Tomato sliced whole or sauced on Pizza?

[waitingtocook]

Re: Tomato sliced whole or sauced on Pizza?

I haven't tried whole sliced tomatoes, I generally go the sauce route, however i have used very very finely chopped, deseeded tomatoes. Just cut them into quarters, scoop out the seeds, and dice them super fine, almost salsa type, but finer. It seems to eliminate the skin factor, and allows the tomato to break down easier during cooking. Not something I always do, but seems to work ok the couple of times I have tried it.

[RTflorida]

Re: Tomato sliced whole or sauced on Pizza?

I have had both good and bad experiences with fresh tomatoes. It really depends on the type of tomato. Some have a lot of water/seed pulp, I guess you would call them 'juicy'.
If you don't remove the pulp they will really make things soggy, even sliced very thin.
In general, plum tomatoes are considered more meaty with less water/pulp. A true 'sauce' tomato. San Marzanos seem to be the most flavorful, less acidic, and meaty of all.

Regardless of the type, you must slice fresh tomatoes VERY thin for pizza - you have the water/pulp issue as well as the skin, again depending on the type, you could have stringy, rubbery skins after going through the oven.
I guess the ideal way (they may not look very pretty or artsy) would be to blanch the tomatoes and remove the skins, then slice them thin and carefully pick out the seeds and pulp. Call me lazy, I just have not gone to that much trouble.

RT

[Dino_Pizza]

Does anyone use whole, thinly sliced tomatoes or mostly sauce made from cans of San Marzano's? I've mostly used the cans and made a barely cooked sauce.

I've got a nice crop of end of season tomatoes to use tonight and I plan on no sauce, just the sliced tomatoes.

Do they work better above the cheese or below, on the dough?

Is whole tomatoes DOP allowed or is Pizza Margarita always crushed tomato?

Just curious, maybe I'll do it both ways tonight and see how it goes. -Dino