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If you like to have pizza every now and then, you would know that a good slice isn’t just about the cheese or the types of crust. To give the best flavours to a pizza, the sauce has a key role which cannot be overstated. While a classic pizza and pasta can be bought from your store next door, you’d never know the amount of preservatives and the quality of ingredients used.
So, if you are planning to bake a pizza at home, the best way is to make the pizza sauce from scratch. Starting from picking fresh and good-quality tomatoes to having the patience while the sauce simmers and finally seasoning it right, making pizza sauce is truly an enriching experience. But if you want to perfect its taste, here are some handy hacks to enhance the flavour.
Fresh Tomatoes
The key ingredient required to make pizza sauce is tomatoes. So, the quality of the tomatoes you’re using will make or break the taste of the pizza you’re baking. While it is recommended that you use fresh and ripe tomatoes, you can also get good-quality canned tomatoes. Just note that canned tomatoes are usually sweeter, so you’ll have to adjust the spices accordingly.
Blend The Ingredients
If you are someone who likes to have a smooth pizza sauce, you should blend the ingredients well before spreading it on the pizza base. Be it the tomatoes or the assorted vegetables you add to flavour it, you can choose to use pureed veggies or blend it after simmering. Once smooth, if you want to make the pizza sauce thicker, all you need to do is let it simmer without any cover, allowing some of the liquid to evaporate.
Let It Simmer
The most important thing to note while making pizza sauce is to be patient. You’ll only get thick and good-quality sauce if you allow it to simmer till the flavours meld together. As a thumb rule, you can break it into steps, starting with sauteeing onion and garlic, adding tomatoes and simmering till they soften. Finally, you can add your favourite herbs.
Season Gradually
To build the right balance of flavours, gradually add seasoning whilst tasting and checking the sauce. Once the tomatoes are softer, you can add salt to enhance the natural sweetness. After tasting, you can add some sugar as per your liking. But remember, adding more seasoning than fixing an over-seasoned sauce is easier.
Using Olive Oil
When it comes to making Italian delicacies, using olive oil can be a game changer. Right from sauteeing garlic and onion, you can use regular oil with olive oil to ensure that the flavours spread throughout the sauce. Also, to make the pizza sauce smoother, you can add a tablespoon of olive towards the end simmering and then stir well to mix it.
