Pizza

Preheat oven and baking stone to 450° F.

Mix yeast with sugar, add warm water.
Add melted shortening (not too hot) or olive oil.
Add salt.
Beat in 2-1/2 cups of flour, then add remaining flour and kneed.
Set in greased bowl, cover, set in warm place (I use the top of preheating oven) to rise until double in bulk, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Punch down dough, divide into two.
Press each part into a 12-inch pizza pan, or baking sheet (we use a stone, so I use a rolling pin to form the crust into shape).
Brush with olive oil, spread tomato sauce (we use Prego spaghetti sauce), Cover with mozzarella cheese and other toppings.

Bake in hot oven until crust is blistered and well-browned, and the cheese melted. Using the stone causes the crust to begin baking as soon as I lay the crust on it, then I add the sauce and toppings.
I let the pizza bake on the stone for about 7 to 10 minutes, then slide the pizza off of the stone onto the oven's baking rack for another 3 to 6 minutes. The bottom crust browns and becomes a little more crisp.

• Add 1 tsp granulated garlic and/or 1 tsp dry chicken flavored base (example). I do this almost every time.
• Ragú Alfredo sauce with chicken and fresh veggies is fun.
• When I use pepperoni now I first fry it slowly. It becomes crisp and loses a lot of greasy fat.
• Sometimes we have used frozen stir-fry veggies if we don't have fresh on hand. The pizza may look a little odd with tiny corn cobs and carrots, but it tastes great.
• The recipe works fine for quick breadsticks, too. Make an extra half batch (or only one pizza) and form sticks however fat you want them. I spray some butter- or olive-flavored no-stick oil on them then add a little granulated garlic of cheese.