That recipe looks good! A bit small in volume. I would triple it at least while going through the trouble...that type of sauce freezes really well in portions for the next few or more pizzas.

Here is mine. Easy and similar flavor outcome I bet.

I still have lots of garden toms and sauces frozen but when I'm out or cooking out of town visiting family I use whole canned tomatoes.

2 cans whole tomatoes, I think they are 28oz cans

2 med onions or one large, cut chunky

4-10 cloves garlic peeled, amount to taste

-remove the whole tomatoes from the can without crushing them leaving most of the juice behind. A bit of juice left on is fine. Place in a single layer on a sheet pan then the onions and garlic tucked between. Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil. Slow roast in the oven, middle rack, 250-280, for about an hour. (every oven is different) Slow roast, just don't want blistering or burns. Onions should be soft and golden, lightly brown.

-while roasting pour the remaining sauce from the cans into a sauce pan with,

1 tbsp butter

2-3 bay leaves

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp fennel seed

*I toast the seeds and give a coarse pulse in my spice grinder, optional

Simmer low, very low, heat. 20 min-45 min. or until thickened.

Cool the roasting toms and veg then blender adding some of the sauce if it needs liquid. *Cuisinart works also.

Adding both sauces together is usually perfect consistency. Too thick, add a bit of water. Too thin, too bad, lol. Or watch it in the blender and don't add all the stovetop sauce.

*only at this point do I taste and add salt/pepper, a pinch or 4 of sugar, if needed. Basil fresh or dried. (I don't care for the oregano) but I do add grating/pinch of nutmeg.

A similar recipe explaining, HERE

Just the opposite. I don't like tinned tomatoes. They never taste fresh at all. I even roast my fresh garden tomatoes to concentrate the flavors along with the skins and jell. Then freeze.

My local market has good quality in glass jars. Expensive but worth it. I only find basic cans when traveling.

Fresh from the garden sauce is just chopped toms and fresh herbs. Or fresh slices on pizza.

I do add a fresh pepper or two to the roasting or dried flake to the saucepan.

Ow, those both sound wonderful! I can't thank you enough sleevendog and ann_t! I'll try both! The sauce I linked to is almost identical to the last one I made except more tomato paste and a few other ingredients so I wasn't sure I'd like it - I've not been particularly pleased with the last 2, so much so I tossed out what I'd frozen. Using whole canned tomatoes sounds more like it!

We tore out our veggie garden to do some drainage work and it won't be replanted until after the reno, so I'm thinking not until summer after next.

I do have 'good' basil and oregano... dried from my herb garden : )

ann_t, I'm trying Peter Reinhart's pizza crust after I use up the other I made. I have one of his books on order now... rather late after 30+ years of on/off baking breads. And a pizza stone : - )

sleevendog, snow on the ground here, single digits, no good jarred tomatoes because my small town has no specialty stores that carry such a thing...

Our tomatoes were unusually pecked by birds before we tore it out, I used the last we had for tomato juice, so it will be next summer when our farmer's market opens before good tomatoes are available.

For me the type of sauce depends on the type of pizza. For a quick-cooking Neapolitan style, I prefer a well-reduced, cooked tomato sauce. The pizza is only in the oven for a few minutes, so the sauce doesn't have time to cook further, and if it hasn't been reduced on the stovetop, it can be watery (and make the crust soggy). For this type of pizza I usually start by sauteing some garlic in a bit of olive oil and butter, then add tomatoes (typically canned whole San Marzano, but anything from fresh to diced can work here) and a little wine, and cook it down until it's very thick (like sour cream consistency), then season with some fresh herbs.

For a Chicago-style deep dish pizza, where the sauce is on top of the cheese and the pizza bakes for 45+ mins, I want the sauce to have a bit more moisture, so I'll just drain whole canned tomatoes, roughly chop and add a bit of salt, garlic and basil or oregano.

