Recipe Requested Best Pizza Sauce

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coxhaus

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So, I am getting better at the pizza dough and it seems to be covered here. How about the red sauce you use on the pizza? What is a good recipe?
 
So maybe a little tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic clove crushed, olive oil? I don't add sugar or black pepper, maybe a little red pepper, oregano. What do you like?
 
I crush some canned tomatoes and season with salt and that's it.
If you like a cooked sauce, J. Kenji Lopes-Alt has a nice recipe for new york style sauce om serious eats.
 
Buy the best San Marzano in a tin you can find, blitz them coarse or finer just as you please. Add some salt, perhaps hide an anchovy and that's it. Best quality San Marzano usually come in tins without too much liquid, cheaper versions usually contain loads of excess fluid (water).

Or add a grated clove or two of garlic, some thyme, some origano, some anchovy and a shallot and a dash of vinegar and cook for like 20 min, let cool. I stopped using tomato paste a couple of years ago as it makes the taste of the sauce go in the direction of processed food.
 
I think it depends on the pizza style too. Some are simple crushed tomatoes, others are more complex and cooked. Tell us more about your dough recipe and the style of pizza you like.
Ken forkish’s elements of pizza is a great starting point.
 
Bensbites said:
Ken forkish’s elements of pizza is a great starting point.
Click to expand...

Really like this book. Been making the sourdough crust recipe frequently for the past couple years. There are a bunch of good ones tho.

I usually cook my sauce for 20 min or so to thicken it, since I like more of a tomato presence. Usually it’s just garlic, salt, (a decent amount of) olive oil, and canned tomatoes, sometimes cooked with some bay. Usually mince and sautee the garlic before adding the blitzed tomatoes.
 
I do crushed tomatoes sometimes, add some olive oil, raw garlic chopped very fine (one clove will do), oregano, salt, pepper, and a little sugar to taste, depending on how good the canned tomatoes you're using are. Sometimes they're perfect and you don't have to add any salt or sugar, other times they might need a little sweetness or saltiness. The sauce cooks with the pie, so there's no need to precook the sauce. You can if you want though.

If you want a fresh sauce, just concasse some tomatoes, add some olive oil, fresh garlic, and fresh basil, salt & pepper. Let it marinate over night. These tomatoes will blow your socks off, very flavorful and easy to do. I generally use these tomatoes for a white pizza, or for any pizza that doesn't call for an entire base of tomato sauce underneath the cheese and toppings.
 
MarcelNL said:
Buy the best San Marzano in a tin you can find, blitz them coarse or finer just as you please. Add some salt, perhaps hide an anchovy and that's it. Best quality San Marzano usually come in tins without too much liquid, cheaper versions usually contain loads of excess fluid (water).

Or add a grated clove or two of garlic, some thyme, some origano, some anchovy and a shallot and a dash of vinegar and cook for like 20 min, let cool. I stopped using tomato paste a couple of years ago as it makes the taste of the sauce go in the direction of processed food.
Click to expand...

I never thought of adding an anchovy, that's an interesting tip. I always add around four anchovy fillets to the Caesar salad dressing I make, it doesn't taste the same without them, it's literally the difference between a great Caesar and a average Caesar.
 
Grayswandir said:
The sauce cooks with the pie, so there's no need to precook the sauce. You can if you want though.
Click to expand...

True, depends how much tomato you want in the result. I find that if I don't precook and I want the water in the sauce to sufficiently evaporate in the oven, I have to add less tomato sauce than I like.
 
Grayswandir said:
I never thought of adding an anchovy, that's an interesting tip. I always add around four anchovy fillets to the Caesar salad dressing I make, it doesn't taste the same without them, it's literally the difference between a great Caesar and a average Caesar.
Click to expand...

To me it's similar with pizza sauce! we did a blind test with the kids and while they hate anchovy when a piece pops up somewhere they vastly preferred the pizza with anchovy in the sauce...
Adding vinegar is similar, it somehow opens flavors that stay locked otherwise.
 
ian said:
True, depends how much tomato you want in the result. I find that if I don't precook and I want the water in the sauce to sufficiently evaporate in the oven, I have to add less tomato sauce than I like.
Click to expand...

