Hi Guys,
What is the most common way for making your pizza sauce? We are tossing up between a cooked sauce, consisting of onion, garlic, extra virgin love oil, italian tomatoes, salt and oregano and a fresh sauce comprising of just italian tomatoes and salt.
Thanks in advance.
Dave.
I don’t like cooking it. I find it makes sauce bitter. I like crushed and paste with herbs.
Depending on the size of your operation, a cooked sauce will create logistical challenges of cooking that volume and then chilling quickly to refrigerate … or to hot hold a large amount for several hours. I have heard of places doing it, but I recommend the ‘less cooked’ option. Cooking changes the tomato flavor and will eventually drive off the more fragile flavor components/volatiles.
The greatest majority of shops I know blend sauce cold and cook it only once on the pizza itself. Now, the seasoning is much argued topic. Some have large spice pouches with sugar, salt, seasonings, spices, and such. Some use a much simpler spice/herb mix. I recommend simpler flavors that highlight the tomato rather then weight it down. We use dried oregano, granulated garlic and black pepper. I find the toppings offer enough salt to balance the flavor out. A little olive oil is a good add-on as it will allow fat soluble flavors to bloom. We use granulated garlic for better blending. Minced or pressed garlic makes it possible to get clumps and uneven mixing. BUY THE FRESHEST/BEST QUALITY DRIED HERBS/SPICE YOU CAN GET. Great sauce using tired, poorly handled & stored herbs/spices is simply shooting yourself in the foot. AND you will use less of the product to season the sauce … better flavor and less used means Win-Win.
Do yourself a favor and use the best tomatoes you can find. I am a Stanislaus man. I recommend it to everyone. If you chose not to use the best, then get a good competitor like Escalon. They are two frequently used brands.
So. High end tomatoes, quality spice, and only cook it on the pizza. That said, some NY and Chicago places don’t even season the sauce.
Thanks the input Nick. I don’t have access to Stanislaus in Australia. I use Strianese tomatoes, I’m not sure if you have tried them. I think Grimaldi’s uses them. I’m going to do a bit of research into the herbs. Would fresh make much of a difference?
Dave.
Fresh has pros and cons. I’ve seen people us them under toppings … or chiffonade/minced and added after the bake. Short bake time means they keep their flavor reasonably well, and the flavor is very different from dried. Would be a point of difference from most places. CONS: price, perishable, can scorch in baking, lose some flavor in baking. If you were to sauce - herbs - cheese/toppings then it could work well for you. Adding to the sauce and holding could get difficulty distributing well from pie to pie. Other using them may have different experiences they can share.
WA Dave may have useful input on products available to you over there.
I am a huge advocate of the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple, Stupid) that way it is easier to keep a consistent product.
In my opinion, consistency from day to day, decade to decade is the winner, even if it is just a mediocre product, people know what they will be getting. And I believe that cooking a sauce can take away from that consistency.
Dave
Have you tried Pronto fresco? We mix 1 can of Pronto Pizza Sauce and 1 can of Prontochef crushed tomatoes, add a little sugar, little less salt, granulated garlic and mixed Italian herbs, plus 1/2 can water. Mix it in one of those white 20lt plastic tubs.
Pronto is a great product (Italian tomatoes) of the highest quality. Check it out.
Dave
Hey Dave,
Yeah we had a play with pronto fresco. Crust Pizza use those tomatoes too.