Frozen pizza is considered a staple in dorms and apartments. They are cheap, accessible, and extremely easy to heat up and eat right away. But do you know how to bake frozen pizza? More importantly, do you know how to make your frozen pizza better and make it like a slice from your favorite pizzeria? Let me show you how it is done.
What is Frozen Pizza?
Before we go through the process on how to bake frozen pizza, we first have to learn what exactly a frozen pizza is. Believe it or not, frozen pizza has existed well back in the 1950s, where the idea for ready-to-cook refrigerated pizzas came to life well after the Second World War. With the goal of creating a solution to the problem with quick-freezing dough that have inconsistent dough texture when cooked, developments for frozen pizzas slowly came to life, and people all over America went gaga over it soon after.
To his day, frozen pizzas are widely available in a variety of grocery stores and supermarkets. While it is much like any processed food that technically lacks nutritional value, frozen pizzas are much like ramen and frozen burritos that are considered an effective and efficient form of sustenance, especially enticing for college students and cheap young professionals. Regardless, the frozen pizza industry continues to grow, and innovations for this product continue to evolve in ways nearly unimaginable.
How and Where to Bake Frozen Pizza
While we immediately associate pizzas with an oven, that may not always be the case for frozen pizzas as people may not always have a conventional oven readily available in their homes. In this case, you would have to find creative ways to cook your frozen pizza properly without the crust burning or the dough still cold on the inside. With that, here’s how to properly bake frozen pizza using alternative ways such using a pan, a microwave, and a grill.
- Pan – It is safe to say that most households have at least one pan available in their homes. With that, here is how to bake frozen pizza using a reliable pan. With a large cast-iron pan, you can cook your frozen pizza by putting half a cup of oil (either olive, canola, or avocado is preferred) onto the pan and simply lay your frozen pizza on it to cook under low to medium heat. Let the pizza cook for about 15 to 20 minutes covered. If you don’t have a cast-iron pan available, you can opt to use a large sheet pan for cooking your frozen pizza. Lay the pan across the two burners and much like above, pour a cup of oil, and spread it evenly on the sheet pan. Place your frozen pizza on top and wait for it to cook for about 20 to 25 minutes. You can keep the sheet pan uncovered, but you have to keep an eye and add more oil whenever it starts to smoke.
- Microwave Oven – Cooking your frozen pizza in a microwave is much easier using a microwave oven. First, let your frozen pizza thaw out until it reaches room temperature. Once completely thawed out, simply put it in the microwave to cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Keep in mind that the time to properly cook your frozen pizza in the microwave would depend highly on the thickness and size of the pizza and the wattage of your microwave oven. Now for 8-9 inch pizzas, you would have to cook it for 4 to 6 minutes; 10-11 inch pizzas, cook it for 5 to 7 minutes; and for 11-12 inch pizzas, you would have to cook for about 7 to 11 minutes. Generally, you can add up to 2 minutes more to make sure that your frozen pizza is cooked all the way through. Also, keep in mind that microwave ovens are not made to brown your pizza in any way and most likely result in a soft or somewhat soggy crust.
- Grill – If you’re out camping and all you have is a grill, don’t be discouraged because there is still a way for you to cook your pizza using a BBQ grill. All you have to do is lay a nice layer of foil brushed with some oil and let your pizza cook covered for about 15 to 20 minutes. Keep in mind to check the grill occasionally just to make sure that your pizza is not burning.
Tips and Tricks to Make Your Frozen Pizza Better
Aside from learning how to bake frozen pizza using a variety of tools, there are also several ways to make your frozen pizza taste so much better and turn it into a homemade pizza of some sort. Just think of it as if the store-bought frozen pizza as a blank canvas where you can add more ingredients and make it your own. With that, here are some tips and tricks that you can try on your next frozen-pizza dinner:
- To make your crust a tad bit crispier, simply cut some holes on the bottom of your frozen pizza using a fork or a knife before putting it in the oven to cook. The holes will serve as ventilation, which lets out more steam that rids of the moisture that makes the crust soft or soggy.
- Don’t be afraid to add more ingredients to your frozen pizza, whether it be a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of cheese, a different kind of sauce, or just more meat and vegetables. The more ingredients you add to the frozen pizza, the more flavors will come out and ultimately make your pizza taste better. Just make sure not to add too much and make your pizza unnecessarily heavy, as it might affect the crust’s consistency.
- If possible, cook your pizza to the highest temperature that your oven can. Most pizza ovens operate withing 700 to 1000 degrees F that contribute to the overall consistency and flavor of the pizza. If you can bake your frozen pizza within the same temperature, the more likely will your pizza has a similar consistency.
Conclusion
Despite being a type of processed food, frozen pizzas remain popular nowadays. Considering this, it is important to know how to bake frozen pizza properly with the tool and equipment available in your homes. Furthermore, knowing about some tips and tricks to make your frozen pizza better will let you enjoy your next box of frozen pizza even more. Here’s how to learn more about baking pizza.