Pizza Recipes -Basic Red Sauce

Nothing real hard here... basic red sauce. I make my own and am continuing to experiment. I like a tangy red sauce, little or no sugar, and I like to taste the oregano.

1 can (8 oz)Tomato paste

1 can tomato puree (29 oz?)

salt

Italian seasoning

oregano

Tomato Puree has no added salt or sugar. It is also fantastic to use a simple can of tomatoes, diced whole or crushed. You can mash them down or put them in a food processor. It will give you a nice fresh sauce. Everything I have read says if your oven is hot enough the sauce cooks on the pizza.

When you are done and you put the rest in the refrigerator in that washed out and recycled Bertolli sauce jar, it will thicken substantially. Use straight the first time and then expect you'll have to thin with water to use the next time.

Preheat your oven to 550. (See note below in red)

Toppings here are Mozerrella, Pepperoni, hot italian sausage that I smoked the night before, red onion, fresh tomato, and goat cheese.

Here she is slid into my little tiny gallery oven that has been preheating at 550 for about 40 minutes. I usually turn it on about 30 minutes before the dough is done.

Note!: Please look at my pizza stone below. I have heard of 2 different people having their stones crack in the oven at high temp. I think these are the thinner stones... mine is about 1/2" thick. With this type of stone you actually can put it in your self cleaning oven every couple of years and it comes out like new!

And here is the finished pie. I slide it onto a rack when fresh out of the oven so the bottom doesn't get soggy due to condensation... I then slide it onto a tray later or just the board for cutting!

Note: In this particualar case you'll see well done to burned edges on the sides that are too close to the oven wall. At my studio, I have a very small apartment oven. My pizza stone is 14 X 16, but won't even fit the wide way. I don't have these issues at home on a regular size oven.