I rarely buy prepared food or dine out anymore.
Pizza is something I love and I've been playing with recipes and methods for awhile.
Through all the forums, sites etc I stumbled upon a sauce recipe that I now use every time. Anyone I treat to it or share the recipe with really likes it also.
It's pretty simple, it's a "clone" of a local Chicago Pizza place sauce.
1 can (28oz) Tomato Puree
1/8 tsp ground Cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp fine sea salt or table salt
1 Tbsp grated Pecorino or Romano cheese.
1 to 2 tsp granulated sugar (I just use 1tsp)
Combine all ingredients and half of the sugar,
Adjust seasonings to taste (more sugar? more salt?).
Use immediately or refrigerate for later use.
I haven't found a pizza dough recipe I care for that much. My preferred crust is a thin cracker like crust.
My deep dish recipe is pretty dialed in with this sauce and a cold proofed dough recipe I've been playing with over a couple of years. I've used my deep dish dough recipe on my thin crust, rolling it real thin and it is acceptable. Not the cracker crust I'm looking for though.
I've been buying pre-made crusts by Pastorelli for my thin crust pizzas and they are good enough it's hard to get motivated to make a real dough. I've used Boboli crusts also but the Pastorelli crusts are thinner.
Johnsonville Sausage will work in a pinch. I found a local small grocer that makes their own sausage and it is a legitimate sausage like you would find in a ma and pa pizza place.
On thin crust pizza I cut the veggies real thin and put them on top vs under the cheese. Keeps things from getting too soggy.
Another thing I've just done in search of good home made pizza is I've purchased a 1/4 inch plate of steel that fits on my oven rack and seasoned it like a pan. I preheat the oven a solid 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour before cooking.
