Best order to put on toppings??? Help?!?

[pizzaoven dot com]

I am trying write about  a preferred method of how to place toppings. Is there a common method that everyone uses?  My knowledge is basic of sauce on crust, meat (onion), veggies, then cheese. Is there a reasoning behind this? Share your thoughts?? I think I have a common sense grasp on this but want to hear how you guys top your pies and why.

[buceriasdon]

The answer is: it depends. Some styles of pizza do call out for cheese to be the last topping applied. Some have sauce over the cheese. There are some styles where cheese last would be completly wrong. Some toppings would turn a pie into an uncooked soggy greasy mess if cheese was last. The most popular styles posted here on the forum don't place cheese over other toppings.
Don

[Pete-zza]

It also depends on whether one is talking about pizzas baked in a home oven or professionally in a commercial oven, including conveyor ovens. Most of the big pizza chains have visual aids at the pizza assembly station to tell workers how much toppings to use for the different pizza sizes and the order in which the toppings should be placed on the pizzas. Those aids are not the same for all chains.

Veggies are usually a problem because of their high water content that can lead to swamp pizza if the veggies do not get enough top heat. Using the convection feature in a home oven helps but not all home ovens have that feature. In a commercial setting, I understand that impingement ovens do a very good job with veggies.

Peter

[SinoChef]

I am currently using my own crumble beef, and pork sausage. This has to go on after the sauce, and before the cheese. My pizza peels have about a 2 inch handle on them, and I can literally not pull them out quick enough to avoid the crumble bits to roll off.

Veg and pepperoni always go on top for aesthetics. Veg is a super tiny mince. and pepperoni, every one loves it charred.

[pizzaoven dot com]

It also depends on whether one is talking about pizzas baked in a home oven or professionally in a commercial oven, including conveyor ovens. Most of the big pizza chains have visual aids at the pizza assembly station to tell workers how much toppings to use for the different pizza sizes and the order in which the toppings should be placed on the pizzas. Those aids are not the same for all chains.

Veggies are usually a problem because of their high water content that can lead to swamp pizza if the veggies do not get enough top heat. Using the convection feature in a home oven helps but not all home ovens have that feature. In a commercial setting, I understand that impingement ovens do a very good job with veggies.

Peter

Ahh the oven! I never even took that into consideration. I guess it would vary on how the heat flows to the pizza. Great tip!

[Giggliato]

Yes it depends. Although I think we can all agree on some things, Spinach under the cheese for one. I used to press raw bacon into the dough when I made thicker crust pizzas.

[mkevenson]

As a cook and not an experienced pizza maker, I think that presentation is an important factor. How does it LOOK when served? All other previous replys are excellent considerations . For example, if I want RED to stand out on my pizza, I might use small thin slices of red bell pepper, and not cover the color with cheese. It has been my current practice to design the pizza toppings in such a way that they all appear when served. Chunks of cheese instead of grated adds to this display . Of course I have so much to learn! Good topic.

Mark

[pizzaoven dot com]

As a cook and not an experienced pizza maker, I think that presentation is an important factor. How does it LOOK when served? All other previous replys are excellent considerations . For example, if I want RED to stand out on my pizza, I might use small thin slices of red bell pepper, and not cover the color with cheese. It has been my current practice to design the pizza toppings in such a way that they all appear when served. Chunks of cheese instead of grated adds to this display . Of course I have so much to learn! Good topic.

Mark

Presentation is important, however, with some pizza I think that creating a pizza that taste great is important. Having chunks of cheese does look good. The cheese acts as a bonding agent on some pies holding all the other toppings in place. If you have a saucy pie then you will want to have that cheese all over so when slicing and serving, as well as, eating you do not having toppings falling all over the place.
I will agree that red does pop out on a pie! I love when pizza creators take color into consideration when picking toppings.

[TXCraig1]

I would say that presentation and taste are both very important. In my opinion, too much toppings is the main cause of toppings falling all over the place.

CL

[Chicago Bob]

I don't know if this is true for all of Italy but in the area where I vacation at each different pizzaiolo has a "signature" to the way he "decorates" his pies....you can tell which restaurant a pizza came from by the way it is topped.

[The Dough Doctor]

To add even more confusion, the common sense approach says to add any uncooked meats to the pizza last, so they have greatest exposure to the oven heat and are assured of being thoroughly cooked on the pizza, with that said, when making a Chicago style deep-dish pizza, the raw sausage goes on the bottom of the pizza, but it is thoroughly cooked due to the extraordinarily long baking time of these pizzas (about 50-minutes). The Chicago thin crust pizzas are also dressed differently with the cheese being put on last. Like Peter said, this results in a very soggy finished pizza as the melting cheese traps all that moisture under it, but again, this pizza is given a long baking time too, normally around 30-minutes. Most, if not all of the big box chains follow food safety practices of using nothing but pre-cooked meat toppings (due to the possibility of cross contamination, and the fact that they just need to be heated to above 160F to be safely served), and they like to keep the meat close to the top of the pizza to ensure thorough reheating/cooking.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

[pizzablogger]

There is no one way to do it.

The first pizzas made in America put cheese on first, then sauce over the top. This is still the method used at Totonno's in Coney Island, one of the oldest pizzerias in America. Of course now most pizzerias put sauce down first then cheese.

Cheese added last over the toppings is not something you will see much of. --K

[TXCraig1]

Cheese added last over the toppings is not something you will see much of. --K

For good reason.

[buceriasdon]

+1