Cast Iron Pan Pizza
- Sponge: 1 to 2 days in advance
- Rising time for dough in pan: 2 hours
- Pizza prep and assembly: 20 minutes
- Pizza baking time: 20 to 25 minutes
Ingredients
13-inch cast iron skillet
Olive Oil For Pan:
Pizza Sauce:
Optional Meat:
- ½ pound of meat of your choice (options include pepperoni, cooked Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, etc.)
Cheese:
- ½ pound grated mozzarella cheese, low moisture part skim (2 cups)
- ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmesan
Optional Vegetable Toppings:
- ¼ to ½ cup red onion, finely chopped
- ½ yellow or red pepper, finely chopped
- 8 mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 head of roasted garlic
- Sliced black olives
Basil:
- ½ cup loosely chopped fresh basil
Ingredients
(serves 4)
Section
Instructions
-
If you prefer a homemade pizza crust, prepare pizza sponge 1 to 2 days in advance of making pizza.
- Divide the dough in half.
- Form 2 dough balls.
- Place 1 dough ball on a lightly floured surface.
- Cover the dough ball loosely with saran wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Wrap the other dough ball tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate or freeze.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a 13-inch cast iron skillet.
- Place the ball of dough in the pan and turn to coat evenly with oil.
- Using a flat palm, press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Try to get the dough as close to the edge of the pan as possible. If it doesn't quite reach the edges, don't worry, it will expand to the edge as it rises.
- Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for two hours.
- While waiting for the dough to rise, prep toppings of your choice. Refrigerate until ready to bake pizza.
- Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
- Preheat oven to 500°.
- After the dough had risen for 2 hours remove plastic wrap from the cast iron pan.
- If the dough has not quite filled the bottom of the pan to the edges, gently press the dough out until it reaches the edges.
- Lift up one edge of the dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape and repeat, moving around the dough until there are no air bubbles left underneath and the dough is evenly spread around the pan.
- Spread the pizza sauce over the dough.
- If using meat of your choice, distribute evenly over the sauce.
- Sprinkle your choice of vegetable toppings over the sauce and meat.
- In a bowl, combine the 3 cheeses.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the pizza.
- Scatter the fresh basil leaves over the cheese.
- Drizzle the top with olive oil.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbly and bottom is golden brown and crisp when you lift it with a thin spatula.
- Remove the pizza from the oven.
- Cut into six slices and serve immediately.
Comments
This is a very easy recipe. The pizza crust will be nice and crisp on the bottom and thick and chewy as you bite into it.