The Hole-Punch Method For Crunchier Frozen Pizza Crust
There are so many different ways to get your pizza fix these days, from taking the kids out to a local pizzeria or ordering delivery to making one yourself with store-bought ingredients. But sometimes it's just more convenient and cheaper to buy frozen pizzas from the supermarket. The choices are endless these days, including DiGiorno, Freschetta, Red Baron, Tombstone, Totino's, and, of course, store brands, which can vary in quality and price depending on where you shop.
While frozen pizza can still be tasty, one area where it typically lags behind restaurants and homemade is in the crust department. When compared to pizza dough made from scratch, frozen pizza contains excess water, which can lead to a soggy, softer crust. However, there is a simple hack that can help you fix this problem, resulting in a crunchier, more appetizing frozen pizza: the hole-punch method.
'Let off some steam'
Despite how it may sound, you're not literally taking a hole puncher to your pizza crust like it's a piece of paper that you need to clamp into a binder; instead, you're going to use a knife or fork to pierce the dough, allowing the pizza to release more steam as it cooks.
To do so, turn your frozen pizza over and remove the plastic wrap from the crust side only, leaving the top (now the bottom, since you flipped it over) covered to keep the toppings in place. Next, grab a fork or paring knife and punch holes in the crust, and you're ready to go! Now that crust will be vented and the steam can be released, giving you a more satisfying, crunchier bite. This approach is especially helpful for thicker, pan-style crusts, which are more prone to becoming soggy than thinner-crust pizzas.
In addition to the hole punch tip, you can crank up that oven to 500 degrees and give it time to preheat. Chef Amy Riolo explained to Insider this will help frozen pizza crisp up properly.