About once a month, Ralph and I make sausage pizza from scratch.  It's his favorite day of the month - next to T-Bone Tuesday.  Here are some scratch pizza secrets we learned along the way:

1.  A good pan makes a world of difference.  We found one at Wal-Mart that's just about the best one we've ever used.  It's a heavy duty, non stick, 16-incher that produces a nice big pizza with a perfect crust.

2.  We use Bob's Red Mill Organic unbleached flour and pizza crust recipe Bob's Red Mill - increase sugar to about 3 teaspoons.  If you've got a heavy-duty electric stand mixer with dough hook, use that.  Ralph and I use ¾ of the dough to make one big pizza - instead of using 1/2 to make 2 smaller ones, like it calls for in the recipe.  We make a couple of breadsticks or rolls with the leftover dough and freeze them for later. 

3.  Get a can of pre-made pizza sauce (We like Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce) or make your own by combining 1 small can of tomato sauce with 1 can of tomato paste.  Doll up the sauce with 3 teaspoons sugar, 2 or 3 cloves of finely minced garlic (Ralph LOVES garlic) and about 1 teaspoon dried oregano. Heat the sauce for a few minutes to bring out the flavors.  

4.  Gently push dough out over the whole pan (working it from the middle out to the edges work best for us). 

5.  Spread sauce on crust (use as much or as little as you like...we always have some left), sprinkle with more oregano, several shakes of Parmesan Cheese, then add your favorite toppings and finish with Mozzarella cheese.  Ralph and I like to use 1 tube of the Jimmy Dean's Italian sausage (cooked and drained), sliced sweet onions, sliced green peppers, a small can of sliced black olives and then we top it all off with a 1 lb bag of Sargento's Mozzarella/Provolone Shredded Cheese blend. 

6.  Bake in a preheated 400º degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven, slice with a pizza wheel and PUG PIG OUT! Oh man, this is sooooo good.