Another quick pizza night – cast iron pan pizza?
Take about 1 pound of pizza dough (see below), 1/2 cup of your favourite sauce ($1 can of pizza sauce from your local grocery store is fine), 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella, whatever toppings you want on top of the cheese, and then optional 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, generous pinch of kosher salt, some fresh basil leaves .
Preheat oven at 450Fwith the cast-iron skillets.
Pat the dough into an 8″ circle, let rest 20-30 minutes, then stretch to 12″ circle (practice this, because rolling is a pain, but doable). I have a 9″ and 8″ pan which is just a bit more surface area than a 12″ pan, so this is what I’ll be using tonight.
36pi square inches vs (20.25+16)pi square inches the power of MATH!
Gently place the dough into the pan, return to oven and bake 3 minutes.
Using a spoon, gently spread some sauce, and press down to deflate the dough but leave a 1/2″ border around the edge.
Brush the border with some olive oil
Spread the cheese, layer the toppings, back into the oven until cooked (edges are golden brown, cheese is all melty, 8-10 minutes).
Note – no oil was added to the pan. If your pan is clean, and properly seasoned, this should not be an issue. If you want that extra-crispy & fried dough, you can add 2-3 tbsp high-temp oil to the pan before adding the dough, and I’ll do this on the proper topping (ham&pineapple) to show the difference in crust.
Quick Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 2 - 2.5 cups AP or bread flour (approx 10.5 oz / 300 grams)
- 1 cup warm water ( see below )
- 2.5 tsp active yeast ( 2 tsp instant yeast )
- 1.5 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp Garlic powder and/or dried basil ( optional )
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp cornmeal ( optional )
Instructions
- If using active yeast, proof it by combining the warm water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl, whisk it up until the granules are dissolved, cover, and let sit until it foams up. Add 1 cup flour, garlic powder and basil.
- If using instant yeast, combine water, yeast, sugar, garlic powder and basil in a bowl.
- Add olive oil, and stir together very well.
- Gradually add 1 cup of flour and the salt.
- Keep stirring until the dough forms into an elastic ball and begins to pull away from the bowl. You might need to add up to 1/2 cup of flour, but adjust slowly.
- Lightly dust your hands with flour, form the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly oiled bowl, and roll it around until coated (or lightly spray the dough ball with cooking spray).
- This is a great time to preheat your oven to 425, and prepare your pizza stone/steel if you're lucky enough to have one.
- Cover with clingwrap and let rest in a warm place until it doubles in size (approx 30-60 minutes).
- Gently deflate the dough, and transfer to a lightly floured surface.
- Using hands or rolling pin, roll out to a 12" circle, and either pinch the ends or fold the edges back to make a rim.
- Transfer to parchment paper (lightly flour if using a pizza stone/steel).
- Drizzle with olive oil, dock, add desired toppings, and bake for 13-15 minutes, or until toppings are golden brown.
Notes
The order of toppings has more to do with the moisture content than region. You likely want baked pepperoni on top of your cheese, instead of boiled pepperoni below your cheese. In general:
- dough
- sauce
- cheese
- toppings
- salad
- basil
- prosciutto
- drizzle of olive oil
- thin slices of meat
- larger pieces of meat
- low moisture vegetables
- high moisture vegetables
- mozzarella
- basil
- olive oil
- pecorino
- garlic
- olive oil
- oregano
- mozzarella
- spicy salami
- sliced chili peppers
- black olives