Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

[Ken524]

A few weeks back I pulled out my treasured can of San Marzano tomatoes and followed the Forno Bravo instructions for making sauce. This was my first attempt at using canned San Marzano's.

The sauce was watery/runny and the first pizza had very soggy crust. With each successive pizza I used less and less sauce (there really wasn't that much on the first one).

Was I supposed to strain the can of tomatoes before adding the herbs and using the potato masher?

We had quite a bit of the sauce left over so I put it into a ziplock and froze it. Tonight, we are going to make pizza and I'm thawing out the sauce. Should I strain it?

We've never had soggy crust before (I've been using canned sauces), so we were all a bit surprised by it.

Thanks!

[n2iko]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

I generally drain the whole tomatoes through a sieve before crushing. Then I crush by hand.
--mr.jim

[james]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

I do as well. I hand pick the tomatoes out of the can, leaving the juice behind. Then I pass them through the mill.

I heard once that when you are using a fresh sauce, you should put it on thin enough to where you can see the dough underneath the sauce.

James

[mfiore]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

I also agree. I typically strain canned tomatoes (even fresh if they seem to have a lot of water content)

[dmun]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

You could do the yogurt trick: line a strainer with cheesecloth and dump the tomatoes in, oven a bowl in the fridge. They would probably get thicker than you want, but you could re-add the tomato juice to get the right consistency.

Me? I use pasta sauce in jars. Since you only use two big spoonfuls per pizza, it's easier to keep what's left over. A lot of the chunky sauces are really good with fresh flavor.

[Ken524]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

Me? I use pasta sauce in jars. Since you only use two big spoonfuls per pizza, it's easier to keep what's left over. A lot of the chunky sauces are really good with fresh flavor.

That's what we typically do. Convenience!

I ended up putting a coffee filter in a mesh strainer and poured in the sauce. After 30 minutes I had a really nice consistency that made excellent pizza.

Next time, I'll pick out the tomatoes as James mentioned.

[FigliodiMariaeGiovanni]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

Yes the San Marzano pomodori can be a bit watery, so the best thing to do is retain the juice in the can and pull the tomatoes out and just crush by hand. I use the juice in a soup mixture.

Roberto

[Ken524]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

Thanks Roberto!

[FigliodiMariaeGiovanni]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

No problem, but I also want to tell you about a great brand of crushed tomatoes from right here in NJ.

It's Sclafani Crushed, and it makes a great conventional pizza sauce for when I make pizza for the kids with regular shredded mozzarella. I don't like their other tomato products as much but I swear by the crushed.

here's an image:
http://www.ibfoods.com/assets/items/.../sclafani1.jpg


Roberto

ps- I'm looking forward to having a forno a legna soon!

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

I strain whole tomatoes as well...all that strained tomato juice usually ends up in a bloody mary at my house!

[FigliodiMariaeGiovanni]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

Drake,

I was going to mention that as well! But since I am new to this forum, I didn't want to make a mala figura!

R

[Ken524]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

Thanks for the lead on the tomatoes Roberto. I wonder if they carry those in Kentucky? I'll have to check their website.

OK. Let me make sure I got it:

New Jersey crushed tomatoes - strained.
Bloody Mary while cooking pizza.

GOT IT!
(I learn so much useful stuff here )

[asudavew]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

My first try with San M's resulted in a wet pie too.

The next time I hand crushed the tomato's and put them in a strainer.
Seems like that's the consensus around here. Glad you worked it ou.

So what did you think about them? Did you like the pizza better with the San M.'s or with regular sauce?

I like both, my wife swears by the San M's, and my kids... they like the canned sauce.


Dave

[james]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

... and my kids... they like the canned sauce.


Dave

Dave,

That makes sense to me. I've said this before -- I think the modern diet trains kids to like the prepared foods (with salt, sugar and preservatives). I think their tastebuds get de-sensitized. :-)

We try to get our daughters accustomed to whole foods, but it can be an uphill battle. Every once in a while we have something that I think tastes really artificial and the kids just love it.

James

[rlf5]

Re: Soggy crust with San Marzano's?

I pour everything into a fine sieve and let it drain for about 10 mins or so. Gets rid of most of the water. Then I put everything else back into to bowl to make sauce. That way, i'm only getting rid of nasty water and not the good stuff.