Italian Bakery Style Pizza

My mom, Pat Christensen, taught me how to make pizza when I was in junior high school. I think this recipe came from a Betty Crocker cookbook, but I could be mistaken. I have had this recipe memorized for many years, as making a good pizza was a staple in college.

Ingredients

One batch Italian Bakery-Style Pizza Dough
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red chili flakes
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pepperoni, sliced
1 lb. Italian Sausage links, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces, browned
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 lb. mozzarella, grated

Directions

Prepare the dough as per the recipe provided above. Set aside in a warm place to rise. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare the sauce. In a medium glass bowl, combine the tomato sauce, tomato paste. Next, add the Italian seasoning, garlic powder chili flakes and black pepper. Cover and place in the refrigerator. Brown and drain the Italian sausage. Cover and place in the refrigerator. Chop the onion and green pepper, cover and set aside. Slice mushrooms, cover and set aside. Spray a 12 X 17 jelly roll pan with cooking spray. After one hour, punch down the pizza dough to get rid of the air bubbles and place in the jelly roll pan. Gently spread dough with your hands across and into the corners of the pan. Once dough is pressed out, let sit for 5 minutes. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the dough. Add a single layer of pepperoni over entire pizza. Next add sausage, onion, green pepper and finally the mushrooms. Place pizza in oven and bake, uninterrupted for 18 minutes. While pizza is baking, grate the mozzarella. After 18 minutes, removed pizza from oven and top with the mozzarella. Return pizza to oven and back until cheese is bubbly and the crust is a golden brown, about 5 or 6 more minutes. Remove pizza from oven and let stand a couple of minutes. Then, with a pizza cutter, cut pizza into squares and serve immediately.