Pizza Today - November 2023 - 39

W
hether you are a full-service
pizzeria or a small slice shop,
getting creative with your
toppings and combinations is a great
way to keep your regulars coming back,
bring in new customers and shake
things up a bit.
When I'm making a new pizza, I
usually start with one specific item
that I want to center the pie around.
After I decide what that is, I go over
its flavor profile in my mind and think
about what it could be paired with,
how different preparations will change
the flavor and texture and how it can
be optimized. Above all, the most
important thing is an overall balance
of the topping combinations. If I
choose something that is salty, I want
to smooth it out with something that
adds creaminess or a hint of sweet. All
of these principals can and should be
applied to all ingredients whether they
are meat, vegetables or sauces.
To me, having different textural
elements (crunchy, chewy and creamy)
on a pizza is a significant aspect of
building a great pie. With this in mind,
there are two ways to go about creating
a fantastic pizza special - using singularly
unique ingredients or preparing
common ingredients in an interesting
way.
The first can be something as simple
as using a standout seasonal vegetable:
heirloom tomatoes in the summer,
delicata squash in the fall, root veggies
in the winter or garlic ramps in
the springs. On the other hand, you
can use ingredients that are unique to
where you are: Spam in Hawaii, lobster
in Maine, Hatch green chile in New
Mexico, or cheese curds in Wisconsin.
My favorite items to add onto pizzas
have big flavor. By that I mean that
they bring a good amount of heat, salt,
acid or more rarely for me, sweetness.
If cornered, I would probably say that
my absolute favorite pizza topping is
roasted jalapeños and there are a fair
amount of these gracing my menu at
any given time. I love their bold intensity,
the slight smoke it gives off and the
fact that you can pair it with everything
from juicy sweets, like fresh peaches, to
tart pickled cauliflower or salty meats.
When I was at Pizza Expo this year, I
made pizzas alongside Lee Hunzinger.
He had made a pepperoni jam so good
it haunted me. I kept thinking about it,
dreaming about it. So, of course I needed
to make my own version. I decided
to center it around the Calabrese salami
that we use at my shop. Naturally I
added in roasted jalapeños then reduced
it with a local Colorado beer to give
it a depth of flavor. Once I had what I
was looking for, I thought about what
would balance out the assertiveness of
the jam. To temper the heat from the
jalapeños I made a base of whole milk
mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Since
there was no fruit in the jam, I finished
it with fresh blackberries and added
crunch with fresh arugula and toasted
pumpkin seeds.
Now onto preparation. Certain
pizza toppings are no brainers when
it comes to preparation while others
require more time and thought. That
being said, you can turn the most common
ingredient into the highlight of
any pizza. Depending on what equipment
you have at your shop, there are
multiple ways to bring out flavors and
textures in produce. Whether you roast,
fry, sauté, blanch, pickle, blend or just
leave veggies raw will determine how
they taste and feel in your mouth and
how they work with other toppings.
You can turn an unassuming leek
into the star of the show with different
cooking techniques. Roasting it creates
an almost creamy flavor. Dusting it in
flour, frying it and sprinkling on sea salt
makes it the perfect crunchy finisher
and pickling it will add a hit of crunch
and acid. Even spinach has multiple
ways that it can be prepared: piled
high as the base of the pie and baked
into the cheese, added post-oven for a
crunchy element or blanched and then
pureed with cheese for a creamy sauce.
Meat is also transformed by how you
cook it and when you add it to your
pizza. Take cured meats. I am usually
partial to adding them post bake since
the beauty of a cured meat is slicing it
thin and letting it melt in your mouth.
There are instances where that rule can
be broken. If you have the ends of prosciutto
to use up feel free to put it on
pre-bake and watch it transform into
salty meat croutons. Sausage, on the
other hand, can taste different just by
its form. If you cook it off as a link and
then slice it, the taste will be texturally
different than pinching it raw from
bulk straight onto the pizza. Other
meats, like chicken, beef or pork can be
marinated, braised, grilled or roasted to
add dramatic flavors to your pies.
The main component of a pizza
can also be the sauce. It's actually
one of my favorite items to create. One
of our most popular pies is an Amatriciana
pizza. I created a sauce that was
my take on the classic Italian amatriciana
pasta sauce, then topped it with
bacon, sweet onions and finished it
with a chili oil. Not very traditional but
it makes an impression and works well
as a cohesive pizza. Pestos are another
great way to bring out bold flavors and
add color. They turn a basic roasted
vegetable pizza or standard pepperoni
into something spectacular. Where you
put the sauce will determine how your
customers taste it. If it's on top, then
it will be the first flavor that hits your
tongue as opposed to under the cheese
where it is a bit more disguised and
blends well with the fatty creaminess of
your chosen dairy.
As you can see, there are endless
combinations of creative pizza toppings.
Once you've decided on your
main ingredient, what you pair it with
is just a matter of balancing it out.
AUDREY KELLY owns Audrey Jane's Pizza
Garage in Boulder, Colorado.
NOVEMBER 2023 / PIZZATODAY.COM / 39
http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - November 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - November 2023
