Pizza Sauce Recipes

[Xabia Jim]

James....should there be a sticky on sauces?

I'm guessing there is no best recipe as we all have preferences.

Here's my tomato based recipe and thoughts:

I use a cooked sauce, primarily because I want it thickened with no free water.

....and I'm a "kitchen sink" cook who tends to put lots of ingredients into things!

-Sautee some finely sliced onion and garlic in olive oil.
-add Fresh tomatoes (or diced/chrushed canned tomatoes, not sauce)
Tomato paste is optional to thicken.
-add some spices (herbs de provence, oregano, basil, black pepper)
-cook until free liquid is gone.

Now some of the options:

-I usually add some honey or brown sugar
-dash balsamic or red wine vinegar
-some olive oil (may be enough from garlic/onion sautee)
-dash of tobasco

I'd be curious to hear if an uncooked or wetter sauce works in the WFO? Does the high heat drive off the free water? I guess my recipe goes back to the conventional oven pizzas I cooked 30 years ago!

[james]

Hey Jim,

It does seem like a good idea starting a permanent thread on sauce. Dough, cheese and sauce. Sauce is pretty central. :-)

There definitely is a case for using a fresh, uncooked and pretty liquid sauce in a wood-fired oven. The heat of the WFO can cook the tomatoes to where they are done -- right at the moment where the cheese and dough are also done. You can only do this with a hot wood-fired oven.

Give it a try. You can pass a can of good quality tomatoes through a food mill, or hit them with two forks, or potato masher, and that's it.

What are other members doing?

James

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by james

Hey Jim,

It does seem like a good idea starting a permanent thread on sauce. Dough, cheese and sauce. Sauce is pretty central. :-)

There definitely is a case for using a fresh, uncooked and pretty liquid sauce in a wood-fired oven. The heat of the WFO can cook the tomatoes to where they are done -- right at the moment where the cheese and dough are also done. You can only do this with a hot wood-fired oven.

Give it a try. You can pass a can of good quality tomatoes through a food mill, or hit them with two forks, or potato masher, and that's it.

What are other members doing?

James

I slowly simmer my canned tomatoes on the stove. I add onions, garlic, fresh spices, salt.. pepper...

My wife loves it! Kids... would rather have canned sauce. (Unrefined pallets and all)

They do like it, however, when I put it in a baking dish, heat it up in the WFO, smother it with mozzarella, and serve it with freshly baked bread.

I tried the can tomatoes directly on the dough, but I used undrained tomatoes and got a juicy pie.

I keep telling myself that I am going to try it with drained tomatoes. ( I just haven't done it yet)

Dave

[sammy]

Yeah for a sticky sauce thread :-)

So, I got on today because I was curious what others were doing for sauce. I always use different (uncooked) sauce recipes for different types of pizzas, but thought that most authentic napoletana pizza sauces weren't as "composed".

Last night, being in a hurry, I just took some crushed tomatoes, spread them directly on the dough, drizzled on some olive oil, sprinkled on some salt, basil, etc and went for it. It worked great. I think my "composed" sauce days may be over unless I am going for something specific with it (NY style pizza, something with a tang, something unconventional or whatever).

Its great to be able to look to see what others are doing out here also to get extra ideas. Thanks gang!

[Xabia Jim]

I copied Acoma's (Robert!) recipe for pizza sauce so it' didn't get lost

Originally Posted by Acoma
My wife finally relented. It is a modified sauce of a recipe she aquired a long while back. Here we go.

2 lbs frresh tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
4 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic
1 Tsp fresh oregano
1/4 Tsp fresh pepper
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup dry white wine

For the fresh tomatoes, simmer for 1.5 hours with 2 whole cloves of garlic and 5 large basil leaves. Remove leaves before mixing in blender.

Place tomatoes with tomato paste, parsley, garlic, oregano and pepper in blender or food processor. Process until smooth.

Heat olive oil in med heat, and saute onions for about 2 minutes. Add tomato mixture and wine. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Stir the sauce occasionally.

This will make about 4 cups of sauce. Increase quantities as needed for yourself.

[RTflorida]

I go the uncooked route with canned FB San Marzanos. Draining is a must, then through the food mill with the medium strainer in place. Finally, I drain through the fine strainer to get even more water out.
As for ingredients, I stick with the basics - the tomatoes, salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic, fresh basil (I like mine coursely chopped - not whole leaves).

Pasta sauce is another story, a recipe I don't share (sorry, months of experimenting and much consulting with 2 Italian chef friends, many years ago).....just one of those things that took a lot of work to get exactly the way my family and I like it - I could not bare to see someone bastardize it and "change this" or "add that". Yeah, I know, pretty darn selfish.....but hey, it is suited for my taste....I'm sure not everyone would like it.

RT

[gjbingham]

I've been crushing the San Marzano tomatoes without draining them. I've had difficulties keeping the oven temps really hot, so the sauce is often still a bit soupy, or just barely cooked dry when the pizza's done. Perhaps I'll try draining them, though the juice they're packed in looks too good to waste.

[RTflorida]

George, the drainage from the San MArzanos is saved for adding to my cooked pasta sauce. I used to add a bit of water, now it is the drainage from the pizza sauce, seems to have added just a bit more tomato goodness to the sauce.

RT

[Xabia Jim]

Originally Posted by RTflorida

Pasta sauce is another story, a recipe I don't share (sorry, months of experimenting and much consulting with 2 Italian chef friends, many years ago).....just one of those things that took a lot of work to get exactly the way my family and I like it - I could not bare to see someone bastardize it and "change this" or "add that". Yeah, I know, pretty darn selfish.....but hey, it is suited for my taste....I'm sure not everyone would like it.

RT

George, the drainage from the San MArzanos is saved for adding to my cooked pasta sauce. I used to add a bit of water, now it is the drainage from the pizza sauce, seems to have added just a bit more tomato goodness to the sauce.

Okay, so far that's one ingredient we got out of RT for his special pasta sauce!

[Xabia Jim]

This pesto sauce works well for pizza and pasta too!

Nice toppings include smoked chicken, goat cheese, smoked salmon, fresh motz...well, it's all good!

Take 2 cups fresh basil leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 T Pine nuts and a pinch of salt. Put in food processor and blend. Then add 1/2 cup of good olive oil while running until it becomes a paste. Blend in 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese.

(Pine nuts might be considered optional. We've used walnuts as a variation.)

This sauce freezes well in small zip locs since you don't need much.

t's really a pretty easy sauce to make and tastes great!