what do you use besides 6in1s or Stanislaus

[gfgman]

Just wondering what ya'll are using out there.  I have not tried the 6in1s or the Stanislaus, but if you prefer those, I'm curious what you use when those are not available to you. The Bonta sauce sounds like crushed products with basil that I have tried, but I prefer to start with a curshed only and nothing else added.  I can't find such a product in our area.  I tried the Rienzi imported tomatoes and they were awful.  They had such a bitter taste, can taste, or whatever, that I threw them out and used something else.  I tried the Flora crushed imported product from Wegman's, and it had a similar taste.  Not as bad, but bad enough that I still tossed it.  I tried the redpack crushed today.  It also had a little bit of that taste, but I put it in my mini crock to steam down and added some sugar, salt, basil, and black pepper, and it's not so bad.  As I said, I can't get a straight crushed product, at least not from any of the stores I have been to.  I don't see where Escalon has a comprehensive list of who sells their products.  I will have to try the 6in1s when I can get some, which is about a two hour drive, then I'll know if they are worth ordering.  At $2.75 a can they are cheaper than the crushed San Marzano product I really liked.

GMan

[JConk007]

I do the  Cento DOP s or the Red Pack Diced w/ basil or the 6-in 1s. They come to $2.75 a can through  the mail  without a 2hr drive.
John

[pizzoid]

As has been said before in other threads:

https://www.escalon.net/shop.aspx

(Also, Muir Glen organics)

 -Al

[gfgman]

I do plan to order the 6 in 1s online, but only if they are good.  I want to try them first and see what I think before I go ordering a bunch of them to get the cheaper price.  I spread my redpack sauce on the pie and sprinkled a little garlic powder over it.  The finished taste out of the oven was actually much better than I expected.  It had a nice pizzeria taste to it.

GMan

[Deacon Volker]

I ordered a 3 pack of the 6 N 1's and gave my first can a try just this weekend.  I have been a skeptic that one company could pack something that noticeably different from the next guy when they are all talking about tomatoes you know?  But I have to say...yeah, there is a difference.  "Brighter" is tossed around a lot, to me brighter means more pop in the tomato, almost as in the paste, that's not what I'm looking for.  The best way I can describe the 6 N 1 electronically is " clean"  "fresh"...it's tomato w/o being concentrated in taste.

I added only a 1/2 tsp of dried basil, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp of garlic powder, and 1 tbs of brown sugar ( I like that sweet back taste ), then not even a 1/4 tsp of crushed dried red pepper flakes.  It's gotten me very very close to where I want to be.  Will I stay with this product and pay the extra costs when I open my place, we'll see. There are many more brands to put into play still, and that's where half the fun is!

[scott r]

The Bonta sauce sounds like crushed products with basil that I have tried, but I prefer to start with a curshed only and nothing else added.  I can't find such a product in our area. 
GMan

Gman, Bonta isn't really a crushed product.  It is actually more like a paste.  It is totally smooth.

[gfgman]

Gman, Bonta isn't really a crushed product.  It is actually more like a paste.  It is totally smooth.

Thanks for the info.  I suppose you could mix bonta with something else.  I've read about that on here.  I can't think of any really good pizzeria I've been to that used a sauce that was totally smooth.  There's always at least some small tomato pieces in there.

[Fingerstyle]

I've been using Muir Glen OG romas with good results, but recently was very pleasantly surprised by S&W crushed - big cans from Costco.

[Chet]

I ordered a 3 pack of the 6 N 1's and gave my first can a try just this weekend.  I have been a skeptic that one company could pack something that noticeably different from the next guy when they are all talking about tomatoes you know?  But I have to say...yeah, there is a difference.  "Brighter" is tossed around a lot, to me brighter means more pop in the tomato, almost as in the paste, that's not what I'm looking for.  The best way I can describe the 6 N 1 electronically is " clean"  "fresh"...it's tomato w/o being concentrated in taste.

I added only a 1/2 tsp of dried basil, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp of garlic powder, and 1 tbs of brown sugar ( I like that sweet back taste ), then not even a 1/4 tsp of crushed dried red pepper flakes.  It's gotten me very very close to where I want to be.  Will I stay with this product and pay the extra costs when I open my place, we'll see. There are many more brands to put into play still, and that's where half the fun is!


    the above ingredients added to what amount of 6-1 tomatoes


     Chet

[RichC]

I ordered a 3 pack of the 6 N 1's and gave my first can a try just this weekend.  I have been a skeptic that one company could pack something that noticeably different from the next guy when they are all talking about tomatoes you know?  But I have to say...yeah, there is a difference.  "Brighter" is tossed around a lot, to me brighter means more pop in the tomato, almost as in the paste, that's not what I'm looking for.  The best way I can describe the 6 N 1 electronically is " clean"  "fresh"...it's tomato w/o being concentrated in taste.

