Editorial Chef
Before we dive right in to let you in on how to reheat pizza, we just need to let you know that if you have no way to warm pizza you can eat it as it is.
Pizza is one of those dishes that you can enjoy hot or cold just the same, however hot pizza always trumps cold pizza because it has certain characteristics such as the melting cheese and the crispy crust.
Most people would like to get these characteristics back as cold pizza in mos cases gets a little soggy crust while the cheese loses its stretch.
The Problem With Warming Pizza in a Microwave Oven
Microwave ovens have the tendency to heat things from the inside out. They also have a tendency to overheat certain parts of the dish. This can cause drying out in certain areas while properly heating in others. The other issue with the microwave oven is it tends to make food items that should be crispy and soggy.
Microwaved pizzas tend to end up so soggy that they cannot even support their own weight when picked up to put in the mouth.
The Problem With Reheating Pizza in an Oven
Well, technically there is no real problem when you reheat pizza in an oven. It so happens to be a much better method of reheating pizza. It is not ideal in that you’ve got to get an oven warmed up and that takes time as you salivate.
Ovens tend to heat food top and bottom at the same time. Due to the nature of ovens, you get the same amount of heat on the cheese and topping as well as the base. This poses a problem of the cheese drying out sightly or worse, already cooked toppings ending up burnt or overcooked in the least.
The Perfect Way to Reheat Pizza
Enter the heavy skillet. The ideal way to reheat pizza is to use a thick cast iron skillet. Without adding oil or anything onto the skillet, place it on medium heat place the pizza slices on it, and cover with a lid or aluminum foil. Leave enough space for the steam to escape. The escaping steam will stop the pizza from being soggy.
Because the heat is coming from the bottom, it will reheat the pizza crust enough to turn it crusty without overcooking the toppings and cheese. There will be enough heat to radiate through the entire pizza to warm everything without cooking them further. Best of all you get a crispy crust and the cheese melts and becomes elastic again.
Be sure to heat it for only about five minutes and no more. Enjoy your dish.