I guess it's down to the type of tomato product you're working with too, that plays a role. If I want to use fresh tomatoes, say from the supermarket, they might not be the best quality, so I'll add a little tomato paste to change the consistency and the flavor. If I'm using the concasse that's been marinated overnight, there's really no need to do anything special, they work really well. If you use crushed tomatoes from a can/tin, they should be good to go, but sometimes my wife will give them a short cook before using them on a pie. It really depends on what kind of pie you're making. I'm from the east coast of the U.S., so if I'm, making a traditional American style pizza (lots of cheese & sauce) it doesn't matter too much, but if I'm going for some thing more Neapolitan, then consistency becomes a real issue, for various reasons.
 
MarcelNL said:
To me it's similar with pizza sauce! we did a blind test with the kids and while they hate anchovy when a piece pops up somewhere they vastly preferred the pizza with anchovy in the sauce...
Adding vinegar is similar, it somehow opens flavors that stay locked otherwise.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely going to try that, sounds like a great idea.
 
panda said:
I hate watery pizza sauce, it should be thick and cooked down. with garlic oregano and evo
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I don't want any watery consistency in my sauce, but I don't want it too cooked down or rich either. It has to be a happy medium between not being too thick and not being too thin. There are times where a darker, richer sauce works though, and I'm down with that when it it works. One of those situations would be a good meatball pizza (something I make at home, it's pretty much impossible to get a good meatball pizza anywhere but home).
 
I second Seattle Ben, cook it down to suit your style of pizza. I like Neapolitan best so my pizze come with little topping and thin tomato sauce (which took some time to convince the family members of, they are now converted)
 
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MarcelNL said:
https://www.pizzamaking.com
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Again I find myself seconding Marcel’s recommendation on this. This forum really opened my mind with the intricacies they go into. I got into one thread (a bit too late for me to seek it out now and refresh my memory) that was discussing the reasoning behind the superiority of using a microwave oven to infuse your herbs in the sauce and it really impressed upon me how deep people can get into this
 
In a blender; crushed tomato, whole garlic cloves, evoo, calabrian chilis, fresh basil and oregano, balsamic reduction, good salt.
 
From an Italian pizza pro....just hand crushed San marzanos from a can....mash with your fingers till you get consistency you want..
I usually add a TBSP or two of Calabrian chiles
 
KJDedge said:
From an Italian pizza pro....just hand crushed San marzanos from a can....mash with your fingers till you get consistency you want..
I usually add a TBSP or two of Calabrian chiles
Click to expand...

That is something I LOVE, yet it needs to fit in with the rest of the toppings, I usually go for less is more and in that case some chunks of tomato work well!

Or make some (or get some) properly good pesto and try using that as sauce, thinly spread
 
I'm a big fan of simple, like many of the suggestions here using only crushed tomatoes of whatever type. But here's one i used to do. The goal was to replicate a sauce that was used in this pizza joint i worked at as a kid back in '90. It was my first kitchen job. I had loved the pizza years prior, and every time I go back home it's still the FIRST thing I eat.
This sauce is pretty dang close. Close enough to bring back great memories each time I make/eat it.

NO COOK PIZZA SAUCE

Yields 4 cups

Ingredients

35g roasted garlic

28oz Can San Marzano whole tomatoes (best quality you can find)

252g tomato paste

2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon salt

1.5 teaspoon (good) dry oregano

1 tsp fresh cracked (tellicherry if you can) black peppercorn

Instructions

Chop garlic in food processor. Pulse the garlic 2 to 3 times in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Purée the sauce.
Process the ingredients using food processor or hand blender, until they're completely puréed, stopping the motor and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
 
I do my no cook in the dehydrator to tighten it up. In a pinch I'll drain the liquid from the can of peeled tomatoes and reduce it on the stove, then mix the rest in (salt, microplaned garlic, olive oil, dried oregano or marjoram))
 
Here's a good place to start, heavily dependent on quality of tomatoes.
PXL_20210625_041356879.jpg


Definitely needs to be scaled down for home use 😂😂😂😂
 
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