaneys have more than achieved that mission. It’s not bad for only 12 years in the game.
So you want to know what makes a good pizza? “Passion and craft. There is no all-in-one solution,” Eugene declares. “When you’re dealing with wood fired ovens in the Neapolitan style, it’s like being a boy scout managing a fire and trying to cook four pizzas perfectly within 90 seconds. But I think ultimately, a pizza is only good as the ingredients that you put on it.”
And thanks to their new collaboration with Simply Better, toppings on pizza is something shoppers have full control over.
Dough Bros make a Hand Stretched Neapolitan Style Pizza Base for Simply Better, using Italian wheat flour, fresh yeast, high quality water, and the dough is slowly fermented – exactly like in the restaurant. Launched in October last year, the pizza bases have already received Two Stars at the Great Taste Awards, but it’s a partnership that has been about three years in the making, the brothers say.
The idea first emerged during COVID-19 when the Dough Bros shifted to pizza kits and shipped them nationwide. “They became insanely popular and successful,” says Ronan. “There was a huge surge in people who were buying pizza bases and making pizza at home. And that hasn’t slowed down. It’s increased post-Covid. There was a gap in the market for a premium offering.
“Simply Better wanted to find somebody who could help them to make a pizza base to service that premium market. We had the product, and we had experience doing it from Covid. But then we also needed to make it come to life.
“We needed to set up a factory, invest in setting up a pizza production facility in Galway, which took about two years. It takes time to get everything ready, for actually ‘being ready’.”
“One thing that really impressed us about the Simply Better team at the start was they said: we want you to make pizza the exact same way you do in your restaurant, we don’t want you to compromise a single thing,” adds Eugene. “We want quality first. We want the best of everything, we want you to go make the best pizza you possibly can.
Dough Bros pictured at their Middle Street restaurant. \ Sean Lydon
“You could sense their passion for wanting to be the very best, and also their care for small producers.”
One of the most rewarding things about now having their own product, Eugene and Ronan say, is seeing social media posts of people making pizza at home. “They’re making pizza with their kids, their partner, their friends, and the quality of pizza looks like they’ve ordered from their Neapolitan restaurant, and it’s incredible value,” says Eugene. “It’s easy to make. It’s fun. To see the quality of pizza, and the fun that they’re having doing it, is immensely satisfying.”
From base to toppings
If you want to make pizza at home, Dough Bros have your base sorted – but we all know that you can’t make Neapolitan style pizzas without a tasty tomato sauce.
To compliment the Simply Better Stonebaked Pizza Bases, Sage Products in Co Cork has developed a new high-quality pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil. Better still, it’s a pizza sauce that also doubles up for cooking with pasta, meat and vegetables.
The pizza sauce is one of a new range of six sauces produced by Sage for Simply Better, which includes Roast Garlic & Pecorino Alfredo, Classic Puttenesca, Roasted Red Pepper Provencale, Rustic Tomato and Nduja & Feta pasta sauce.
“The idea behind the sauces is that they’re multifunctional, versatile sauces,” explains Kevin of Sage Products. “If you don’t have a couple of hours to make tomato-based sauces, this will make your life a little bit easier.”
Kevin is no stranger to the world of sauces (he has a whole range of chilled relishes and dips available as part of the Simply Better range) and he is a fierce advocate for taking the fuss out of cooking. “These new sauces are for somebody looking to have a nice and a fancy evening meal for two people, and at the same time, they’re for a busy family with four hungry kids,” he quips. “There are loads and loads of different variations.”
Kevin Aherne of Sage Products. \ Donal O'Leary
Just like brothers Ronan and Eugene who identified a gap in the market for high-quality pizza bases, Kevin noticed a real lack of fresh stir-in sauces stocked in supermarket shelves. Of course, walk around any supermarket and you can see plenty of non-refrigerated pasta sauces bottled in glass jars, but Kevin wants to create something “fresh using pure ingredients.” Naturally, these stir-in sauces have a shorter shelf life, but that’s the point – they are natural – using “pure ingredients” and “no preservatives or additives”, Kevin explains.
“I think we’re just trying to get the message across as well that they’re not just pizza or pasta sauces,” Kevin continues. “There’s a good range of sauces there that will marry well with a lot of different styles and a lot of different types of dishes.”
Sage have a new range of pasta sauces in partnership with Simply Better. \ Donal O' Leary
Talking through some of those dishes, Kevin recommends pairing the Roast Garlic & Pecorino Alfedo with ravioli, steak or roast chicken. “One thing I always enjoyed growing up was chicken with leek and mushroom,” he recalls. “If you’re sautéing down some leeks and some mushrooms, then adding that sauce into that mix and serving with roast chicken, it’s just absolutely delicious.”
The Classic Puttenesca sauce goes with Rigatoni pasta from the Simply Better range and roast cod, Kevin recommends. “It has got lovely olives and capers and a little bit of anchovy and chilli in
there as well. It’s made using fresh herbs, fresh ingredients all by chefs here in Cork.”
Finally, the Roasted Red Pepper Provencale Sauce, he adds, “marries up with gnocchi, and it’s lovely with grilled courgettes and some lemon zest and some fresh mozzarella cheese.”
Scan the QR code to make delicious Italian-style pizza using new Simply Better range.
Scan the QR code to make delicious Italian-style pizza using new Simply Better range.
It was a family trip to Naples more than 20 years ago that first sparked the Greaney brothers’ interest in Neapolitan-style pizza. “It was the first time we saw authentic pizza in its original form, cooked in the flames of a wood-fired oven. We couldn’t understand how there wasn’t proper Neapolitan pizza in Ireland,” recalls Eugene, one half of the Dough Bros.
