Tomato Basil Pizza

I can't believe I haven't shared this yet.  It's just plain wrong.  For awhile there, I was making it every week.  It's the first dinner I made when we moved to Alaska.  It was a Thursday night and we were watching Fringe on Hulu as we ate.  So now I always feel the need to make it on a Thursday night.  Maybe when we get our cable hooked up (we're going on a month without) we'll be able to make this pizza and watch Fringe again. 

The secret ingredient is the sugar.  Please don't leave it out, no matter how weird it sounds to you. 

Tomato Basil Pizza

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease a round pizza pan with Crisco.  (Seriously, don't spray it with Pam.  Pam and Crisco are not the same thing and your crust won't be crisp and flavorful if you use Pam.  It will instead be dry and flavor-less on the bottom.)

Crust:
2 packets of dry pizza crust mix
2 T. white sugar
2 t. basil
2 t. garlic powder
1 t. oregano
1 cup hot water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then stir in the hot water.  Cover with a kitchen towel and place on the back of the stove to warm, rise a bit, and blend for about 10 minutes.

Spread the crust on the greased pizza pan.  You might need to flour it a bit in order to roll it out.  BAKE the crust at 425 degrees for about 5 minutes.  This firms it up and is an important step.  No one likes soggy pizza crust.

Tomatoes:
2 Roma tomatoes (Sometimes I only have one and it still works.  Use what you've got.)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. garlic powder

Slice the tomatoes and mix in a bowl with oil and spices.
Lay the tomatoes onto the baked crust and then cover with mozzarella, parmesan, and/or both.  (Once again, whatever you've got.)

Bake again at 425 degrees until the crust is browned on the bottom and the cheese is melted on top.  Then, broil for a few minutes until it is brown and bubbly on the top.

 For some reason, I don't have a picture of the baked pizza, but this is a photo of the pizza before it went into the oven.  I should give credit to Justine for this pizza.  She taught Denny how to make it and Denny introduced it to me.  Thank you!

*UPDATED 4/10/11*
A picture of the finished product!