What I like to do is to drain the filets well, and then add them just as they are. I begin by painting the dough skin with olive oil, then adding some diced garlic (don’t worry about getting it uniformly distributed over the dough skin), I then add fresh basil leaves (either whole or cut), and then I add the tomato filets. I am not looking for full coverage as you would with a sauce, but rather half to two-thirds coverage, just try to arrange the filets uniformly across the dough skin, for me, I like to add torn pieces of Mozzarella cheese (never diced and seldom shredded) but that’s just me, Dress the pizza as you normally would. I like to finish the pizza with a sprinkling of shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1-ounce on a 12-inch pizza). The tomato filets add a great appearance to the pizza, but nothing tops the flavor they provide. With the summer almost here, try substituiting the tomato filets with slices of fresh, whole tomato. Don’t worry about the variety as they all work well, and no need to peal either. Just slice about 1/8-inch thick, and place onto the dough skin just like I’ve described for the tomato filets. When slicing, be sure to layer with absorbant towels to pick-up any excess juice form the slices.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
