Happy Saturday everyone! It’s the weekend which usually means make your own pizza at our house. Fun fact: I have not always been a huge fan of pizza. Growing up it just wasn’t my thing. I remember everyone always getting excited to have pizza night, but I just was never into it. It’s probably just been in the last 5 years that I have come to like it. It’s been a slow process, but now I’m a fan.
This pizza dough is something that I’ve been working on for a bit and I think I’ve finally nailed it. If you follow me on Twitter you’ve seen the new read that I’m currently obsessed with. It’s called Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. It’s based on standard ratios that are used to make hundreds of different baked goods. Once you know the simple ratios, you can make anything. This particular recipe, works really well being cooked in a cast iron pan. It makes it crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. It would also work on a pizza stone or sheet pan if that’s what you have available.
The fun part of make your own pizza night, is that you can top it however you like! The kids love it because they get exactly what they want and have fun making their own creations. I like brushing the crust with a little bit of olive oil before putting it in the oven and topping it with herbs or cheese. My homemade sauce works as a great base for all those delicious toppings.
Cast Iron Pan Pizza
This recipe makes enough dough for me to make two pizzas in my 10″ cast iron pan. I usually precook both crusts on the stove top and then finish them off, right on the oven rack. Sometimes I’ll double the recipe and then precook all the crusts to freeze for a fast lunch or dinner later. If I’m making just enough for dinner, I will make the dough in the morning and then leave in a zip top bag in the fridge until dinner time. If you are making all of it right away, I do recommend letting the dough rest for 30-60 minutes in the fridge. I also prefer to mix this by hand, but you can certainly do in a stand mixer if you like. It’s so quick and easy, I hate to dirty the mixer if I don’t have to!
Comment and let me know what your favorite pizza combinations are. If you make this recipe, make sure you share a photo with me, I’d love to see all of your creations! #SaporitoKitchen
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Cast Iron Pan Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water, 105-110 degrees
- 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Pizza Assembly
- 2 Tablespoons cornmeal
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup marinara or pizza sauce
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
- 1 medium tomato, sliced
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- In a large bowl add warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit for about 5 minutes, or until the yeast starts to get foamy.
- Add olive oil, salt and 4 cups of flour to the bowl and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.
- Turn dough out onto a counter and knead to combine all of the flour, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky. Dough should be tacky, but not stick to your fingers too much.
- Once dough is combined, shape into a round ball. Put the dough into a zip top bag and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30-60 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut into two pieces. Roll each piece of dough out into a 10" circle.
Pizza Assembly
- Preheat your oven to 525 degrees. While the oven is preheating, set the cast iron pan on the stove top and add a tablespoon of cornmeal to the bottom of the pan. It should be enough to just lightly coat the bottom of the pan.
- Press one of the rounds of dough into the bottom of the pan, pressing it out towards the edges the best you can.
- Turn on the burner to medium high heat and wait a few minutes for the pan to heat up. As the pan and the dough heats up, continue to press the dough out into the pan until it reaches the sides. Once it reaches the sides of the pan, press the dough down into the corners and up the sides to create a lip on all sides of the pizza.
- Let the dough continue to cook for a few more minutes until it starts to puff up and bubble slightly. You will know it's ready when you can easily push your fingers into the dough with little resistance.
- At this point you will take your fingers and mark up the dough to create little divots all over the bottom of the pizza. Brush the crust and dough with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
- Remove the crust from the pan and repeat the steps over for the second crust, or you can continue on to the next step to finish it in the pan.
- Once the crust is precooked and seasoned, you may top with the sauce and your toppings. Each pizza should take about 1/2 cup of sauce, 4 oz of sliced fresh mozzarella and 1/2 of a tomato that has been sliced. Alternate the slices of tomato and mozzarella on top of the sauce.
- Before the pizza goes into the oven, sprinkle the crust with 2 Tablespoons of the parmesan cheese. Put the pizza into the oven and continue to cook for approximately 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is slightly browned.
- If you decide to precook both crusts first, you can put toppings on the precooked crusts and finish them directly on the oven rack for the same amount of time, until crust is slightly browned and cheese is melted.
- Once the finished pizzas come out of the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes before cutting and top with chopped fresh basil.