How Tin Plate Became the Best Pizza in Breckenridge with Unique Ingredients

In May of 2020, owner James Harris and his wife envisioned Tin Plate with one goal in mind: serve the most unique and best pizza in Breckenridge, Colorado. Working with amazing staff and local vendors, it became clear that to serve the best pizza, it would require the best ingredients and the best processes: flour from Moxie Bread Company, 24-hour cultured butter, 12-hour braised buffalo short ribs, and Gluten Free pizza crust from a family owned bakery in Denver. All of these elements and planning came to fruition one year later in June of 2021 when Tin Plate opened its doors to rave reviews declaring the best pizza in Breckenridge had been found, proclaimed by writers from Forbes Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Hemispheres Magazine, and Travel + Leisure among others.

Family Owned with One Reputation

Tin Plate is an amazing family owned and operated pizza restaurant in Breckenridge, Colorado. Started by husband and wife duo, James and Meagan Harris, Tin Plate has quickly become known for having the best pizza in Breckenridge. Even before Tin Plate opened in Breckenridge, pizza was a weekly ritual for James, Meagan, and their newborn daughters.

When they decided to return to Colorado and raise their family in Breckenridge, pizza with unique topping combinations was one thing they missed from their time in New York. In June of 2020 the 138-year-old mining cabin that is now Tin Plate became available. Working with local contractor Randy Kilgore and Janet Sutterley, James’ vision to open the best pizza place in Breckenridge quickly became a reality.

With starting a restaurant from the ground up, James knew that reinforcing restaurant stereotypes was far from the goal of Tin Plate. Coming from a background of corporate culture where mutual respect and staff appreciation reigned, James envisioned a restaurant where the same principles came first. At a time when staff hiring was harder than ever, especially for a Breck pizza place, this foundation of an employees-first attitude helped build the culture that has been maintained since their first hire.

With that, less than a year after Tin Plate was little more than a dream, Drisana Litke was hired as the first employee and General Manager of Tin Plate. Under her and James’ tutelage, Tin Plate has become a fixture in the community serving the best pizza in Breckenridge, Colorado. Two years into the business and James along with the rest of the Tin Plate staff still stand by their company mantra: we all have one reputation.

The Best Pizza has the Best Dough

Tin Plate spends days perfecting each batch of sourdough pizza dough to ensure we have the foundation for the best pizza and bread. Starting at 5 am, we begin our day mixing the freshly milled heirloom wheat flours from Moxie Bread Company with our six-year-old sourdough starter. Using Giusto flour to provide strength and add incredible flavor to the dough, we take our time to develop strong gluten strands. This allows us to use as much whole wheat in the dough as we can.

With hands on stretching and folding every 30 minutes, we take our time to optimize the temperature and bulk proofing conditions for the dough. Five hours later, our dough is proofed with the start to its sourdough tang. At this point, we painstakingly cut, weigh and shape our dough balls, beginning a 72-hour cold fermentation process that takes our pizza from good to the best pizza in Breckenridge.

About 15 hours after we’ve woken up to start our dough mixing, after we’ve done everything we can to perfect the dough along this journey, the cold fermentation process begins. 44 sheet trays go into refrigerators, eight doughs to a tray. These dough balls remain in the refrigerator to further develop notes of sourdough tang, providing us a flavor and a foundation that only time can provide.

When it is time to make our pizza, we use our cold dough directly from the refrigerator. By stretching cold dough, we are able to cook at a higher temperature to increase oven spring, reduce burning, and add a great crisp, open crumb. With our unique toppings like Roasted Pineapple Sauce with Pancetta, or the popular winter seasonal Fig and Prosciutto, or summer seasonal Peach and Prosciutto, we are always pushing the boundaries of artisan pizza. When the base of our pizza, our sourdough crust, is engineered to be perfect every time, it leads to great success for developing new creative flavor combinations. This long detailed process is just the start to the best pizza in Breckenridge.

Start From Scratch for the Best Pizza

Just as we have pride in the time we take to perfect our dough, we take pride in making nearly everything from scratch, from our house made mozzarella to our 12-hour braised buffalo short ribs. Shortly after Drisana was hired, we brought on our Director of Kitchen Operations, Tom Candlin. With his creative concepts and attention to detail, we’ve had great success in adding new favorites to our menu, as well as building a tremendous, dedicated team.

A lot of our success in the kitchen is directly related to the pride our staff feel for the work they do. When we make nearly everything ourselves, the end product is undoubtedly ours, as is the pride that we have and feel when our customers extend their compliments. As our staff know first hand: Good pizza takes time. The best pizza takes time and quality ingredients.

The process starts with our vendors driving up the hill from Denver; Colorado peaches during the summer, butternut squash in the winter, buffalo short ribs from a Colorado ranch year-round. Our pepperoni arrives from a family that has been producing Italian meats and pepperoni in the United States for over 100 years. Our sausage is seasoned in house with a proprietary blend of spices. Our amazing gluten-free crust is delivered from a family owned gluten-free bakery in Denver. Our beef, if not Wagyu, is 30-day dry aged.

Timing wise, we culture our own butter for 24-hours, churning it ourselves, and using the leftover buttermilk for our house made ranch dressing. Our house bread and slider buns are made to order, as is the flank steak for our flank steak sliders and specialty pizzas. Our short ribs are braised for 12 hours and even our lemon chicken breasts are marinated for 12 hours.

The attention to detail The best pizza takes time, and we make sure not to rush the process, especially with the quality ingredients we receive from our fresh produce suppliers.

Upholding a Reputation Built on Strategic Intent

When Tin Plate and the dream of serving the best Breckenridge, Colorado pizza was in its infancy, James and Meagan spent long nights testing and discussing the various elements of service, menu design, and company culture. Soon Drisana joined the team followed by Tom, our Director of Kitchen Operations. With their input, those conversations proved instrumental to identifying exactly what Tin Plate stands for today. Quality ingredients. Staff recognition and respect. No shortcuts.

We only have one reputation and we take that element of our business seriously. We strive to welcome all guests with the best service experience along with the best pizza in Breckenridge, CO.

We invite you to visit us and try all that we do for yourself.