128-ounce canwhole or crushed San Marzano–style tomatoes
Instructions
If whole tomatoes:
Dump tomatoes into a large non-reactive bowl, keeping a little of the juice they were packed in (but not too much).
Crush with your hands until tomatoes are pulpy strands not that much more coarse than, say, a Slurpee. (If you have a food mill, run the tomatoes through it using the large disk.)
Add salt to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon.
If crushed:
Open can, dump tomatoes into a large non-reactive bowl. Stirring, add salt to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon.
Notes
My favorite canned tomato to use at home is Sclafani's crushed tomato product. I find its straight-out-of-the-can consistency to be perfect for most of the pizzas I make at home. It has a great flavor, too—obviously, or I wouldn't use it.The thing about tomatoes, though, is that you should use what you prefer. I've learned after many years and talking to many pizza-makers that there is no single best tomato. Everyone seems to have their preference. So try different products from time to time and make a not on what you like.A note about whole vs. crushed tomatoes: Many sauce recipes will tell you to avoid crushed. And… they're not wrong. Whole tomatoes are whole. There's not much room to interpret that. But "crushed" leaves a lot of room for variations in consistency. Some are chunky, some are smooth, some have (I stopped buying whole and crushing them myself when I found Sclafani.)