I love white pizza as well - my white pizza sauce uses roasted garlic as the base. I store roasted garlic in olive oil in my freezer, so when I want to make white sauce I just break off a chunk and melt/mash it down in a skillet with a bit of butter. Once the butter/oil/garlic mixture is hot, I add a small amount of flour to make a blonde roux, then a splash of white wine and some milk or cream, whatever I have on hand. Again, I cook this to the consistency of sour cream, then season as desired (usually just salt and pepper).

biondanonima, (that's a mouthful!) thank you for the white sauce... I've never made one myself, I was thinking perhaps fresh moz, ricotta, gorgonzola, maybe caramelized onions for winter, fresh basil and oregano for summer (no onions).

...for someone who freezes almost anything I make, it never occurred to me to freeze roasted garlic. Duh!

I make mine like Ann_T's, but I use fresh herbs instead of dried. I always have oregano in my yard, and right now I have a lot of basil growing, but I never know when I'm going to get a good basil plant. I got lucky this winter.

When selecting canned tomatoes, make sure that they do not have citric acid added, as this is what gives them the tin flavor. The only ingredients in canned tomatoes should be tomatoes and tomato purée. I buy 6-in-one tomatoes, and they do have a bit of salt added, but not enough to alter the flavor that much.

You can find more info about tomato sauce recipes on the Pizza Making forum. The people there are very helpful. They helped me perfect my pizza dough recipe.

I've never had a white pizza, but if the sauce is anything like Alfredo, I would not like it - mainly because of the cream. If it had enough garlic and wine instead of milk or cream, I might like it. I would also have to put enough basil in it. I've had mushroom pizza that did not have tomatoes, and I liked that. It was mainly just a variety of mushrooms that had been sautéed with garlic before adding to the pizza. Parmesan cheese was added after cooking, and it had no mozzarella.

That does sound good. My BIL likes a white pizza. I just make a cream out of goat cheese with the stick blender and a bit of water. Caramelized onions, baby artichoke hearts, olives, mushroom, roasted garlic.

I had a good garlic harvest last season so just roasted another dozen heads. And a batch of mushroom/caramelized onions for the freezer.

More fun with roasted sauce. Ketchup. Less sweet and no corn syrup,

A cup of leftover sauce add

1 tbsp ac vinegar

1 tbsp worcestershire

1 tsp mustard powder

pinch of ginger, allspice, clove, cinnamon

1 tbsp sugar of choice...molasses, maple syrup, a dozen raisins, I use a couple dates

(children might need more sweet, brown sugar or more of above)

*I grind a tbsp of chia seed to thicken. Add a little at a time. Super thickener!

For a cocktail sauce add a big tbsp of fresh prepared horseradish to ketchup.

Add a tbsp or 2 of plain yogurt or mayo, tsp OldBay to above for a crab cake/fish cake sauce.

For a quick Mexican mole, soak in hot kettle water a few large and a couple small dried Mexican chilis, remove stem and seeds when soft. Cup of roasted sauce, one tbsp cocoa powder, the softened chilis, all go in the blender. We like extra cloves of garlic. A tsp peanut butter or tahini. Most groceries have Mexican dried chilis. The big ones are sweet, medium are mild, the tiny ones are usually very hot. Pic is from amazon....

Bbq sauce, ...no cocoa, more vinegar to taste.

Same peppers, soaked and de-seeded...homemade Paprika. Tear apart when soft and place in single layer on a sheet pan. Lowest heat in the oven or dehydrator. My oven starts at 120º but 170º is fine. Dry until crisp, Spice grind.

*I like using the sweet big ones and just one or two medium heat. Some are more smokey....still experimenting but so good and fresh.

2ManyDiversions mentioned not many options. My market in NY has probably 75, maybe more, canned and jared tomato choices. My vacation home where we often spend 2-3 months at a time, has one brand, whole, crushed, and a tiny paste can.

I do squeeze in a Costco jar of sun-dried in my limited food crate.

Roasting really helps tinned toms.

