Semi-sweet sauce for american style pizza

[ajclone]

I used the sauce recipe from the main page....

28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes in heavy puree (RedPack brand preferred) (NOTE: I didn't use this brand)
1 tablespoon fresh green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

and it ended up not being nearly sweet enough for my taste. I'm not after papa johns or anything but wanted something that had some sweetness. It could be that my problem was the peeled tomatoes as there wasn't any selection at the grocery. Does that make all the difference...even in sweetness? Or is this a recipe that will just not be sweet - and if so, can someone point me to a "sweeter" sauce?

Thanks!

[canadave]

I'd think adding sugar would increase the sweetness.  By the way, the sauce I make (or at least, started making yesterday!) is pretty sweet.  I just used Stanislaus Full Red sauce as a base (thank goodness I found a source for this yesterday), then added pizza seasoning, water (to make the sauce a little creamier, and also to dull down the strong taste of the sauce base a bit), and salt.  No sugar.  I did my first try yesterday, and it came out sweet and smooth.

Cheers,
Dave

[pizzoid]

Choice in tomatoes will absolutely make a difference in sweetness. I was trying a number of the different "pro" tomato products, so I whipped up a batch of the spices and everything but the tomatoes that I used to use for my supermarket canned tomato based sauce. I knew the results would be sweeter, so I cut the sugar in half.  That still wasn't enough, and the resulting sauces were too sweet to use!

- Al

I used the sauce recipe from the main page....
..

and it ended up not being nearly sweet enough for my taste. I'm not after papa johns or anything but wanted something that had some sweetness. It could be that my problem was the peeled tomatoes as there wasn't any selection at the grocery. Does that make all the difference...even in sweetness? Or is this a recipe that will just not be sweet - and if so, can someone point me to a "sweeter" sauce?

Thanks!

[DNA Dan]

Choice in tomatoes will absolutely make a difference in sweetness. I was trying a number of the different "pro" tomato products, so I whipped up a batch of the spices and everything but the tomatoes that I used to use for my supermarket canned tomato based sauce. I knew the results would be sweeter, so I cut the sugar in half.  That still wasn't enough, and the resulting sauces were too sweet to use!

I have to agree with Al here. Once I tried the 6 in 1's they also had a sweeter and fresher taste than I was used to. A lot different from the bitter canned tomato sauce you get in the store. I think the vacuum evaporated tomato products tends to be sweeter because they are not processed with high heat.

If natural sweetness isn't enough for you, I would try some honey. It will add more depth to your sauce rather than just plain sugar. I have also read about people using corn syrup or "heavy syrup" from different fruits. Peaches in heavy syrup? I personally have never tried it, but I read about it somewhere in the cyberworld. Might make for an intersting character in the sauce.

[ajclone]

Need to follow up on my original post. I bought some cans of 6 in 1 tomatoes and wow...what a difference. The stuff is like magic. Anyway, I added some honey to the recipe too and it's pretty good. Of course now it's time to start messing with some of the other sauce recipes posted on the site.