If you make your own pizza...

[FrenchBoule]

... what topping combinations would you recommend?

How do you make your tomato sauce? Mine is tin of chopped tomatoes with garlic and a bit of tomato puree. Still a bit watery sometimes and not enough tomato tasting 🙄

[CherryPavlova]

I don’t make it so often now but bulk make the tomato topping and freeze in cubes. Sofrito, slowly sweated then passata, purée, pinch of sugar, freeze dried oregano, cooked slowly until reduced. Once defrosted I sometimes stir in some Parmesan.
Toppings we used to always do a buffet style ‘make your own’ with various things that we had in the fridge from pepperoni and pepper to pineapple and leftover sliced sausages. My husband and I like a simple pepperoni, onion and mushroom.
Cheese is again what’s in the fridge but options of grated mozzarella along with mozzarella slices, Stilton and feta. Sometimes cheddar with chilli, which is delicious on pizza.

[Trewser]

My dough recipe is done in 15 mins! Bbc good food pizza margarita in four easy steps. Brilliant.

[NumberblockNo1]

Jolly.... whats your dough recipe? Is that done in 20mins too...

Im so making pizza this weekend!

[JollyAndBright]

We make pizza a lot (at least once a week)

Years ago DP and I did a pizza ‘masterclass’ with a semi famous chef in Italy, it was amazing and some of the dishes we made with him were some of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

I still make the pizza sauce he taught us as its simple, easy to make and tastes incredible.

1 tin of really good Italian whole tomatoes.
a good glug of good olive oil
A couple of cloves of minced garlic
Fresh and dried oregano
1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauté the garlic until fragrant, in a bowl crush the tomatoes by hand then add to the pan.
Bring to a simmer then add the dried oregano and sugar.
Simmer on low uncovered for an hour then add the fresh oregano and S&P continue to simmer until its reduced down to the desired consistency, I find another 20 minutes is ideal.

This also times it perfectly with my dough recipe so it’s cooled just enough by the time we are ready for it.

[pourmeanotherglass]

Pizza dough from the Usborne beginners cookbook that one of the kids had when they were little. Sauce is passata.
Cheese is pre-grated mozzarella, as cheddar goes quite dark before the dough is cooked.
We make one each and do our own toppings.
DD1 is vegan and puts loads of veg on with no cheese.
DD2 just likes cheese and egg, but might add sweet corn if DD1 has opened a tin.
DH likes spicy meat if we have any in, with maybe some red peppers.
I like spinach and veg and sometimes an egg if I fancy one.

[30not13]

Passatta with garlic puree and a good splurge of tomato ketchup.

Base is one part natural yogurt to 2.5 parts flour.

Toppings.. I'm a fan of only one or two toppings at a time, usually a meat product and a vegetable. Plus the cheese of course! Currently t fave haggis and mushroom 😍

[Mitebiteatnite]

Pasta sauce was all the above but with 2 carrots, a huge courgette and 3 peppers added. You have to season it a little more, but the end result was fantastic and DCs can't get enough of it (and all its hidden veggie goodness)

[Mitebiteatnite]

We've had a serious glut of homegrown tomatoes this year so I've made every kind of sauce imaginable. Pizza sauce came out perfectly!

I used a roasting dish full of sliced plum toms (I chucked them in with skins on as our blender is seriously powerful) chucked in a small chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Drizzled with a bit of olive oil then roasted for about 30 mins. Took it out, blended it to smithereens, then put in a pan on the hob. Added salt and pepper to taste and a teaspoon of sugar. Then dried oregano and basil. Reduced it down for about an hour. It was perfect!

[Trewser]

AndMiffyWentToSleep that's what i do. Brilliant.

[Trewser]

Yes snog me too. No need really for expensive jars and tins full of additives.

[Snog]

I make the tomato sauce by stick blending a can of tomatoes! V easy and the pizzas go down well.

[PigeonofDoom]

Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s (and probably most big supermarkets) sell little jars of ready made pizza sauce. I use those when I don’t have time to boil down passata. They actually taste pretty good but remember that less is more when it comes to pizza sauce.

[stucknoue]

If using fresh tomatoes make sure they are ripe and roast in the oven for 30 mins before making the sauce to concentrate the flavour, using canned is easier of course, but you need to cook it down to reduce by half I find. My preference for speed is to use pesto rosso (with sun dried tomatoes) goats cheese, caramelised onion chutney and mozzarella.

[Trewser]

Toppings are lots of mozerella, anchovies and olives for me and dd2, chorizo or salami for dh,.plain mozzarella for dd3

[Slacktacular]

I’ve tried loads of options but now always use Pizza Express tinned passata. It’s the perfect consistency - thicker than the stuff in a jar or carton and doesn’t leave you with a soggy pizza. Half a can does pizzas for my family of 5 so even though it’s about £1 a tin, I can freeze the other half or add to a bolognese sauce or similar.

[Trewser]

boujie i make that sauce too for pasta. Isn't it great!

[Trewser]

I use a cheap tin of tomatoes blitzed in the processor and then crushed garlic salt and pepper stright in. Leave it to think about itself while i make the base. I use a very thin layer. I make the BEST pizza!

[Frouby]

Chopped tinned tomatoes and tomato puree, with Italian herbs for a base, ratio of 50/50 mixed up well, preferably in a blender.

Toppings are tuna for ds, alldameat for dh, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn and black olives for veggie dd.

And mine is anchovies, pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives and sweet red peppers. Mozzarella cheese topping on all.

I also make special garlic pizza bread. Lots of the tomato base, a sprinkle of mozz cheese and a fuckton of garlic butter with parsley drizzled over.

Used to work in a pizza shop when I was a teen and still use the same recipes for base, garlic butter and toppings.

[user1474894224]

We often just use whatever jar of pasta sauce I have in the cupboard for a topping. Recently I have used tomato puree watered down - it's surprisingly nice and sweet.

[solittletime]

M and S passata with olive oil salt and garlic. No need to pre cook and don't put too much on depending on how "saucy" you like it!

[boujie]

The absolute best and simplest sauce:

800g tinned tomatoes
An onion, peeled and cut in two
70g butter
Salt to taste

Put all the ingredients in a pan and simmer until it has reduced to the desired thickness (I usually leave it 40 mins on a medium low heat).

Once thick enough, fish out the two onion halves and either compost them or keep them to blitz up in something else.

You cannot believe how anything so simple can be so perfect but it's the best tomato sauce I've ever tasted (inc in Italy). The first time I made it it smelled so incredible from the outset that I could hardly wait for it to cook. The butter brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes and makes the sauce so velvety and silky. The onion gives it a delicate flavour without overwhelming it.

I'm a traditionalist so I just top with good quality mozzarella and a little basil.

[loutypips]

Boring toppings here! Dd has a margarita and I just have mushrooms.

I use passata for the sauce, add in a few herbs and then reduce it down quite a bit. You could always add a little bit of tomato purée to give it a little more flavour.

[NumberblockNo1]

Ooh following simply to make me try this! I wont e reducing anything for an hour as dont have time but will do other things!

[AndMiffyWentToSleep]

Radical option here but smitten kitchen suggest using uncooked, drained whole tinned tomatoes: smittenkitchen.com/2013/10/lazy-pizza-dough-favorite-margarita-pizza/

I’ve tried it and it works!

[Kaz2200]

Easiest base ever, natural yogurt and plain flour, season and roll out as thin as you can, perfect.