Thank you for the link Lars! and the canned tomato tips. I've had a couple white pizzas, pretty heavy on the garlic side (mmm-mmmm!) as well as cheese. I'd add white wine to my white sauce as biondanonima suggested. I don't heavily sauce my pizzas, so while it's like an alfredo, it wouldn't be thickly applied. Lars, I'm thinking some make white pizzas with little to no sauce... mostly cheeses and herbs.

I have egg on my face! ann_t, I just found your blog online, and all those wonderful recipes you've shared! Chicken Breasts stuffed with mushroom Duxelles ... I'll be making that soon!

You are all so generous!

I can't see everyone's posts today for some odd reason (cleaned cache, cleaned history) but can see email notifications, so please know I'm not ignoring comments or suggestions aimed toward me.

2Many, I like the Red/Gold brand of canned tomatoes. I find them in WalMart. Normally, I use home canned but have a couple of recipes (Italian Sausage, Cream & Penne) where I use RedGold diced tomatoes because they hold their shape. IMO, the flavor is very good. Actually, the flavor of Red/Gold is better than my home-grown tomatoes most years, the climate in Wisconsin not being conducive to growing great tasting tomatoes. (We do grow some phenomenal!! tasting potatoes, though. Didn't know how good potatoes could taste until I moved here.)

https://www.redgoldtomatoes.com/products

Our tomatoes were unusually pecked by birds before we tore it out, I used the last we had for tomato juice, so it will be next summer when our farmer's market opens before good tomatoes are available.

I like to make salsa year round with roasted tomatoes. When I don't have my own I use plum tomatoes from the grocery store, even in the dead of winter. Roasting works magic!

What I've learned about pizza sauce (red) is that the most important thing is marjoram, fresh or dried. Oregano and thyme, of course, but they're obvious for "Italian". Marjoram brings out the pizzainess. :)

Last summer, I made a ton of seedless, skinless dehydrated tomato sauce from my garden. Pure sauce, nothing added.

The sauce made from the dehydrated tomato is amazing. Not only it tastes super, but the sauce comes out very thick without boiling it down to thicken.

So many pizzas to make!

dcarch

sleevendog, thank you for the mole recipe! I miss good Mexican food now that I no longer live in NM… but I couldn’t find any dried peppers at the grocery yesterdy, so Amazon is my next attempt if they don’t stock up! And homemade Paprika???!!! I had no idea! Another item on my must do list! Thank you!!!!

ci_lantro, thank you. I guess I’ll just have to order them. Again, trip to grocers yesterday was a bust on so many levels. Only ‘Hunts” brand tomatoes : ( No dried chilis, no dried mushrooms, and the fresh were button or 1 container of ‘puckered’ portabellas. No corn tortillas for fish tacos. Good Grief! OTOH, CindyMac, did find some fresh plum tomatoes, so will roast those on the grill!

plllog, I'm adding dried marjoram from garden last summer to pizza sauce recipes, thank you!

dcarch, I’ve not made tomato sauce yet from our garden (and too late now for a while) so will put that on my list as well… I love making anything I can from scratch. Your sauce looks rich and yummy!

I plan to make 2 sauces tomorrow… roasted and uncooked. I think the roasted will be great for heartier meat-heavy pizzas, while the uncooked will add brightness (which I was looking for) to lighter pizzas, but I’m sure I’ll experiment with both!

Thanks to all!

Don't knock yourself out with the sauce. The best sauces are simple. The taste is in the toppings. Here's what I do. A can of San Marzano type tomatoes. Pulse it about three short bursts with a pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil. Refrains from using a lot of sauce on the pizza and weighing it down. A couple of tablespoons will do.

jerzeegirl, yep, that was my first mistake with pizzas, several times over... too much sauce! I only reduced the sauce with the last pizza, and remembered to brush the dough with garlic infused olive oil - made a huge difference.

That's the way I like it too!

Last year, I made one pizza every week and I learned a whole lot from my experiment. Not over topping the pizza was the one I learned almost immediately!. You cannot get a heavy pizza off a pizza peel very easily and the crust starts to get mushy if you don't bake it immediately. In fact, most of the times I prebake the pizza (around 2 to 3 minutes) just to make it easier to handle in a hot oven. It's not necessary but I like to do it anyway. I freeze them that way too.

