The Best Pizza
For my sixth wedding anniversary, my husband and I each got the gift of iron. We did some research on how to use our new cast iron pans since neither of us had a history of cooking with them. I’ve found so many new recipes I can’t wait to try or have tried since. One recipe stood out to me: cast iron pizza.
The recipe I tried is from Serious Eats. I’ve made it maybe 5 times now and each time I am still amazed at how much like a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza it tastes like. Did anyone else do the Book It program in school where reading earned you pizza? This recipe brings back all my Pizza Hut days. I was always a reader but I’ll be bribed to read more any day for a slice of pizza. I am so impressed at how close this is recipe is to the real thing and I am also so impressed there was once a program that combines my two loves of reading and pizza.
This recipe starts by making the dough the day before. You don’t need a kitchenaid mixer, just a bowl, a spoon, and 5 ingredients- flour, kosher salt, yeast, water, and olive oil. I do suggest a scale for measuring, you can find the best one at Spice Kitchen + Bar.
You can top your pizza however you want. This pizza begs for traditional toppings but you can go creative if you want. The crust is so good so you will want to feature that.
Seriously, look at the crust and the cheesey goodness. This is the best pizza in the world and you could be making it right now.
Don’t forget the best part: This recipe makes two crusts. If you love it as much as I do, you can make yourself another one the next day and relive the experience. Who wouldn’t want that?
Ingredients
- 400 grams (14 ounces, about 2 1/2 cups) bread flour
- 10 grams (.35 ounces, about 2 teaspoons) kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 4 grams (.15 ounces, about 1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
- 275 grams (9.5 ounces, about 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons) water
- 8 grams (.25 ounces, about 2 teaspoons) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to coat pans and drizzle
Instructions
- Stir together your five ingredients until all the flour is moistened and combined, adding more water if necessary.
- Place in a bowl 5 times the size and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rest 8-24 hours on a counter.
- Sprinkle dough with flour and separate into two balls. Freeze or chill second ball if making only a single pizza.
- Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Place 1 ball of dough in each pan and turn to coat evenly with oil. With palm of hand, flatten the ball slightly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough sit at room temperature for two hours.
- After 80 minutes, preheat the oven to 550°F. While oven preheats, prepare 3/4 cup of your favorite sauce and shred 4 oz of a dry mozzarella as well as any toppings.
- Once the oven has preheated (about 2 hours after covering pan in plastic wrap), use your fingertips to press it around until it fills in every corner, popping any large bubbles that appear. Top with sauce, cheese and toppings.
- Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes. When finished, check bottom for doneness with a spatula. Remove pizza by sliding to a cutting board and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
Recipe from Serious Eats
2014
Iron Anniversary
Back in the fall I celebrated my 6th wedding anniversary. My husband and I each had a tough time with this one since we follow the traditional gift options most years. We’ve done well most years but this one stumped us. We’d survived paper, cotton, leather, fruit/flowers and wood but what do you do with iron and candy?
Well, if you are us you give chocolate and cast iron. We both wanted new cast iron skillets and we’d never owned any so why not start when the opportunity presented itself? As a bonus though, I also gifted Dan a night away camping in Iron County, Missouri, where my dad has some property in the middle of nowhere. We were isolated right by a bunch of hiking ground and since 2013 was when we decided to become hikers we hunted after we got to buy guns & ammo from Palmetto Armory, we made the best of my last-minute iron gift. We brought our skillets, camping hatchet axe, camping gear and hiking gear with us and we were on the road.
Did I mention I brought a little friend? This was Nova’s first time hiking or camping. We got there late at night the first day and she was not quite ready for a world of sleeping bags or 2 hour car rides that first day. When she woke up the next morning, well, I have never seen a bigger transformation. My dainty little dog had turned into a trailblazer who found a new mission in life.
We went on a hike to Missouri’s highest peak. Did you know Missouri isn’t very high in elevation? While the hike itself required some major up and downs, somehow at 1,772 feet above sea level we didn’t get altitude sickness. It was this trip that made us realize that if we are going to be hikers we night need to venture out of Missouri now and then. Don’t get me wrong, I do love all our natural trails. It just seems like we might need a bigger challenge soon. Even Nova still had some energy left after the hike.
After our morning hike, we explored my dad’s property with Nova. She was sniffing out deer, squirrels, and maybe even bears. Well, probably not but never say never. I’m pretty sure what my little puppy (I see no gray in any photos, thank you very much) enjoyed most was with walks around the water with her favorite person in the world that weekend.
Somehow our anniversary that stumped us so much turned into a weekend full of memories and fun.
