Whether is be homemade pizza or adding topping to the self-rising frozen pizza we love adding meats and veggies. We often have tomatoes at hand. I slice them thin and lay them on a paper towel and add them to pizza... Then 30 mins later I have a pizza with wet tomato puddles on top. What can I do?
Note: Is there also a "best" tomato for pizzas and any moisture/tomato seasoning tips?
Your best bet is to oven dry your tomatoes a bit. This will remove some of the moisture which will mean no puddles on your pizza and more intense tomato flavor. Slice your tomatoes as you would like them, then put them on a baking sheet. Bake them on the lowest possible temperature, opening the oven door every 10 minutes to let the moisture out. How long to do this depends on the type of tomato (ie it's moisture content) and how thick the slices are, you'll know when you're there when the pieces firm up a bit.
If I want to top a pizza with tomatoes, I generally only add them in the last two minutes of baking. The texture retains some character and they get warm to hot in that amount of time. Basically I just take the pizza out a minute or two before I expect the pizza to be fully cooked, top the pizza with sliced or chopped tomatoes, and stick it back in briefly.
Alternatively, if you don't mind the tomatoes being lukewarm or colder, you can slice them and add them just after baking is complete and serve. If I have particularly good quality tomatoes, I'll typically skip cooking them.
Like JasonTrue, I add tomato slices at the very end, but generally I broil the tomatoes for the last two minutes in order to zap out moisture quickly. This also works for premade pizzas ordered in.
