Lake Fong, Post-Gazette photo illustration This flatbread-style California Pizza Kitchen Crisp Thin Crust White pizza won hands-down.

By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sometimes frozen pizza is the best you can muster on a busy night. Or maybe you or your spouse or your kids have a craving. Or maybe you need to feed a crowd quickly and the pizza delivery folks are just going to take too long, especially on Super Bowl Sunday.

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette photo illustration Click photo for larger image. Related stories: All the results of the blind taste test Easy homemade pizza Another tasty treat from pizza dough

But while most frozen pizzas cost about the same -- between $6 and $7 for your average pie -- there are huge variations in texture and flavor between various brands, and even between a brand's different versions, as we found out by testing a selection of leading brands purchased at a neighborhood Giant Eagle.

Over two hours on a recent afternoon, 14 members of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features department staff ate 13 pizzas, trying out thin crusts, self-rising crusts and plain cheese pizzas before rising in rebellion against the final category -- supreme pizza -- and declaring they could eat no more. Until then, each was asked to grade each pizza's texture and flavor on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (awesome), for a maximum score of 10.

The results? A dark horse, the flatbread-style California Pizza Kitchen Crispy Thin Crust White pizza, was the surprise winner. Even next to saucier, more mainstream competitors such as DiGiorno, Freschetta and Red Baron, the pizza's fresh taste, multiple cheeses, snappy texture and zesty garlic flavor wowed nine of the 11 participants who completed their survey forms, winning their votes for best pizza overall with 87 out of a possible 110 points.

That pizza also won its thin crust pizza category, of course, while the winner of the self-rising category, DiGiorno Rising Crust Sausage and Pepperoni (76 points), came in second place overall for its good mixture of crispiness and chewiness in the crust, spicy sauce and meaty chunks of sausage.

And while participants were underwhelmed by DiGiorno's Thin Crispy Crust Four Cheese pizza -- "crust lumpy, sauce OK" and "pretty cheesy" were among the most flattering comments -- and awarded it just 57 points, it was judged to be the best of a mediocre lot. (Palate fatigue and rising indigestion might have contributed to the relatively low scores given to all the cheese pizzas.)

Worst of the worst? Sorry, Giant Eagle, the honor is yours: The Giant Eagle Ultimate Rise 4-Cheese -- which looks like the square, plain pizzas we used to eat in elementary school but doesn't taste as good -- was given just 34 points and soundly rejected for its "gummy texture" and "oddly metallic/chemical aftertaste."

Check out the results and comments, plus alternatives if you have a few extra minutes and some frozen dough on hand.