Native Markham resident, Ian Patterson, started to make pizzas from home after losing his job due to the pandemic. What began as a means to feed family and friends has evolved into yet another popular pizza pop-up -- Patterson's Pizza.
Patterson's pizzas are all made from scratch and he specializes specifically in using fermented sourdough for his pizza. The dough takes 72-hours to ferment, which gives it a unique flavour and texture that his loyal customers have been falling in love with. They describe it as a light, airy crumb with a crunchy exterior and fluffy and chewy centre.
Patterson always had a passion for cooking and previously worked for Drake One Fifty at the front of house. He quickly became great friends with the chefs in the back and learned a lot about cooking and food from them.
Patterson uses an outdoor use pizza-oven from Ooni that can use wood, charcoal or gas to cook pizzas in 90 seconds at a temperature exceeding 900ºF. Due to this, he doesn't cut his pies so the cheese and oils can set and not fall into cracks that would make the whole pizza soggy. For the sauce, he uses Bianco DiNapoli Whole Tomatoes that are organically grown in California. Patterson cooks those down for 2-4 hours which adds even more depth and character to the pies.
When Patterson was let go from his restaurant job in 2020 due to new covid lockdown measures, he was finally driven to dive deeper into his passion for pizza making. He first began cooking things like homemade pretzels, mimicking those big soft and salty ones you’d find sold at a baseball game. He then realized he just wanted to make all the foods that he would typically buy when he would eat out.
Patterson started doing pop-ups from his backyard in December of 2020, where he first sold about a dozen or so pies. Slowly, he added delivery days and would bake pizzas all morning and deliver pies to friends and family that afternoon. Since those early days, it’s just been getting busier and busier each weekend as people have been kind enough to share with their friends and family.
Every Wednesday at 3 p.m., he posts his weekly menu on his stories with the pie, sides and beverages menu. He offers pizzas like a Sweet Prosciutto made with ezzo cup, chat pepperoni, mozzarella, pecorino romano and topped with homemade fermented garlic honey. Or you can opt for a White Pie made with Parmigiano-Reggiano, pecorino romano, mozzarella, mascarpone cheese, extra virgin olive oil, cherry tomato and red onions.
For now, pick-ups are in Markham every weekend. To stay posted with Patterson's Pizza, follow them on Instagram.
