There is no single authentic Italian tomato sauce for pizzas. Families pass down recipes through generations, they adapt, improve, rethink the ingredients, always changing with the times.
The only nailed down ‘authentic’ Italian tomato sauce is the one laid out by the AVPN, the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which insists all its tomato sauce ingredients come from Campania, the countryside surrounding Naples.
On a marinara, the AVPN allows oregano and garlic to join the tomato, but the Margherita has nothing more than the “densely enriched” tomato spiralled on to the pizza dough as a bed for the mozzarella and – after cooking – a few sprigs of fresh basil.
How do I make a pizza tomato sauce at home?
As with all cooking, the fresher and better your ingredients, the tastier your meal. And what ingredients you use really does come down to your own taste and preferences.
Some recipes recommend chopping all your uncooked ingredients or sticking them into a blitzer until the sauce has the consistency you like and using that as your sauce, straight on the pizza dough. Other recipes involve hours of toil over the stove, reducing and deepening the flavour.
What are good ingredients to use in a pizza tomato sauce?
Tomatoes, obviously, are a good start. A natural partner is garlic, as is balsamic vinegar, which pulls out the sweet tomatoey flavour and reduces the acidity. While mass-produced pizza tomato sauces use sugar, you really don’t have to. Instead, you could add a cube of dark chocolate, tomato puree or sun-dried tomatoes, fresh oregano, parsley or, if you like a little heat, a few chilli flakes.
What tomatoes should I use for a pizza tomato sauce?
Tomatoes come in many shapes and sizes. You might just use the traditional whole pomodoro pelato S.Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino D.O.P., the famous San Marzano tomatoes, with the stamp of approval from the AVPN. Or you might be happy to settle for organic chopped or crushed tomatoes. If you choose cheap chopped tomatoes, you might not get the flavour you want.
Should I cook the tomato sauce?
Some cooks blitz all the ingredients, which is fine – not very traditional, but fine. But cooking tomatoes gives you benefits that go way beyond taste. Cooked tomatoes have increased lycopene, which helps fight heart disease and cancer, and their antioxidants are even better at protecting against cell and tissue damage. The TL;DR: cooked tomatoes are more nutritious than uncooked.
The other benefit of cooking your tomato sauce it all those flavours melt into each other, adding a depth you won’t get otherwise. Reducing the sauce also removes the excess liquid, creating a thicker sauce which is easier to spread and keeps your pizza crisp. We all know no-one wants a soggy bottom.
What is your pizza tomato sauce tip, trick or favourite ingredient? Let us know.
Heritage Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Chilli Flakes pizza! A slight twist on the classic Margherita, this is made with a variety of in-season heritage tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, chilli flakes and a drizzle of basil oil and balsamic vinegar. Simple but super tasty! Pizza dough This recipe uses Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana recipe which can be found [...]
New York pizza? Chicago pizza? Surely pizza is pizza, right. Wrong. These two iconic US cities have pizza at their heart, but they both have a very different take on pizza. And they are at the heart of a heated debate about which is the best. Passions run high. Late-night satirist Jon Stewart – a [...]
Goats cheese, black olive and walnut Pizzetta! The combination for this pizzetta is a real winner and lends itself perfectly to a smaller format pizzetta. It’s salty, sweet, has great texture and makes a great change from having a tomato base. I’ve added a thin layer of caramelised onions and I’ve also candied the walnuts [...]
Smoked Pancetta, Mushroom & Thyme Pizza! This is a comfort-combo pizza that is the ideal partner for a chilled bottle of pét-nat on a summer evening. The smoky pancetta and mushroom really benefit from plenty of fresh thyme and the milky mozzarella pulls all the flavours together into a wood-fired delight. Finish with a good [...]
What goes into an authentic Italian tomato sauce
The only nailed down ‘authentic’ Italian tomato sauce is the one laid out by the AVPN, the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, which insists all its tomato sauce ingredients come from Campania, the countryside surrounding Naples.
On a marinara, the AVPN allows oregano and garlic to join the tomato, but the Margherita has nothing more than the “densely enriched” tomato spiralled on to the pizza dough as a bed for the mozzarella and – after cooking – a few sprigs of fresh basil.
How do I make a pizza tomato sauce at home?
As with all cooking, the fresher and better your ingredients, the tastier your meal. And what ingredients you use really does come down to your own taste and preferences.
Some recipes recommend chopping all your uncooked ingredients or sticking them into a blitzer until the sauce has the consistency you like and using that as your sauce, straight on the pizza dough. Other recipes involve hours of toil over the stove, reducing and deepening the flavour.
What are good ingredients to use in a pizza tomato sauce?
Tomatoes, obviously, are a good start. A natural partner is garlic, as is balsamic vinegar, which pulls out the sweet tomatoey flavour and reduces the acidity. While mass-produced pizza tomato sauces use sugar, you really don’t have to. Instead, you could add a cube of dark chocolate, tomato puree or sun-dried tomatoes, fresh oregano, parsley or, if you like a little heat, a few chilli flakes.
What tomatoes should I use for a pizza tomato sauce?
Tomatoes come in many shapes and sizes. You might just use the traditional whole pomodoro pelato S.Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino D.O.P., the famous San Marzano tomatoes, with the stamp of approval from the AVPN. Or you might be happy to settle for organic chopped or crushed tomatoes. If you choose cheap chopped tomatoes, you might not get the flavour you want.
Should I cook the tomato sauce?
Some cooks blitz all the ingredients, which is fine – not very traditional, but fine. But cooking tomatoes gives you benefits that go way beyond taste. Cooked tomatoes have increased lycopene, which helps fight heart disease and cancer, and their antioxidants are even better at protecting against cell and tissue damage. The TL;DR: cooked tomatoes are more nutritious than uncooked.
The other benefit of cooking your tomato sauce it all those flavours melt into each other, adding a depth you won’t get otherwise. Reducing the sauce also removes the excess liquid, creating a thicker sauce which is easier to spread and keeps your pizza crisp. We all know no-one wants a soggy bottom.
What is your pizza tomato sauce tip, trick or favourite ingredient? Let us know.
PDF DOWNLOAD: What goes into an authentic Italian tomato sauce? >
Related Posts
Heritage Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Chilli Flakes
What’s the difference between a New York and Chicago pizza?
Goats cheese, black olive and walnut Pizzetta
Smoked Pancetta, Mushroom & Thyme Pizza