A Very Simple, But Delicious Pizza Sauce Recipe

Over the past year, I’ve given up on store-bought pizza crusts and sauces, and started making my own. I have probably tried every crust and sauce that can be found in a Pittsburgh grocery store, and even though some of them are decent (Boboli comes to mind), none of them have the rich natural tomato flavor I want. Many of them are too sweet, or just too bland.

So, I decided to learn how to make my own. I did some research on Amazon and found Pizza by Michele & Charles Scicolone. It’s a simple and interesting book, that has many simple recipes for dough, sauce and entire pizzas based on both traditional Italian recipes and American recipes. It is an excellent book, and I would highly recommend it.

Of all the sauce recipes in the book, my favorite is the very simple and appropriately named “simple pizza sauce”:

• 1 Can (28 oz.) Italian peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, with their juice.
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt

The instructions are equally simple:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes, oil, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer
2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Let the sauce cool before spreading it on the pizza dough.

For this sauce to work well, you have to use good tomatoes. Otherwise, you will probably end up with a tasteless, oily concoction. I typically use Cento brand peeled San Marzano tomatoes (the best I’ve found in a can), when I don’t have tomatoes fresh from the garden. Through experimentation, I’ve found that about 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon Salt is right for the taste I want to create. I also like to simmer the sauce a bit longer, closer to 30 to 45 minutes to let it thicken a bit more.

So ditch those cans or packets of store bought sauce and enjoy some really good pizza!

Tags: cooking | recipes