Topless is not for Pizza

I talked about crust now we need to top the pizza, if we don't it's just bread (nothing wrong with bread but it's not pizza).  For traditional American pizza you need to start with the red, take your marinara that you made earlier (I just know you are playing along with me here) and take a couple of teaspoons full, dump them in the middle and spread it out to the very edge.  Feel free to add more but do it a little at a time as too much sauce can kill a pizza. 

Next contemplate cheese.  Mozzarella is great for it's melting and browning ability.  Your basic choices are fresh, smoked processed/packaged and processed shredded.  You can slice or shred your cheese if it comes whole (to shred freeze the cheese for about 1/2 to 1 hour to make it easy to shred) or you can just do slices of your chunk.  Don't over cheese you still want to see some red through the cheese or you will end up with a gooey mess that is hard to handle (still tastes good but it is a logistical mess).

Now for other toppings (these can go over or under the cheese it's really your choice).  Since our ovens don't get to 600 degrees like pizza ovens it is always best to pre-cook your home pizza topping with a few exceptions (mainly tomatoes as they will turn to mush under the heat).  I prefer savory combinations usually involving onions.  My all time favorite being onions green peppers and pepperoni.  But onion mushrooms and bacon works great too.  Again don't over top judicial restraint is key to the pizza.

Once you get the crust going there's nothing wrong to do with a pizza, don't like red sauce base?  Use olive oil and spices or carmelized onions, or alfredo sauce.  You can even omit a sauce all together.  Want to use a sauce and toppings and no cheese?  No problem you just can't do it wrong you can only do it so you like it or don't like it.  When you think about it it's like a sandwich, you can put together a combo you don't like but it's still a pizza.