I added only a 1/2 tsp of dried basil, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp of garlic powder, and 1 tbs of brown sugar ( I like that sweet back taste ), then not even a 1/4 tsp of crushed dried red pepper flakes.  It's gotten me very very close to where I want to be.  Will I stay with this product and pay the extra costs when I open my place, we'll see. There are many more brands to put into play still, and that's where half the fun is!

I too have recently just purchased the 6in1 crushed tomatoes.  I have to agree 100% with the above, they just taste "fresher, less canned".  Generally, canned tomatoes have a concentrated taste, it could be the salt thats added, the cans, or the puree.  Not sure what causes it, but I find that they do not taste very good straight from the can, and usually need to be cooked.  This was not the case with the 6in1's, as I could have eaten the whole can right after opening it.  I took the spice/herb formulation from November's Red Sauce #2, and I got tell you this sauce was very good.  I found it to be a bit sweet after 1 day, but it has since mellowed a bit.   My next formulation will use less sugar, and a bit more savory and earthy.

I also have a 6#10oz can of Bonta w/Basil that I purchased along with the 6in1's when I visited Bova Foods last week.  I plan to make a sauce of 1part Bonta, 1 part 6in1's, just enough water to get to a spreadable consistency, and 2 parts of November Red Sauce #2 spice/herb.   That will grace this weekends pies.  Just not sure what I will do with the remainder of the Bonta can.  I prefer not to freeze it. 

[JConk007]

Rich,
What crust/ dough are you gracing this sauce with? Looks like a winner ! I blend the 6-1s add 1/2 part Bonta or other and some spices yum.
FYI I do freeze leftovers with no issues. Just break it down into a few containers so you don't have to thaw the whole deal next session. A #10 goes a long way when mixed with the others.
Waiting pics
JC

[RichC]

Rich,
What crust/ dough are you gracing this sauce with? Looks like a winner ! I blend the 6-1s add 1/2 part Bonta or other and some spices yum.
FYI I do freeze leftovers with no issues. Just break it down into a few containers so you don't have to thaw the whole deal next session. A #10 goes a long way when mixed with the others.
Waiting pics
JC

Hey JC, I see you are from New Jersey, nice to talk with a (somewhat) local.  I just made my first trip to Bova Foods in Chalfont PA a few weeks back.  That's where I scored the 6in1's ($1.75/can) and Bonta w/Basil ($5 or $6 for a big can 6#10oz I think).  I had previously been using Don Pepinos bought locally at the supermarket while I was working on developing my dough.  I wanted to limited the amount of change with each pizza in order to better decide what works and what doesn't work. 

I now have a dough I like quite a bit.  It is a NY Style dough, that I used the Lehman Calculator to create.  The key to the dough going from good to great was when on my trip to Bova, I was able to score 10# bags of high gluten flour for $4.50/bag.  Previously, I was using either Ceresota/Heckers or any other AP flour, and using VWG to up the protein.  The three pies I have tasted since switching to the high gluten flour, and the addition of more precise ingredient measurements (I also purchased a my weigh kd8000) have been really good.  I am still struggling with the dough a bit when I am handling it just before dressing.  Several times I have gotten the dough to thin, and it has "breached" in the oven casing a bit of a mess.  I usually cook for 4 minutes on a screen on the middle rack of a 450dgf oven, then move to my quarry-tiled lined bottom shelf for the 4 minutes to crisp the crust.  Preheat is usually about 30-40 minutes.  It looks like i got ~5 pies from a single batch of Novembers sauce, so I may be a bit heavy-handed when saucing my pies.  Anyways, the calculator settings are for a 16", 65% hydration with no sugar or oil.  2% salt, 1% bowl residue (I think), and .105 thickness.  I just recently started doing the autolyse that was recommended on Varsano site.  This has helped my dough quite a bit as well.  This weekend, I will be using a local cheese makers (Fiero's) whole milk mozzarella on my pies.  I went to their factory store and purchased 5# block for $8.

[Pete-zza]

RichC,

It looks like you pretty much figured things out and doing all the right things. Good job.

Peter