Tools
Salt for pizza tomato sauce: the calculation
The sauce of a Neapolitan pizza is not cooked: crushed peeled tomatoes and salt, nothing more. I salt at 1 % of the tomato weight, so 10 g per kilo, and my personal preference is 0.8 %, so 8 g per kilo.
A raw sauce, a single seasoning
On a Neapolitan pizza, tomato sauce is not a cooked preparation. You crush peeled tomatoes lightly, ideally by hand or with a food mill, and salt them. That is all. The tomato will already get a very strong heat shock in the oven: there is no need to cook it beforehand.
Since salt is the only seasoning, the dose matters. I always calculate it as a percentage of the tomato weight, exactly as I calculate the salt in a dough as a percentage of the flour. The dough calculator works on the same principle.
Two doses
| Dose | Salt per 100 g of tomatoes | For 400 g | For 1 kg | For 2.5 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic, 1 % | 1 g | 4 g | 10 g | 25 g |
| Milder, 0.8 % | 0.8 g | 3.2 g | 8 g | 20 g |
The classic dose is 1 g of salt per 100 g of tomatoes. My personal preference is 0.8 g, a slightly less salty sauce. The calculator lets you choose between the two.
Which tomato
A good sauce starts with a good peeled tomato. San Marzano, grown around Naples under a protected designation, has a more intense flavour: it is the tomato for simple pizzas such as the Margherita or the Marinara. It costs more, and on a heavily topped pizza it matters less.
Ordinary peeled tomatoes remain a very good choice, especially for a classic pizza. In my view they beat most passatas and ready-made pizza sauces. Toppings are covered in tomato and mozzarella.
From bowl to oven
The sauce cooks only once: on the pizza, in a very hot oven, in 60 to 90 seconds for a traditional Neapolitan. What happens during that very short bake is explained in baking Neapolitan pizza.
Frequently asked questions
How much salt for 400 g of peeled tomatoes?
4 g at 1 %, or 3.2 g at 0.8 %. The calculator works it out for any weight of tomatoes.
Should Neapolitan pizza sauce be cooked?
No. Peeled tomatoes are simply crushed, by hand or with a food mill, then salted. The sauce cooks only once, in the oven, on the pizza.
Which tomatoes should I choose?
Peeled tomatoes. San Marzano, grown in the Naples area, has a stronger flavour and suits pizzas where tomato takes centre stage, such as the Margherita or the Marinara. Ordinary peeled tomatoes remain a good choice, often better than passata or ready-made pizza sauces.