I don't have a pizza/bread stone anymore, or a peel... I ordered a new one, it finally arrived this morning... broken. Dang! I am using the cast iron skillet method for now... I preheat the skillet on the cooktop to med-high, sprinkle some corn meal, put the dough in the skillet, let it bubble up a bit, place it in the hot oven for 2 minutes then out again for the olive oil, sauce, toppings. I've not tried the cast iron in our grill - rather wait to try grilling when I get a stone. The cast iron method is actually working though. I put the dough in the oven for 2 minutes so the upper crust won't be soggy. Seems to work.

Oh, don't tell DH you can't over-top a pizza! He wants every meat known to mankind, and a ton of cheeses on his, while I prefer it simple... : -)

Do you mean you freeze your baked pizzas? Or freeze them after...?

The cast iron pan is a fabulous way to make pizza. You are doing it exactly the way I did - on the cooktop first, then the oven. I made a deep dish in the skillet and I think that it was probably DH's favorite.

I have been working on DH regarding overtopping. I like simple also. My perfect pizza is marinara. He has a thing about cheese, and love tons of cheese on his pizza. And I can't stand tons of cheese - Pizza rule #1: you have to be able to see the sauce!

Regarding freezing. When I make the dough, it's good for two 12" pizzas. I roll out the two pizza crusts and bake them both for about 2 minutes each. I make the pizza on one parbaked crust and freeze the other. Then next week when I want a pizza I will have a crust already made. Just add ingredients! Perfect for a fast dinner.

I originally tried freezing the dough but I found that once I removed the dough from the freezer, I couldn't get it to relax easily. I still haven't figured out what I was doing wrong.

jerzeegirl, while I'm having some success with the cast iron, it's 10" on the bottom, and we need a wee bit bigger and I tend to mess up the dough getting it into the skillet - I still want a stone! Made another pie last night - way too much mushrooms, sausage, cheese, etc.! DH loved it, I found it far too filling! So you found 2 minutes to be the perfect parbaked crust too?! : - )

Hmmph, and I thought I was the queen of freezing - it had not occurred to me to freeze the crust after parbaking... I'll do that next time - what a time saver! Thank you!

I do freeze my raw dough... I let it thaw in the fridge (cold fermentation) - anywhere from 2 to 6 days works well. I let it proof in an oiled bowl in a warm location for 2-4 hours. Then I use this method to stretch, but where he 'pounds' in the middle I don't, I like to just form my crust, then use my balled up fists to rotate it... we like a thin crust and bubbly thicker edge : ) I'll set the dough down 3-4 times to check it, and by then it keeps shape.

This is the latest recipe I found that is a-mazing - ann_t'srecipe! I double the recipe, freezing all but one for a pie in a few days. At the bench cutting part is when I wrap to freeze.

To all those who contributed to this thread, thank you so much! I used roasted plum tomatoes, added herbs (yes, plllog's marjoram too!), garlic, and just blended to a rough sauce - the sauce was far better! Next time I'll try ann_t's method of good canned tomatoes (must find!). Not cooking the sauce is the key for me - so thank you everyone!!! Lars, wish I had fresh herbs now to use, but next summer I will!

I have annt's recipe on my list to try next! I can't wait.

Parbaking at 550 degrees on a steel takes me two to three minutes depending on the thickness. You can try one and gauge if it needs more time in your oven. I found some giant zip lock bags and there is no problem fitting the 12" crusts in it. For me the parbaked crust is easier to handle. I am not so great with that flip it from the peel onto the steel thing yet.

I know what you are saying about the 10" skillet - that's why I made the deep dish in mine....because it could be thicker and the crust could come up the side.

I wish my DH was a little bit more, let's say, discerning about pizza. He seems to like everything, even the ones that are not up to my standards. Sometimes I think that he thinks that if he critiques me, I will never make a pizza again. Everyone needs feedback, right???? lol.