# Making pizza at home: Is there a way to better bind the toppings to the crust?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 14, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726 "2009-10-14T00:49:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/21 "2009-10-17T02:20:13Z")
You also need to wait a little while before eating, remember that the pizza arrives after sitting for a little while, not so at home
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/22 "2009-10-17T03:47:19Z")
Y’know, by this time next year, there’s going to be a product that looks like a cordless drill, that will literally screw the pepperoni and salami slices down into the dough.
And Vince the Sham-wow guy will be hawking it on late-night television.
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### Author:  [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/23 "2009-10-17T04:18:30Z")
less sauce, non-prebaked skin, and this:
> [@TBG](#):
>
> Cheese after the toppings? HEATHENS!
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### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/24 "2009-10-17T04:42:51Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> Cheese after the toppings? HEATHENS!
Except sausage!
Maybe it’s different if you are using precooked. Bleah!
Also, stay away from the precooked crusts. You can just buy pre-made bread dough and roll it for fine results. You do have to let it rise first.
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### Author:  [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/25 "2009-10-17T07:57:57Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> Cheese after the toppings? HEATHENS!
If you prefer your vegetable ‘toppings’ al-dente instead of floppy and slimy, (I’m not a fan of NY-style, very-thin-sliced green peppers and onions where they just end up tasteless and worm-like, or worse, blackened) chopping them thick and putting them under the cheese leaves them crunchy, preserves the flavor, and adds to the texture of the pie. YMMV.
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/26 "2009-10-17T13:16:56Z")
I’ve been making this exact pizza lately, with the already baked crusts. I agree with using just a little sauce, which is a tough temptation to resist since my main gripe with most pizza is the lack of sauce. Here’s a yummy tip though: buy some jarred pesto and mix it with some of your sauce. The taste is fantastic. I also buy Dei Fratelli tomato products and find them superior to other brands.
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### Author:  [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/27 "2009-10-17T14:26:08Z")
You could try making it deep-dish style, and add the sauce after the toppings. This requires a very thick sauce, but it’s delicious.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/28 "2009-10-17T14:41:28Z")
I have applied sauce in layers of the pizza. Often I’ve put some drizzled on the top.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/29 "2009-10-17T22:33:40Z")
I was just preparing the last two personal pan pepperoni pizza’s from a Little Caeser’s [fundraising pizza kit](http://www.pizzakit.com/lcpk_itk.asp), and they are surprisingly good, which kind of surprised me. But anyways, one thing that I noticed was that the cohesiveness, spread, and lay of the cheese is particularly good on these pizzas and I believe it has to do with the fine grate or shread of their mozzarella. It is not just a normal, medium grate, as you find in most preshredded bags of mozz, rather a very fine and even grate that kind of lays and layers, all over, lightly. I think a fine grated cheese might make for a more cohesive and tasty pizza in general, in most cases.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/30 "2009-10-18T16:41:08Z")
Less sauce, and shredded cheese really did the trick.
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-pizza-at-home-is-there-a-way-to-better-bind-the-toppings-to-the-crust/513726/31 "2009-10-18T17:21:55Z")
You might try moving on to making your own pizza crust. I do it all the time and it’s not a big hassle. It really only involves maybe ten more minutes of actual work than a pre-baked shell, and it will taste better and have less nasty chemicals.
When you get home from work, get a big bowl, throw in the ingredients (after a couple tries you probably won’t even need to measure them- bread is surprisingly forgiving) and spend maybe five minutes kneading the dough. Let it rest a few minutes while you check your email, then roll it out. It doesn’t need to be perfect- I usually just stretch mine out by hand and then pat it down on to the pan.
Watch TV, surf the Dope, make love or go running for a couple hours.
When it comes time to make dinner, your crust will be ready to go. Throw on your toppings, bake, and enjoy a truly home made pizza.
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