So many of us enjoy making and dining on delicious pizzas but most of us probably don’t think of the important process involved with making and preparing the absolute perfect pizzas including their toppings and crusts.
Choosing Your Toppings
If you have trouble deciding what to put on your pizzas you will be happy to know that there are plenty of ingredients to choose from. The choices for toppings are just about endless as your only limit is your own imagination. Pizzas can have just a few toppings including the sauce and cheese or have several for a rather filling and delicious meal.
Perhaps you crave the traditional type of pizzas made with tomato sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. Alternatively, maybe you want to try something a bit different such as pizzas topped with prosciutto and toasted walnuts. Choosing the toppings for your pizzas can be really fun especially if you are creative and explore the cuisine of various other cultures.
Preparing and Assembling Your Toppings
Once you have decided on the toppings for your pizzas, it is time to prepare and assemble them. Keep in mind that many fresh, raw vegetables have a lot of water in them and cooking them on top of pizzas may result in soggy pies. Some of the prime culprits include mushrooms, olives, onions, peppers, and tomatoes but precooking these and other vegetables before using them on your pizzas will help to greatly reduce moisture content.
Certain meats including the popular pepperoni and sausage can also cause soggy pizzas, as they are rather greasy. Fortunately, you can also cook these meats before adding them to your pizzas and baking in the oven. Also, blot greasy meats with a few paper towels before using them for toppings.
Did you know that the order in which toppings are used on pizzas can have a direct effect on their overall taste? Using the same exact ingredients but placed on the pizza in a different order will result in a totally different product.
For example, if you put all of the cheese on your pizzas before other ingredients such as basil or similar herbs and seasonings the cheeses might not brown properly and the basil will likely burn. However, if you put fresh basil atop the sauce followed by a layer of shredded mozzarella, the basil will not burn and the mozzarella, which is a type of cheese with a relatively low amount of moisture, will brown as it should.
In general, the sauce should go on top of pizzas first, then, most of the cheese followed by the vegetables or meats or whatever toppings you prefer, and then another layer of shredded cheese placed on top just before the baking time is over. You will also want to make sure you spread your sauce all around the pizzas evenly reaching the edges of the dough, which will prevent dry, brittle crusts.
Grilled vegetables make a great accompaniment for homemade pizza. You can even grill the pizza along with the vegetables. You can also put the grilled vegetables on the pizza. Do whatever you want to do with them… they are delicious!