Fast forward two decades or so, Eugene had just lost his job in sales and marketing and Ronan was due to finish college. The brothers felt it was the time and opportunity to do something different in Galway. “It became our mission to merge the fundamentals of Neapolitan pizza with the best of Irish produce and to do something that Galway and Ireland could be proud of,” says Eugene.
Ranked 15th best pizza in the world in 2023 and best pizza in Ireland in 2021, 2022 and 2023 consecutively, it’s fair to say the Greaneys have more than achieved that mission. It’s not bad for only 12 years in the game.
So you want to know what makes a good pizza? “Passion and craft. There is no all-in-one solution,” Eugene declares. “When you’re dealing with wood fired ovens in the Neapolitan style, it’s like being a boy scout managing a fire and trying to cook four pizzas perfectly within 90 seconds. But I think ultimately, a pizza is only good as the ingredients that you put on it.”
And thanks to their new collaboration with Simply Better, toppings on pizza is something shoppers have full control over.
Dough Bros make a Hand Stretched Neapolitan Style Pizza Base for Simply Better, using Italian wheat flour, fresh yeast, high quality water, and the dough is slowly fermented – exactly like in the restaurant. Launched in October last year, the pizza bases have already received Two Stars at the Great Taste Awards, but it’s a partnership that has been about three years in the making, the brothers say.
The idea first emerged during COVID-19 when the Dough Bros shifted to pizza kits and shipped them nationwide. “They became insanely popular and successful,” says Ronan. “There was a huge surge in people who were buying pizza bases and making pizza at home. And that hasn’t slowed down. It’s increased post-Covid. There was a gap in the market for a premium offering.
“Simply Better wanted to find somebody who could help them to make a pizza base to service that premium market. We had the product, and we had experience doing it from Covid. But then we also needed to make it come to life.
“We needed to set up a factory, invest in setting up a pizza production facility in Galway, which took about two years. It takes time to get everything ready, for actually ‘being ready’.”
“One thing that really impressed us about the Simply Better team at the start was they said: we want you to make pizza the exact same way you do in your restaurant, we don’t want you to compromise a single thing,” adds Eugene. “We want quality first. We want the best of everything, we want you to go make the best pizza you possibly can.
Dough Bros pictured at their Middle Street restaurant. \ Sean Lydon
“You could sense their passion for wanting to be the very best, and also their care for small producers.”
One of the most rewarding things about now having their own product, Eugene and Ronan say, is seeing social media posts of people making pizza at home. “They’re making pizza with their kids, their partner, their friends, and the quality of pizza looks like they’ve ordered from their Neapolitan restaurant, and it’s incredible value,” says Eugene. “It’s easy to make. It’s fun. To see the quality of pizza, and the fun that they’re having doing it, is immensely satisfying.”
From base to toppings
If you want to make pizza at home, Dough Bros have your base sorted – but we all know that you can’t make Neapolitan style pizzas without a tasty tomato sauce.
To compliment the Simply Better Stonebaked Pizza Bases, Sage Products in Co Cork has developed a new high-quality pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes and basil. Better still, it’s a pizza sauce that also doubles up for cooking with pasta, meat and vegetables.
The pizza sauce is one of a new range of six sauces produced by Sage for Simply Better, which includes Roast Garlic & Pecorino Alfredo, Classic Puttenesca, Roasted Red Pepper Provencale, Rustic Tomato and Nduja & Feta pasta sauce.
“The idea behind the sauces is that they’re multifunctional, versatile sauces,” explains Kevin of Sage Products. “If you don’t have a couple of hours to make tomato-based sauces, this will make your life a little bit easier.”
Kevin is no stranger to the world of sauces (he has a whole range of chilled relishes and dips available as part of the Simply Better range) and he is a fierce advocate for taking the fuss out of cooking. “These new sauces are for somebody looking to have a nice and a fancy evening meal for two people, and at the same time, they’re for a busy family with four hungry kids,” he quips. “There are loads and loads of different variations.”
Kevin Aherne of Sage Products. \ Donal O'Leary
Just like brothers Ronan and Eugene who identified a gap in the market for high-quality pizza bases, Kevin noticed a real lack of fresh stir-in sauces stocked in supermarket shelves. Of course, walk around any supermarket and you can see plenty of non-refrigerated pasta sauces bottled in glass jars, but Kevin wants to create something “fresh using pure ingredients.” Naturally, these stir-in sauces have a shorter shelf life, but that’s the point – they are natural – using “pure ingredients” and “no preservatives or additives”, Kevin explains.
“I think we’re just trying to get the message across as well that they’re not just pizza or pasta sauces,” Kevin continues. “There’s a good range of sauces there that will marry well with a lot of different styles and a lot of different types of dishes.”
Sage have a new range of pasta sauces in partnership with Simply Better. \ Donal O' Leary
Talking through some of those dishes, Kevin recommends pairing the Roast Garlic & Pecorino Alfedo with ravioli, steak or roast chicken. “One thing I always enjoyed growing up was chicken with leek and mushroom,” he recalls. “If you’re sautéing down some leeks and some mushrooms, then adding that sauce into that mix and serving with roast chicken, it’s just absolutely delicious.”
The Classic Puttenesca sauce goes with Rigatoni pasta from the Simply Better range and roast cod, Kevin recommends. “It has got lovely olives and capers and a little bit of anchovy and chilli in
there as well. It’s made using fresh herbs, fresh ingredients all by chefs here in Cork.”
Finally, the Roasted Red Pepper Provencale Sauce, he adds, “marries up with gnocchi, and it’s lovely with grilled courgettes and some lemon zest and some fresh mozzarella cheese.”
Scan the QR code to make delicious Italian-style pizza using new Simply Better range.
Scan the QR code to make delicious Italian-style pizza using new Simply Better range.
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