Deep Dish Pizza

In med. bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes until small bubbles form on the surface. Stir in rest of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Stir in flour - 1 cup at a time - to make a soft dough.

Turn dough out on lightly floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. Put in greased bowl; cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, 45 to 60 minutes. Punch dough down. Brush bottom of 14 inch diameter, 2 inch deep, round pizza pan with remaining olive oil; sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough in bottom and up sides of pan. Rim of dough should be 1/2 inch wide. Let rise about 20 minutes, uncovered.

Filling - form sausage into 3/4 inch balls and brown in non-stick skillet; pour off grease; drain sausage balls on paper towels. Drain tomatoes thoroughly by pressing between paper towels until most of moisture is absorbed. Coarsely chop tomatoes.

Assemble pizza - place mozzarella in dough-lined pizza pan. Arrange sausage and tomatoes on top. Combine oregano, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and crushed fennel seed and sprinkle over pizza. Top with even sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Place pizza in oven preheated to 500 degrees; immediately reduce to 450 degrees. Bake 25 minutes or until crust and cheese are golden brown. Remove from pan.