Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza (28 page)

Sauce Recipes

The
Passionate About Pizza System

You will make great homemade pizza every time you try if you ignite your passion and follow a systematic approach to making pizza. Plan your pizza-making activities, use the same equipment and high-quality ingredients each time, use proven preparation techniques, rely on your RECIPES, and work to make continual improvements.

Sauce Recipes

You can use a wide variety of sauces for pizza. Up until the later part of the 20th century, tomato-based sauces dominated pizzas in the United States. More recently, anything goes as far as pizza sauces and toppings are concerned. The following sauces are a sampling of successful pizza sauce recipes. Use these as a starting point and use your own creativity and individual tastes to develop additional sauces to use on your own pizzas.

This chapter details the following sauce recipes (click to follow link):

Basic Pizza Sauce
Chicago-style Sauce
Mexican Chile Sauce
Squashed Tomato Sauce
Fresh Plum Tomato Sauce
Sweet Pizza Sauce
Eggplant Sauce
Sassy South of the Border Sauce
Mustard Sauce
Neapolitan-style Sauce

Creative Sauces

Almost any marinade or sauce can be adapted for pizza sauce. In addition, any moist or liquid food product can generally be adapted for use as a sauce on a pizza. You might need thin out a sauce that is too thick for pizza by adding water, broth, or other liquid to it. You might need to thicken a sauce by cooking it until it thickens, adding a thickening agent, or making the sauce with less liquid. Here are a few suggestions you can consider to get your mind going and make your own pizza sauce:

• fajita, honey mustard, or smoky barbecue sauce
• simmering or cooking sauces
• marinades
• pureed vegetables
• any kind of gravy
• your favorite ethnic food
• any variation of cream sauce
• salad dressings
• dips or dipping sauces
• pesto, hummus, or chutneys
• baked appetizers

Basic Pizza Sauce

This is the old standby but do not let that deter you. The fresh taste of crushed tomatoes provides a nice tang that mellows just slightly by cooking it over low heat. This sauce is so easy to make that there is no reason to use canned or jarred sauce. Do not even think of using spaghetti sauce or you will end up with a pizza that tastes like spaghetti!

Makes enough for four to six pizzas fourteen to sixteen inches in size.

2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes, 2 different brands
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1 – 2 large cloves garlic, crushed with a garlic press
1 teaspoon salt (optional – I always leave it out)

I always leave out the salt from this and most of my sauce recipes. I think it is due to the salt in most cheeses, but if I add salt to the sauce, the pizza sometimes seems too salty.

The mixture of two brands of tomatoes gives this sauce a smoother taste. Do not substitute whole tomatoes or tomato puree in this recipe and do not add any tomato paste. However, it is okay to use crushed tomatoes canned with added tomato puree.

Mix all ingredients in a non-reactive pan (such as stainless steel, glass, or non-stick) and bring to a simmer over very low heat. Cooking the tomatoes at a low temperature helps develop a rich, subtle flavor without bringing out any acidy taste. Maintain at a very low simmer for thirty to forty-five minutes. Do not cook too fast or too long.

You can save whatever sauce you do not use in the refrigerator or freezer for the next pizzas you make. I store my extra sauce in eight to ten ounce portions so that one container’s worth is the right amount of sauce for one pizza.

Chicago-style Sauce

By not cooking this sauce, it retains the rich, tangy tomato taste. The added Parmesan cheese thickens the sauce and makes it richer, as well.

I frequently use this sauce on Chicago-style pizzas with cheese-first assembly baked in a pizza pan. This exposes the sauce to high heat for quite a long time; the sauce will cook during that time. Keeping the sauce uncooked until you place it on the pizza allows the sauce to retain its rich, tangy flavor even when baked for a long time.

Makes enough sauce for one fourteen inch pizza.

1 20 ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably 6-in-1® brand
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil

If you cannot find the 6-in-1® brand tomatoes, you are welcome to substitute another brand. However, try to use a brand that has no added tomato puree and that has a vibrant taste.

Combine the crushed tomatoes, garlic, herbs, cheese (if using), and oil in a non-reactive bowl. Let stand until ready to assemble the pizza.

If the sauce is very runny, you can place it in a fine-mesh strainer to drain the excess liquid. Discard the liquid and keep the thick, meaty part of the sauce. Keep in mind that this will reduce the volume of the sauce, though.

When this sauce is on the top layer of a Chicago-style pizza it will dry out and thicken some while it bakes.

Mexican Chile Sauce

This sauce is very simple, yet it brings a hint of Mexican flavor to your pizza without overwhelming other flavors.
Makes enough sauce for two or three fourteen-inch pizzas.

1 20-ounce can tomato puree or tomato sauce
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1-2 Tablespoons Mexican-style chili powder, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. Let stand until needed. You can spice up this simple Mexican sauce with hot pepper sauce, salsa, cilantro, or any of your favorite Mexican flavors.

Squashed Tomato Sauce

If you are one of those people who likes chunky tomato sauce, this one is for you! You can make it as chunky as you like by choosing the amount of “squash” you use.

Makes enough sauce for two fourteen to sixteen inch pizzas.

2 20-ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

You will only use the tomatoes from the can, not the liquid.

Using your hand, pick out each tomato one at a time and squash it into a non-reactive bowl using your fist. To squash a tomato, place it in the palm of your hand and make a fist, squeezing the tomato out between your fingers. Be careful, though, because squashing the tomatoes this way can send juice flying! Once you have squashed all the tomatoes, add the garlic, basil, and oregano to the tomatoes and mix together. Let stand until ready to assemble the pizza.

If you think the sauce consistency is too thick, you can add some of the liquid from the can to the sauce. You can discard the liquid that remains in the can or you can strain it to use when you make your pizza dough. If the tomatoes are too chunky for your taste, you can use a potato masher to mash them further or puree them with a blender.

Fresh Plum Tomato Sauce