Frozen pizzas are convenient and great to keep in the freezer for when you don’t have time to make pizza from scratch, or don’t want to leave the house. However, we’ve always questioned if we’re picking the best store-bought frozen pizzas. Luckily, we got some tips from an expert, Tony Gemignani, a 13-time World Pizza Champion and chef owner of Tony’s Pizza Napoletan in San Francisco. Gemignani tells us to first check the label on the packaging and peruse the list of ingredients. He explains, “Look for frozen pizzas with fewer additives — avoid dough conditioners in the crust and anti-caking agents like cellulose in the cheese.”
Anti-caking agents are additives used to prevent shredded cheese from clumping or sticking together. Sometimes, the agents are cellulose (or wood pulp) and other times, it’s cornstarch. Anti-caking agents can interfere with how the cheese melts and browns, which is something pizza purists like Gemignani prefer to avoid. And sometimes, cheese lovers even wash their shredded cheese to rid it of anti-caking agents.
When asked if he has a favorite frozen pizza brand, Gemignani states, “I don’t order a ton of frozen pizzas, but I do try to look for ones that don’t have a lot of additives.” Gemignani did not give us a specific brand but we wonder if he’d agree with our list of the 17 frozen pizzas to avoid at all costs at the grocery store.
Read more: 6 Frozen Store-Bought Cheesecakes, Ranked Worst To Best
The simpler the list of ingredients, the better the frozen pizza
Frozen pizza with salami and corn on baking sheet. – Dalax/Getty Images
Tony Gemignani reiterates, “I prefer [frozen pizza] options with clean, simple ingredient lists.” Frozen pizzas with a smaller list of ingredients are also easy to customize at home. For example, if you buy a plain pizza, one that comes with just sauce and cheese, then you can top it with all your favorite ingredients, like freshly chopped onions and peppers.
Aside from adding more toppings, like pepperoni and mushrooms to frozen pizza, cheese lovers can add more cheese. And it doesn’t have to be extra mozzarella cheese. There’s a better cheese to add to frozen pizza if you’re freshly out of mozzarella (spoiler: It’s burrata).
Finally, you can make frozen pizza taste like it was made freshly in a pizzeria if you brush the edges with olive oil or garlic butter before baking, to add a pop of flavor. For an extra pizzeria-style finish, run it under the broiler for a minute or two to get the cheese bubbling and browned.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
