Yes — and it’s actually the correct Italian technique. Tomato skins contain concentrated flavour compounds and lycopene. When blended smooth in a high-powered blender or processed through a food mill, they’re completely undetectable in texture. The exception: if you’re using a stick blender or less powerful blender, some skin fragments may remain. A quick pass through a fine mesh strainer solves this — but you’ll only lose texture, not flavour. Traditional Italian sauce-making never involved peeling — food mills have always been used precisely to avoid this step while retaining all the flavour.

DOP San Marzano tomatoes are a specific variety grown in a specific place under specific conditions — the volcanic soil of the Sarno River plain near Mount Vesuvius. The minerals in this soil, combined with the microclimate, produce tomatoes with lower acidity, higher sugar content, fewer seeds, and thicker flesh than any other variety. A tin of genuine San Marzano (look for the DOP seal and the long, elongated tomatoes) is meaningfully, noticeably different from supermarket tinned tomatoes. The difference is most apparent in raw or lightly cooked preparations — in a long-cooked Bolognese, it matters less. For pizza sauce, it matters a lot.

Three likely causes: 1) Burned garlic — the most common cause of bitter pizza sauce. Even slightly over-cooked garlic produces bitterness that permeates everything. 2) Poor-quality olive oil — cheap olive oil develops bitter notes when heated. 3) Seeds of an underripe or poor-quality tomato — remove these if using tomatoes with very pale, hard seeds. Fixes: add a pinch of sugar (correct for tomato acidity), add more basil (its natural sweetness counterbalances bitterness), or start again with new garlic. A small amount of bitter note is normal and expected in a well-made tomato sauce — only excessive bitterness needs correction.

Much less than you think. For a 12-inch pizza: 2–3 tablespoons (60–90ml) maximum. Spread in a thin spiral from the centre, leaving a 1-inch uncovered edge for the crust. Too much sauce creates steam during baking — the steam prevents the base from crisping and causes the toppings to slide. The sauce should be visible as a thin, even layer — not pooling or thick. If you can see the sauce squishing up between the cheese as you spread, you’ve added too much. The Italian rule: you should be able to count how many tomato seeds are on the pizza.

Absolutely — it’s genuinely excellent pasta sauce. The difference between pizza sauce and pasta sauce is primarily consistency and seasoning. For pasta: use the sauce slightly thinner (add a ladle of pasta cooking water), season more aggressively, and finish with a more generous amount of olive oil off the heat. Add the cooked pasta directly to the sauce in the pan — let it finish cooking for 60 seconds in the sauce so the pasta absorbs it. Top with Parmigiano Reggiano and serve immediately. One batch of pizza sauce = sauce for two pasta dinners. The arrabbiata variation makes particularly outstanding pasta.

Yes — and Italian cooks have always done this. Tinned tomatoes and out-of-season fresh tomatoes can be quite acidic. A small amount of sugar — half a teaspoon for a full batch — balances the acidity without making the sauce taste sweet. You should not be able to taste sweetness in the finished sauce; you should only notice that the acidity has softened. Taste the sauce before adding sugar — ripe summer tomatoes may need none at all. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) is an alternative neutraliser that doesn’t add sweetness but changes the colour slightly.

Authentic Neapolitan pizza uses raw (uncooked) sauce — specifically raw crushed San Marzano tomatoes. The reasoning: in a wood-fired oven at 800–900°F, the pizza cooks in 60–90 seconds. The sauce “cooks” on the pizza without being separately cooked. Most home ovens reach 250–280°C maximum — significantly lower, with a much longer bake time. For home ovens, cooked sauce is generally preferable — it concentrates flavour and removes excess moisture that would otherwise make the pizza soggy during the longer bake. Both approaches are historically valid. Try both and decide which you prefer.

Technically yes — but olive oil is not optional in authentic Italian pizza sauce. The oil does three things: it gently cooks the garlic to release its flavour compounds into a fat-soluble base; it prevents the sauce from scorching; and it adds flavour. In a properly made Italian tomato sauce, the olive oil becomes fully incorporated into the sauce during cooking and blending — you don’t see it as a separate layer. Substituting other oils: neutral oils (sunflower, avocado) work functionally but produce a different, less complex flavour. The specific peppery, grassy character of good olive oil is part of what makes Italian tomato sauce Italian.