Recommend a great pizza sauce?

[goodnews]

Hi!

Could you recommend a recipe for a great
pizza sauce? The store bought sauces taste
so flat.

Thank you for responding,

goodnews

[Pete-zza]

goodnews,

What is a "great" sauce will vary considerably from one person to another. But one of my recent favorites is member November's #2 sauce as discussed at this thread: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,3735.msg32136.html#msg32136 (Reply 7).

You might also want to look under the index listings for sauce ingredients. Maybe you will spot something that will meet your particular requirements.

Peter

[goodnews]

Hi Pete-zza,

Thank you for the recipe.

goodnews

[turbosundance]

I tried November's sauce and I didn't seem to like it.  No offense but it seemed to complex for me.  I like this sauce but the taste is pretty strong and it is a bit spicy so it's not for everyone.

I use a pretty generic sauce but it is pretty good.  I start with a good tomato base.  There is a product that I actually buy at Walmart.  It is some kind of ground tomatoes with puree added in to thicken it up.  It tastes quite good actually.  It comes in a yellow can.  That name of it escapes me.  I have seen it in a number of Italian type stores here in Canada.  This is a 28oz can.

I add to this tomato base:
1.5 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic (or 1.5 teaspoons garlic powder if you don't want your sauce to turn into jelly overnight)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon light olive oil or vegetable oil

Then is a microwave safe bowl I pour about 1 tablespoon of water and add to the bowl:
1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried Marjoram flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried Basil flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

I mix this bowl up until everything is combined than microwave the mixture for 15 seconds to release the flavors.  I stole this idea from November.  Then I mix the spice mixture into the tomato sauce mixture and the pizza sauce is ready to go.  Sometimes I mix a couple tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan cheese into the sauce.  I found this sauce recipe on the internet than made a few changes to make it how I like it.

[Pete-zza]

turbodance,

My tastebuds aren't all that great so I need a lot of flavor.

That statement alone demonstrates how difficult it is to answer a question like goodnews posed. And of all the questions that members pose on this forum, the ones I like least to try to answer are the ones asking for the "best" or "perfect" sauce. I contend that sauces are so personal that one should just try to find the sauce on one's own, by trying out different sauces or experimenting with ingredients until the question answers itself. One might get lucky trying out someone else's sauce--and there are many available on the forum--but it might also take a fair amount of personal effort and experimentation to produce the sauce that completely satisfies. There are so many variables in sauces that just trying to describe the desired characteristics and attributes is a major chore and challenge in itself, and an even greater challenge to answer. From my perspective, the "perfect" sauce exists only in the mind of the beholder.

Peter

[Garlic head]

turbodance,

My tastebuds aren't all that great so I need a lot of flavor.

That statement alone demonstrates how difficult it is to answer a question like goodnews posed. And of all the questions that members pose on this forum, the ones I like least to try to answer are the ones asking for the "best" or "perfect" sauce. I contend that sauces are so personal that one should just try to find the sauce on one's own, by trying out different sauces or experimenting with ingredients until the question answers itself. One might get lucky trying out someone else's sauce--and there are many available on the forum--but it might also take a fair amount of personal effort and experimentation to produce the sauce that completely satisfies. There are so many variables in sauces that just trying to describe the desired characteristics and attributes is a major chore and challenge in itself, and an even greater challenge to answer. From my perspective, the "perfect" sauce exists only in the mind of the beholder.

Peter

This is a great answer. (nothing new there!)
Since I began making pizza about 6 weeks ago, I've tried sauce 3 different ways. 1)A basic tomato paste, oil, water and spices mixture. 2)Peter Reinhart's All-Purpose Marinara sauce. (which isn't far off from #1) and 3)Famoso San Marzanos straight from the can to the pie which is then sprinkled with a little salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano before topping it.
It turns out that all 3 sauces work very well for me and based on what I have been told by others, they are all "perfect".

Kevin

[turbosundance]

turbodance,

My tastebuds aren't all that great so I need a lot of flavor.

That statement alone demonstrates how difficult it is to answer a question like goodnews posed. And of all the questions that members pose on this forum, the ones I like least to try to answer are the ones asking for the "best" or "perfect" sauce. I contend that sauces are so personal that one should just try to find the sauce on one's own, by trying out different sauces or experimenting with ingredients until the question answers itself. One might get lucky trying out someone else's sauce--and there are many available on the forum--but it might also take a fair amount of personal effort and experimentation to produce the sauce that completely satisfies. There are so many variables in sauces that just trying to describe the desired characteristics and attributes is a major chore and challenge in itself, and an even greater challenge to answer. From my perspective, the "perfect" sauce exists only in the mind of the beholder.

Peter

I agree completely.  The question of what sauce people should choose is a very difficult one if not impossible to answer.  Everyone likes different things.  I just wanted to show what I use for my sauce even if it is just a ripoff of november's sauce with a few changes.

[Pete-zza]

I was a little bit melodramatic in my last post but when you consider the types and forms of tomatoes used--fresh, canned (whole, pureed, chopped, crushed, paste, dried, with or without added salt, citric acid and even basil leaves)--the number and types and species of herbs and spices and seasonings, and other possible added ingredients, such as sweeteners, wine, broth, vinegar, lemon juice, fresh garlic, peppers, onions, oil(s), cheese(s), etc., there are literally thousands of possible combinations. If the sauce is cooked in any way, the number of possibilities increases even further. After taking into account individual taste preferences and sensitivities (including allergies), the number of possibilities may be reduced for any given individual but the remaining possibilities are still almost endless. By comparison, finding a good dough recipe is a walk in the park.

Peter