What are the best ways to get your pizza sauce the consistency that you want? Do you scoff at adding water or do you think it’s okay? Anyone use unusual seasonings?
Trying to get some operator opinions on the issue…
Andrew Abernathy
PMQ Associate Editor
Andrew@pmq.com
662-234-5481 x133
I use Saporito/Stanislaus sauce. It has a phenomenal flavor profile and is concentrated tomatoes with no water added. With a blend of their pizza sauce and 7/11, I add just enough water to give it the right consistency but preserving the great taste. I then add traditional Italian spices for perfect sauce.
Did you experiment with that mix for a while before you got it right?
AA
We tried a LOT of different tomato products when developing our sauce. Whole, plum, fillets, ground, diced…we sampled off brands, house brands nearly anything we could find. In the end our house is a “Stanislaus 7/11” house. We think it gives us a fuller and fresher tasting product for our customers.
We don’t do anything silly with spices, a touch of sugar, dried onion, garlic,basil and just a pinch of salt and white pepper. No added water although we might add some in at the end of the day if it’s needing a bit. We use the same sauce for our rolled “Pub crust”, our hand-tossed, and even our deep-dish butter crust pies.
Yes, AA. Trying to get the right balance of spices without being overpowering and letting the Stanislaus tomato flavor come through was a challenge. Took a good deal of experimentation and adjusting.
My personal favorite is to use nothing but drained, Stanislaus 74/40 Tomato Filets. I add diced garlic and fresh basil to the dough skin just before putting on the tomato filets. The flavor and texture are great, and the appearance goes well with my “old world” presentation. When I need to use a “sauce” Stanislaus Full Red is one of my favorites. I only add enough water to make it easier to spread, I never like to add onion or garlic to the sauce as it will cause the sauce to gel, thus requiring the addition of more water again to get it back to spreading consistency. I like to add the garlic and basil (fresh or dried) directly to the sauced dough skin. I also like to add some Parmesan cheese to the sauce to further sweeten it up a little (actually, the cheese helps to negate some of the acidity from the tomatoes) thus making the sauce taste a little sweeter.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
I’m almost with Tom these days…started off mixing a spice pre-pack, pizza sauce & a crushed tomato product, then added H2O…
We’re done to Stanislaus Tomato Magic, some crushed garlic, oil, pepper, salt, sugar & Parmesan…very clean & lite…
I worked with Stanislaus to develop the perfect flavor profile for me, We use 2 cans of Saporito and a can of water mixed with our proprietary blend of spices
you ever try using “Garlic Oil” in the sauce? The make it these days by putting cloves in with the olives in the press mash. It might give you a more blended flavor and enhance the fresh garlic you are using. Just a thought. Sciabica has incredible oils (around the corner from Stanislaus and still old world processes), but some others might be more economical.
Actually, we make something we call “Heart Attack” sauce…olive oil blended with freshly roasted/ground garlic & our house “Pizza Spice”…a blend of Parmesan and other spices…we use both concoctions in various products…
We also use a blend of Stani products and spices. We do use about a can of water in 6 gallons of sauce for our recipe. We also use chopped garlic. You can avoid the gelling of the sauce that Tom refers to by carmelizing the garlic. We run it through the oven once, stir and run it through again which puts down the pectins that would otherwise cause the sauce to set up.