The new World Pizza Champion is French - and a woman - Dorothée Leombruni

Think pizza, think Italy - right?

Well think again.

Pizza Margherita (from Wikipedia, author ElfQrin (Valerio Capello)

Yes it might be a traditional Italian dish, but the new World Pizza Champion is....French.

As the regional daily La Provence proudly reports Dorothée Leombruni from the southern French town of Salon-de-Provence "blew the judges away" at the recent championships held in Rome, Italy.

What makes Leombruni's exploits even more extraordinary, says the paper - apart from the fact that the 31-year-old is a woman in what is predominantly man's world - is that she's only been in the pizza business for a couple of years.

In November 2009 she decided a change in direction was needed so she gave up the security of her nine-to-five job, took a course in Italy in how to make pizzas and then returned to Salon-de-Provence to set up shop and "perfect her technique."

Success came pretty quickly as her pizzaria "Stellina Pizza" quickly became a hit with the locals and in 2010 Leombruni was crowned France's pizza champion when she served up "Abruzzo", a pizza whose ingredients were cream of porcini mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and truffle cream.

For the judges in Rome she pulled out all the stops with the appropriately-named "Stella di Mare" consisting of - wait for it - langoustines, black truffles, courgette, cherry tomoto confit and crab bisque.

But if you're hoping to ring Salon-de-Provence in the hope of ordering one, you'll be disappointed as Leombruni explained to the national daily Aujourd'hui en France - Le Parisien.

"Everyone's asking me for it," she told the newspaper.

"But unfortunately it's just too complicated."

Still with over 22 currently on her menu including the Classics such as "Magherita", the Mythical in the form of "Bollywood" (chicken, curry sauce and mozzarella) or Gastronomic for example "Salannaise" (tapanade, tomotoes, mozzarella, mushrooms, aubergines and artichoke hearts) there's pretty much something for every palate.

And prices run from €8.50 to €16 - not bad for something served up by a world champion.