This is a delicious pizza crust recipe that is not too difficult to make.

Everyone loves pizza and has their favorite pizza recipes, whether they make it homemade or order in.

I have included lots of suggestions for sauces and pizza toppings.

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening
1 3/4 cups flour
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Soften yeast in luke warm water for 10 minutes.

Place sugar, salt, shortening and boiling water in a large bowl, stir until sugar and shortening dissolve. Cool to lukewarm. Add yeast mixture.

Add 1/2 cup flour and beat until smooth. Add remaining flour or enough to make dough just barely firm enough to handle.

Knead until smooth on a lightly floured board. Divide in half. Knead each piece into a smooth ball. Flatten each ball on to a lightly greased round or rectangular pizza pan. Press out to spread the dough around the pan, creating a slight rim round the edge. Let rise for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 500ºF.

Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Add your favorite toppings (see our suggested list below).

Bake for 8-12 minutes. The edges will be a nice golden brown when it's done.

Makes one large size pizza crust (exact dimensions depend on how thick or thin you roll out the dough.

Pizza Sauces:

Tomato sauce
Pesto Sauce
Olive oil or seasoned olive oil
Barbecue sauce
Thai chili sauce

Pizza Toppings:

Cheese of course - anything that melts well like mozzarella, but also try asiago, parmesan, cheddar, brie (but I would use a different sauce for brie, maybe a creamy sauce)
Sliced pepperoni
Sliced mushrooms
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced green, red, orange and yellow peppers
Sliced onion
Sliced green or black olives
Cooked chopped bacon
Pineapple sections
Chopped cooked ham
Cooked ground beef
Sliced hot peppers
Cooked sliced chicken
Hot sauce
Chopped broccoli
Sun dried tomatoes
Artichokes
Eggplant
Zucchini