Like so many other things in the world of food, cooking and bread, there are a number of different schools on tomato sauce for pizza. To the traditionalist, the sauce, like the dough, mozzarella and olive oil should be simple, and of the highest quality. The Neapoletans eat a vast number of Margherita pizzas with just cheese, tomato sauce and fresh basil -- simple and straightforward. To the more experimental among us, the sauce is an opportunity for expression and new tastes.
Regardless of what you like, we would not recommend a mass produced tomato sauce. They tend to be loaded with sugar, salt and other non-essentials, which in addition to tasting bad, tend to burn in the heat of a brick oven.
Basic Tomato Sauce Simply press a can a imported Italian tomatoes through a food mill. Your sauce with be light and fresh tasting, not cooked, sweet or spicy. Ladle enough sauce on your pizza base of cover lightly.
Dried Tomato Sauce You can make your own dried tomato sauce from dried tomatoes in olive oil, herbs and garlic, or buy prepared one in a jar. The flavor of the dried tomatoes is more concentrated and sweeter than a fresh sauce, and can make a more intense tasting pizza.
Dried Tomato and Pesto Sauce Again, you can make your own sauce either by making a dried tomato sauce and pesto and mixing them, or by mixing prepared tomato and pesto sauces.
About the Author
James Bairey, a former Silicon Valley marketing executive, is CEO of Forno Bravo, LLC, a supplier of Italian Wood-Fired Pizza Ovens and Brick Pizza Ovens and Italian">www.fornobravo.com/ pizza-ingredients/index.html">Italian Pizza Ingredients for home owners and pizzerias.