Ermanno's Places 4th in North American Pizza Competition

If keeps doing what it’s doing, it may one day be selling the best pizza in North America.

No, really.

The owners of Ermanno's — 3159 Whitewood St. NW — competed this past weekend in the North American Pizza and Ice Cream Show in Columbus and placed fourth and eighth in two competitions. That was out of 75 pizza makers in each competition.

The annual show crowns the winning pizza “best pizza in North America.”

“I was hoping for first, but I’ll take fourth,” said Alan Frank, who owns Ermanno’s with his wife, , also a North Canton Patch contributor and member of our .

Frank said the couple made two pizzas, one traditional and one specialty, and they had tweaked their recipes since competing for the first time last year. They had requested the judges’ comments last year in hopes of learning from them and making their pizza even better.

And that’s what they did, Frank said.

They changed a few ingredients, including the sausage. They went from a pre-made sausage to a raw sausage that they add their own seasonings to before cooking. The dough recipe changed a bit, too, and now the bottom of the crust is firmer than before.

Lisa Lynch-Frank also attended the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan, Kan., last year to perfect their dough recipe.

Frank said one of the challenges to making a great pizza during the competition is getting the pizza dough from North Canton to Columbus. Keeping the dough at the right temperature, and in containers that keep out the air, is crucial.

The couple took 12 dough balls on two trays, he said. But what they did with those trays after that, to keep the dough cool, may be something only a pizza shop owner would understand.

“Then we roped them to the roof of our car and drove down with them that way,” Frank said.

Still, that might be more conventional than what others in Columbus did to ensure their dough was fresh, Frank said.

“I know one guy there who mixed it in the hotel room sink,” he said.

The couple placed eighth in the gourmet category and fourth in the traditional category, and they hope to do even better next year. The competition helps them better their product and, in turn, keeps their customers coming back for more.

Frank hopes to compete in another pizza competition next month in Milwaukee, where the first-place winner will win a trip to Rome and become part of the United States Pizza Team, a group of extraordinary pizza makers. (The couple beat six U.S. Pizza Team members this past weekend.)

Another perk to eating at Ermanno's is seeing the business' owners inside, when a lot of other shop owners don’t hang around their businesses.

“It’s a little more comforting seeing us here than a bunch of high school kids making the food,” he said.