In the spirit of finding the best pizza sauce I tried adding a Rotel tomato look-alike to the sauce. The results were not as good as I expected. The extra heat was pleasant but the pizza-like taste was thrown off. Oh well, it took Edison a long time of experimentation to create the light bulb.
Doug
I made a batch of dougthecook pizza dough the other day. As usual, I relied on the breadmaker to do the kneading. But, before I loaded up the breadmaker pan, I mixed the flour and cornmeal together and sifted them.
Not that any lumps existed but I wanted to insure that the flour was aerated. As flour travels from factory to your home it is compressed by settling among other things. Aerating the flour makes it lighter per cup (4 oz vs 5 oz packed) and overall mixing improves.
The result was no pockets of flour or cornmeal and a more consistent dough. Though this is empirical evidence I’ll add this step to the dougthecook pizza dough.
dtc
I have decided to make a web area dedicated to pizza. You will find everything you need to know about making pizza at home. No pizza stone will be left unturned.
dtc
This pizza sauce below was started with Emeril Lagasse in a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. The sauce turned out great and has an important improvement in making sauce: instead of adding spices after putting the tomatoes et al in the pan, add the spices to the hot oil for about several seconds. This brings out the fragrance and robustness of the spices. I have to say it made the sauce very smooth tasting.
2 TBL olive oil
1 TBL chopped fresh garlic (2 cloves)
1 tsp dried basil (2 tsp fresh)
1/2 tsp dried oregano (1 tsp fresh)
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper
1 28-oz can plum (Roma) tomatoes petite diced (or 2 cups fresh)
1 TBL dry red wine
1 tsp sugar
Heat oil on medium. Add garlic and cook, stirring often for 15 seconds. Add herbs, seeds, salt, and peppers to the oil and cook for 30 seconds, stirring often. Add tomatoes, wine, and sugar and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened (20 to 30 minutes). Let cool before using. Tastes better the second day.
Doug
This pizza sauce is easy to make and tastes good - a great combination!
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBL olive oil
1 can (16 oz) tomato sauce - use a good brand. I used Hunt’s
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 TBL fresh basil, finely chopped (or 1 1/2 tsp dried)
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
Cook onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent (but not brown, so stir frequently. Takes about 5 minutes). Add tomato sauce then rest of ingredients. Stir well and simmer for 20 minutes, covered (or else it will spatter).
I have replace the garlic clove and salt with 1/2 tsp of garlic salt with good success; and it’s even faster to make!
Many times pizza sauces call for tomato paste - presumably to thicken them up. The brands I have tried have a tinny taste to them. And I found out they are not crucial for a good pizza sauce.
I do a good deal of baking - especially pizza. A pizza takes 20 to 25 minutes to cook, depending on the method I use which these days is usually an iron skillet. Another popular baking item is zucchini bread now that zucchini is growing prolific in my garden. This endeavor takes 55 minutes to bake.
Now that energy costs are rising I’m always looking for ways to save but not give up my lifestyle. One way I found was to turn off the oven during the last few minutes of baking and let it coast. No degradation of taste or quality has been noticed. So every 10th pizza doesn’t cost me a dime to cook.
When I pan cook food, such as an egg in the morning, I apply the same cut-and-coast technique. After I flip the egg off goes the stove (it’s electric so it has residual heat) while I butter my toast and pour my juice.
This may be a minor incident but small things add up. Now only if work were at the bottom of a hill…
This pizza dough is an updated version of an earlier one. Sugar has been added for the yeast feast and the flour increased by 1/4 cup since the dough has turned out sticky the times I made it. I made this last night and it turned out great.
1 cup warm water (105 - 115 F)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 T corn oil
2 3/4 cups white flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 pkg yeast (1/4 oz or 2 1/4 tsp)
For bread maker:
Put in liquids first, then solids then yeast. (The list is in correct order). I swirl the breadmaker container around after adding the water, sugar, salt, and corn oil so they distribute. Mix on dough setting.
Put dough in refrigerator for 20 minutes before making the pizza.
This recipe made enough for two 9 inch pizzas. Brush the dough with oil before putting on the sauce/toppings to prevent the sauce from soaking in.
The pizza was cooked on the middle lower rack at 400 F for 20 minutes (until cheese was slightly brown and crust brown).
Pizza Sauce Recipe #4
16 ounce (2 cups) petite diced tomatoes
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T dried oregano (or 2 T fresh, chopped)
2 tsp parsley flakes (or 4 teaspoons fresh, chopped)
1 1/2 tsp basil (or 1 T fresh, chopped)
1/2 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Combine pizza sauce ingredients and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
This recipe has no tomato paste which is why it taste better thank recipe #3. The canned tomato paste added a slightly offensive taste. This recipe is very fresh tasting. I cannot wait to try it with garden fresh Romas in July.
Doug
I made this last night: whoa. Delicious. I used pizza dough from part IX and cooked it in an iron skillet in the oven at 400 degrees F. The sauce is pretty thick.
Pizza Sauce Recipe #3
16 ounce (2 cups) petite diced tomatoes
3 ounce tomato paste (1/2 of normal 6oz tomato paste can)
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T dried oregano (or 2 T fresh, chopped)
2 tsp parsley flakes (or 4 teaspoons fresh, chopped)
1 1/2 tsp basil (or 1 T fresh, chopped)
1/2 tsp crushed dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Combine pizza sauce ingredients and simmer 15 minutes. I reduced it until the sauce was as thick as molasses. The sauce was pretty chunky, which I like. If a thinner sauce is wanted, puree the entire finished product in a blender. Better taste is attained if left to sit overnight in the refrigerator.
Doug
Here is a pizza sauce I have used several times.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 TBL olive oil
1 28-oz can Italian tomatoes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. rosemary
1 bay leaf
Ground pepper, to taste
1/4 Red pepper, chopped
Sauté onion in oil over medium heat. Add tomatoes to sautéed onions.
Add garlic and seasonings and bring to simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Doug
