Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

Name: Cast Iron Skillet Pizza
Prep time: 960 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; ¾ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon instant or rapid yeast; ¾ cup water (lukewarm); 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil (divided); 1 ½ cups Mozzarella cheese (grated); 1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes; ⅓ cup tomato sauce; 3 ounces pancetta

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Make a cast iron skillet pizza with a deep dish style dough that’s crispy on the outside but chewy on the inside. A no-knead dough that can can stay fresh for three days, giving you flexibility on when you’ll have pizza night.

I’m one of those people who could seriously eat pizza every night and never get tired of it. Deep dish is my favorite with crispy edges and a chewy dough. If you love those crispy edges you need to make a cast iron skillet pizza.

This cast iron pizza dough is easy to make but takes some planning. For the dough to develop maximum flavor, it needs a slow rise overnight in the refrigerator and then a two hour rise before it bakes. While it takes time, it doesn’t take much effort.

A cast iron skillet with homemade pizza dough

Mozzarella cheese sprinkled over the crust before adding sauce and toppings keeps the dough from getting soggy and cooking this in a hot oven in an iron skillet gives the crust that sought after crispiness that’s so hard to find. Sink your teeth into this crust and you won’t even care about toppings!

What you’ll need

Flour – Just regular all purpose flour
Instant/rapid rise yeast – you only need ½ teaspoon, there are 2 and ¼ teaspoons of yeast in a packet so you’ll have enough for future batches.
Olive oil – it helps make the crust crispy and won’t smoke at high temperatures.
Mozzarella – the block kind, not wet mozzarella. You will sprinkle this over the crust before adding the topping to keep the crust from getting soggy.
Tomato sauce – use your favorite jarred sauce, I don’t like much sauce on my skillet pizza, but most like a little sauce.
Pancetta – I love the saltiness of pancetta on pizza, a little goes a long way. You can also add any of your favorite toppings like mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni, pineapple the list goes on and on.

How do you make the dough for a skillet pizza

Step 1: Start the dough at least 1 day before you want to eat pizza, it needs an overnight slow rise. Combine flour, yeast, water and a little olive oil and beat with a stand mixer for about 30 seconds to combine or mix by hand with a spoon. It will not be soft like bread dough.

Step 2: You need to repeat this next step four times with 5 minutes between. Instead of kneading the dough, use a bowl scraper or your hand and reach down under the dough and pull it over the top on all four sides. Let it rest for 5 minutes and repeat a total of four times.

Step 3: After folding the dough, cover it and let it rest for 40 minutes on the counter. Then refrigerate overnight or up to three days.

Step 4: Three hours before you want to eat, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Add oil to a cast iron skillet and add the dough gently pushing it out to the edges of the pan. If it doesn’t stretch, let it rest for 15 minutes and try again. Cover and let it rest for 2 hours. It won’t get much bigger.

Pizza dough stretched out in an iron skillet

Step 4: 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, preheat the oven to 450º.

How do you assemble a deep dish cast iron pizza

Step 1: Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the dough so that it’s completely covered, this will keep the crust from getting soggy. Spoon the sauce over the cheese and sprinkle with cooked pancetta or any other toppings you want. Top with more mozzarella, you can use wet mozzarella for this part or regular mozzarella.

cast iron pizza dough topped with cheese

Spoon the sauce over the cheese and sprinkle with cooked pancetta or any other toppings you want. Top with more mozzarella, you can use wet mozzarella for this part or regular mozzarella.

Step 2: Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for about 20 minutes. Check the bottom of the crust by lifting it up with a spatula to see if it’s golden brown.

deep dish cast iron pizza just out of the oven

Step 3: Let it cool for a couple of minutes and then slide it out of the skillet onto a wire rack and cut into slices. It will need to cool a little before eating.

While this may seem like a lot of steps, there is nothing like a cast iron skillet deep dish pizza and it doesn’t take much hands on work. Be prepared for the best pizza crust you’ve ever had.

FAQ’s and tips

Do you have to preheat a cast iron pan?

For this skillet pizza recipe, you don’t heat the pan, just place it in a hot oven.

Is cast iron good for pizza dough?

A cast iron skillet retains heat and gives the crust crispy edges.

How can you tell if the cast iron pizza dough is done?

When the edges have started to brown, take a spatula and pull up the edge of the crust to see if the bottom is golden brown.

Do you have to use a cast iron skillet?

Cast iron will give you the crispiest crust, but this pizza dough is so good it will still give you a great pizza if you use an oven proof 10 inch skillet or even a 9 inch cake pan.

What do you do if the dough will not stretch in the skillet?

Let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes and try again.

Can you use fresh mozzarella for a cast iron pizza recipe?

Fresh mozzarella has too much moisture to use on the bottom of the pizza and it will result in a soggy crust. Use regular mozzarella and top with fresh mozzarella if you want.

Can you freeze the dough?

I have found that this dough does NOT freeze well.

What you’ll need

How do you make the dough for a skillet pizza

How do you assemble a deep dish cast iron pizza

FAQ’s and tips

If you love pizza, try some of these Italian inspired dinner recipes