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Whereas I am an enormous fan of chilly pizza, I oftentimes discover myself wistfully desirous to relive the glory of the contemporary pie. Understanding that it is not possible to roll the clock backward on a pizza—which begins its decline virtually instantly after popping out of the oven—I’ve by no means given a lot thought to finding out whether or not there was a great technique to go about reheating chilly pizza. I’ve simply assumed that the perfect you might do was throw it right into a scorching oven till it is heated by way of, and resign your self to the truth that the crust on a reheated slice by no means approaches the feel of a freshly-baked one. Whereas the oven can restore to a slice a number of the crispness and pliability it had when contemporary, it does so on the expense of a lot of the moisture it contained. A reheated slice, regardless of how tasty, is inevitably crisper, drier, and firmer than it had been initially, since some proportion of the water it contained has been pushed off within the course of. Now for individuals who can afford to splurge on steam-injection options, the Balmuda toaster can work wonders in reviving stale pizza — however there are different strategies.
Griddle Me This: The Advantages of Griddling Pizza
However I’ve lately discovered a greater technique, one which minimizes this moisture loss as a lot as doable. I stumbled upon solely by chance, when someday I might determined I did not wish to waste the time to fireplace up my whole oven to reheat a number of measly slices. Missing a toaster oven—the usual weapon of selection for reheating pizza slices—I made a decision to attempt heating up my slices on the (little-used) griddle I’ve on my range, putting them beneath the chrome steel cowl that’s meant to cover it away when not in use.
Doing so, I assumed, would warmth the slices way more rapidly and effectively than the oven, and the duvet would create a shallow oven-like house, permitting them to be heated by way of fully and never merely from beneath. However I used to be so hungry on the time, I made a decision I could not wait even lengthy sufficient for the griddle to warmth up. As a substitute, I simply threw the slices onto the chilly griddle, coated it, and turned it on. For the reason that slices could be sitting so near the gasoline burner itself, I didn’t wish to scorch or overcook them, so I set the griddle to its lowest temperature (200°F).
“Whereas these slices had been nonetheless not fairly nearly as good as they’d been when contemporary—they remained a contact extra crisp and barely drier—they’d a far more energizing texture than I had skilled ever earlier than in a reheated slice.”
About thirty minutes later, what emerged from beneath the duvet was a puff of steam, together with my slices, now fully remodeled. As a substitute of the stiff, barely warped slices they’d been when chilly, they had been flat as soon as once more, and the cheese on them was gooey and shiny. And with one chew, I knew I used to be onto one thing. Whereas these slices had been nonetheless not fairly nearly as good as they’d been when contemporary—they remained a contact extra crisp and barely drier—they’d a far more energizing texture than I had skilled ever earlier than in a reheated slice. The crust was delicate within the inside and crisp on the underside, the cheese absolutely melted, and the toppings supple and scorching.
The following few instances I had leftover pizza with which to experiment, I performed round with the strategy to ensure I understood the method. I knew that the moisture- and heat-trapping cowl was important, however wasn’t certain concerning the heating technique itself. I attempted putting the slices onto a preheated griddle, however that solely served to over-crisp and dry out the slices, leaving them stiff as planks. As did beginning out with a chilly griddle set to the next temperature. In the long run, I decided that the three important components of the strategy had been ranging from chilly, protecting the griddle, and heating the slices at a temperature beneath the boiling level of water (212°F).
Retrogradation
To make sense of why this technique labored so nicely, it is vital to know what occurs to the crust as soon as a slice of pizza begins its inevitable post-bake decline. It would not merely flip stiff as a result of it is chilly, it really stales, similar to a loaf of bread does over time.
Staling, or retrogradation, is the method by which the starches within the bread launch the water they include into the encircling areas and agency up*. As long as the water launched by the starches stays within the surrounding gluten, the staling course of might be partially reversed by reheating the bread above 140°F, the temperature at which wheat starches take in water and gelatinize (e.g., develop into delicate and pliable). This is the reason toasting {a partially} stale slice of bread can restore softness to its inside.
But when the water launched by the starches escapes from the bread, both by way of gradual evaporation, or quickly, when it’s heated above the boiling level (212°F), the starches will not have water to reabsorb, and all hope is misplaced.
“You wish to warmth it to above the gelatinization level, however beneath the purpose that the moisture shall be pushed off.”
So what this implies is that to get the absolute best reheated pizza slice, you wish to warmth it to above the gelatinization level, however beneath the purpose that the moisture shall be pushed off. A slice of pizza positioned right into a scorching oven acts like a slice of bread in a toaster: the outside (together with the cheese and toppings) quickly heats up, loses water, and hardens. Solely the very inside of the slice retains sufficient water to re-gelatinize. When as a substitute heated gently on a coated griddle, the slice is slowly and uniformly introduced as much as the gelatinization level, and solely a small quantity of water is misplaced to evaporation, principally on the one place you really need it to occur: the underside crust. Reheating the slice in a small, enclosed house additional helps to reduce the quantity of water that’s misplaced in the course of the course of, and the trapped moisture—which escaped within the puff of steam that I noticed once I eliminated the griddle cowl—really helps to melt the cheese and toppings.
So does this imply you might be S.O.L. if you do not have a griddle on which to reheat your pizza? Fortunately, no. The tactic works simply as nicely in a coated skillet, ideally one which has a tight-fitting lid and is as shallow as doable, to reduce the quantity of water that’s misplaced as steam. The one limitation to the skillet technique is that you may solely reheat at most two or three slices at one time.
*Retrogradation occurs most quickly at temperatures simply above freezing, which is why you might be higher off leaving leftover pizza in your countertop and ending it off earlier than it has an opportunity to spoil, fairly than refrigerating it.