By Shelly Lurie

Everyone loves pizza. It warms our hearts, our bellies, and of course our ovens with its melty, gooey, delicious cheesiness.  The great thing about pizza is you can satisfy everyone in the family because there are so many different toppings to choose from!  Whether you enjoy a classic Plain Jane cheese pizza, a meat-lovers pizza, or a veggie covered pie, adding different toppings is so easy. I would like to argue that you can put almost anything on top of a pizza and it will taste good! And for those of us who may not be the most seasoned chefs, homemade pizza is easy and fun to make! I do suggest though that you grab a friend or two to help.

What’s even more special about this particular pizza recipe is… it can be made with ALL union-made ingredients! When you make this pizza, not only will you be satisfying your stomach, but also satisfying America’s hunger for good jobs! This is the first of a series of recipes we here at 411 will be trying that are made with almost entirely union-made products!

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the crust:

• 1 teaspoon Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast
• 2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour- Gold Medal Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt – Morton Salt 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil – Wesson

Toppings:

• Tomato Sauce (1 jar)- Prego  or Classico
• Shredded Cheese (1-2 packets)- Kraft
• Grated Parmesan Cheese (1 container)- Kraft

Optional Toppings:

• Pepperoni- Hormel
• Sausage- Hormel or Johnsonville or Farmer John
• Ham- Oscar Meyer or Hillshire Farm
• Produce: Bell Peppers, Avacado, Onion, etc.- Andy Boy or Muranaka  (look for the UFW black eagle)
• Mushrooms- Monterey Mushrooms or Family Farms or Del Fresh

Directions:

1. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the warm water in a large bowl. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir to dissolve. Mix in the flour, salt and olive oil. When the dough is too thick to stir, turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for 5 minutes (knead in a little more flour if the dough is too sticky). Then place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover it, and set the bowl aside in a warm place to rise until the dough is doubled in size. 
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
3. When the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and flatten it on a lightly floured surface. Roll or stretch out the dough into a 12 inch circle, then place it on a lightly oiled baking pan.
4. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce evenly over the dough, leaving about a half an inch for the crust. Then sprinkle chees on top of the sauce. (If you like your pizza cheesy, sprinkle enough cheese so that most of the tomato sauce is covered)
5. Add your other desired toppings.
6. Place in preheated oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes-until the bottom of the crust is browned and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Then remove pizza from the oven.
7. Let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

We went to Ralph’s, a unionized grocery store, to get our ingredients. The biggest challenge was finding union produce. After searching for over 30 minutes, we settled on USA grown avocado, onion, and peppers. In the end, we were unable to find all union-made ingredients, but we were able to purchase all USA made or grown. After the pizzas were cooked, we brought them into the office for a taste test. Everyone thought that all the toppings tasted great and overall, it was a success in the Union Kitchen!