Small buds or larger caper berries?
The usual small capers are preserved flower buds. Caper berries are the larger fruits, often sold with a stem. Both are edible, but the same number of each is not an interchangeable pizza topping. Small buds are easier to distribute between sauce and cheese.
Also check whether the product is packed in vinegar, brine or dry salt. These choices affect acidity and saltiness. A recipe quantity should refer to prepared capers; the total weight of a jar also includes its liquid or packing salt.
Prepare them before topping the dough
Drain capers packed in vinegar or brine in a small sieve. If they taste very salty or sharply acidic, rinse briefly with water and dry well afterwards. Use a clean utensil for tasting and do not return tasted pieces to the jar.
For salt-packed capers, rinse away the salt adhering to them. Follow the packet if it calls for additional soaking, then drain and dry. Salty preserving liquid is not a neutral replacement for tomato sauce and adds unnecessary moisture to a thin pizza base.
Bake them or add them afterwards
Capers can be baked as part of a suitable recipe. Scatter them evenly among the other ingredients rather than making one salty pile in the middle. Follow the temperature and timing of the complete pizza recipe; capers alone do not determine either.
Prepared, ready-to-eat capers can also be added to a fully baked pizza, leaving their individual texture more apparent. Choose the timing deliberately and begin sparingly. For a pizza around 30 cm across, a teaspoon of drained small capers is a cautious starting point rather than a fixed requirement.
Season the topping as a whole
Anchovies, olives, tuna and strong cheese may contribute additional salt. Season the tomato base modestly and increase the capers only when the combination tastes balanced. They can provide distinct savoury points without dominating every mouthful to the same extent.
Store unused jar contents according to the manufacturer, refrigerating after opening where instructed, and remove them with clean utensils. Small quantities can also go into an appropriate pasta sauce. An open jar does not need to be emptied by overloading a single pizza with its entire contents.