Do you know how to reheat pizza in oven?
Photo by Engin Akyurt from Pexels
Reheating pizza using an oven is a walk in the park.
Or is it?
Anyone who can use an oven, in theory, can successfully reheat pizza. We can all agree on that. But not everybody likes their pizza simply heated. There’s a lot more to reheating pizza than just getting it back to a temperature where it can be enjoyable for anyone.
It requires technique.
People have different methods for it, and it’s not because pizza lovers, in general, like to complicate things. Whether you’d like to accept it or not, most pizza lovers are in a continuous quest of finding ways to get leftover pizza back to how it was on day one.
In this article, we’re going to show you the best ways on how to reheat your pizza using an oven, and since you’re reading up to this point, we’d take it that you’re one of those pizza lovers, just like us, who wants to take reheating leftover pizza seriously, so that you can enjoy the fantastic staple food that most of us have come to love.
But before we get to that, kindly let us tell you some other things about pizza that will make this read much more useful to you.
How to store your leftover pizza
The way you store your leftover pizza is an essential factor that determines whether you can get your pizza back to its original form or not. Although this method isn’t actually super-secret, we recognize that there are a lot of people that just simply toss their leftover pizza in the fridge, then get frustrated just because they couldn’t get it back to its enticing form even after several reheating attempts.
The best way to store your leftover pizza (as we’ve found out the hard way), is to use paper towels and line them up on either a plate or a Tupperware, then put the pizza slices layer by layer. Just to make sure you got it, let’s say you’ve got five slices of leftover pizza, you’d have to line a plate or a Tupperware with paper towels (any brand will do), then put one slice. After that, cover that slice with paper towels and put another slice of leftover pizza on top it.
Repeat the process until you store all your leftover pizza, then cover the whole thing with plastic wrap.
It might seem like quite an arduous task, but trust us when we say that this storage technique guarantees maximum freshness.
Whether you want to do this storage method or not is entirely up to you. But don’t go around saying we haven’t taught you about this when the time comes that you get frustrated about how your leftover pizza turned soggy after reheating.
The best way to reheat pizza in an oven
And now, we’ve come to the best part!
We’d like to remind you to pay close attention and read this section CAREFULLY. We understand that you’re serious about learning a reheating method that will solve your leftover pizza problems, but we don’t want you to get over-excited and miss the crucial parts. Also, this is a SUPER SECRET technique that we’ve learned from years of trying to find out about a reheating method that actually works, so don’t merely share it with your friends over coffee.
Have them read this article to make sure they’ll perfect it like we know you will when you’re finished reading this!
So, here goes:
First things first, if you have some money to spare, we suggest that you use only the best electric oven for baking to reheat your leftover pizza, especially if the one you own is quite old or uses an outdated heating technology. The most common mistake people make is reheating leftover pizza using a microwave. Although they can be somewhat effective when we’re talking about reheating in general, microwaves actually turn pizza soggy and only a few people like their pizza that way.
This is precisely the reason why we recommend you to use an oven.
Now, if you’re ready:
The first thing you want to do is to place the leftover pizza slices on a rimmed baking sheet. If you’re fond of baking and you want to use a silicone baking mat, then that’s fine. Next, you’ll have to cover the baking sheet firmly with aluminum foil. Once you’re done with that, place the whole thing on the lowest rack of a cold oven. That’s right, you’d have to preheat your oven to around 200°F, and that’s what’s cool oven temperature.
After you place the pizza on the cold oven, set the temperature to 275°F and leave the pizza for about 25 to 30 minutes.
This method ensures that the interior of the crust remains soft, and the whole pizza, including the toppings hot and crisp, but not dehydrated. And of course, the pizza will surely retain its melty cheese.
Why does this technique work, and how?
Pizza crust, like other bread stored away for the day, starts to harden not because of it losing moisture, but because it retrogrades. It’s a process where the starch molecules crystallize and start to absorb moisture, which then makes the pizza crust appear dry and stiff.
Right. Science folks.
Retrogradation, however, can be reversed temporarily with the help of a proper storage technique that involves wrapping the leftover pizza firmly (like what we told you above), and reheating the pizza to at least between 140°F and 200°F. This is the range of temperature where the crystallized starch breaks down and let go of the trapped moisture, softening the crust.
The cold oven temperature lets the pizza slices warm up gradually, giving them ample time to release the trapped moisture and allow the crusts to soften.
Also, tightly sealing the baking sheet helps keep the pizza slices from drying out while being reheated, and lastly, placing the baking sheet on the lowest part of the oven ensures that the pizza slices are heated from the bottom up, while allowing the underside of their crusts crisp and making sure the toppings don’t shrivel up.