This Cast Iron Pizza is crispy and fluffy, topped with melted mozzarella and spicy pepperoni,
Pizza night just got a whole lot more delicious.
Welcome to recipes by Carina where I share with you how to make classic and simply delicious
recipes, make sure to subscribe or follow my page for a new recipe each week.
We’re going to start by making the pizza dough.
Alternatively you can buy pre made dough but this recipe is pretty simple and easy and
the dough rises in the fridge overnight so its really minimal effort.
In a small bowl measure out 3g, half a shachet or 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast.
If you would like the full recipe for this cast iron pizza it will be on my website as
well as the full measurements listed in the description box below.
To the yeast measure out half a teaspoon of sugar.
This isn’t really a necessity but it does help to quicken the yeast activation.
Pour over 2/3 of a cup or 160ml of luke warm water.
Using a spoon give the yeast mixture a quick mix together and set to the side for about
5-10 minutes or until bubbly and activated.
You can either make this dough in a stand mixer or by hand.
Both will work and as we’re going to let the dough rise overnight it doesn’t need
to be kneaded for 10 plus minutes as most of the gluten formation will happen overnight.
Measure out 2 cups or 250g of bread flour.
You’ll notice I give the recipe amounts in metric and imperial, cups, grams, so no
matter where you live in the world you should find this recipe easy enough to follow.
Bread flour contains more protein than all purpose flour and protein is what develops
gluten in bread giving it that soft chewy texture.
If you don’t have bread flour or high grade flour you can use standard or all purpose
instead.
Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to the bowl along with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
Your yeast should have activated by now, it’ll be foamy and bubbly.
If by chance it hasn’t check your yeast expiry date or if it is still in date you
may have used too hot or too cool water.
The water should just feel warm, about 37C or 98F which is body temperature.
A few degrees below that won’t be an issue at all.
Pour the activated yeast mixture into the bowl with flour.
Using your stand mixer or a wooden spoon mix the dough until it comes together.
If it looks little dry you may need to add more water or too wet that it is sticking
to everything a little more flour.
All flour will have different hydration levels depending on the brand, how it is stored,
and how old it is.
Because of this when you are making bread you may need more or less hydration than what
is called for.
It should feel sticky but not stick to your fingers.
When the dough has come together and has started to smooth out, about a few minutes or so,
add a swirl of olive oil in a medium sized bowl.
Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat in the oil.
Cover and place in the fridge to rise overnight.
Rising dough in the fridge is my preferred way, you can do it well in advance, up to
a few days, the dough gains flavor and the texture is just so much better.
Alternatively you can rise this dough in a warm place for about 45 minutes to an hour
until it has doubled in volume.
When you are ready to make your pizza remove the dough from the fridge.
Punch it down and using a dough scraper or a knife divide it in half, this will make
two bases.
Add about a tablespoon of oil to a cold cast iron pan and add your dough.
If you don’t have a cast iron pan altervatly you can use a glass pie dish or a sheet pan.
Cast iron works the best as it provides such an even heat but a pie dish or sheet pan both
make delicious pizzas they will just need a longer cooking time.
Use your clean dry hands to press the pizza dough out to the edges of the pan.
Don’t be too worried if you can’t get it right to the edge as when the dough rests
it will become much more malleable and you can fix it later.
Cover your pizza dough so it doesn’t dry out and leave it for about 30 minutes to an
hour to rest and rise.
This will give you enough time to make the sauce and also preheat your oven.
Turn your oven on to the highest temperature it will go - for me this was 250C / 480F.
This pizza sauce is so quick and easy to make and much better than the jar stuff.
We’ll need a blender or food processor.
Crush and remove the skin from two garlic cloves.
This recipe uses one 14oz or 400g gram tin of whole italian tomatoes, plum or san marzano
are the best to use but honestly use whatever you can find.
You want to drain them so you’re just left with the whole tomatoes and not any of the
juice they come in.
This makes the sauce a lot thicker.
Add a good splash of olive oil, about 2 tablespoons worth and a large handful or about 1/4 cup
of fresh basil.
You want to use the stalks here not just the leaves as thats where so much of the flavour
comes from.
Season well with salt and pepper and place the lid on.
Using your blender or food processor, pulse or blend the sauce for just a few seconds
until everything is combined.
We want to leave it a little chunky like you can see so its not just a thin smooth sauce.
This sauce makes enough for about 2-3 pizzas so pour about a 1/4 cups worth on to your
risen pizza base.
Using a spoon spread it out as far to the edges as you would like.
I leave a little gap for crust but I want it pretty well covered.
Toppings for this pizza are endless, so many different ingredients you can choose.
For this pizza I’m going simple and delicious with mozzarella and pepperoni.
Sprinkle over about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of freshly shredded mozzarella.
I always shred or grate my own cheese as it melts so much better than pre shredded which
is usually coated in starch so it won’t stick together in the pack.
Top the pizza with sliced pepperoni, it does shrink up in the oven so get a quite a few
pieces on there.
Place your pizza in your preheated oven for about 10-20 minutes.
All ovens are different so you’re going to go off smell and appearance.
It should be golden brown, the cheese melted and the pepperoni sizzling and it should smell
incredible.
My oven went up to 250C and the pizza took about 12 minutes but a hotter oven would take
a lot less.
Let the pizza cool for a few minutes when it comes out of the oven before using a slicer
to run around the edge and unstick any cheese from the cast iron.
Cut a piece and enjoy, this will become your new favourite pizza.
You can see here the delicious crispy brown fluffy base, the melted mozzarella and sizzling
pepperoni.
It’s so much easier than using a pizza stone and most of the work is done in the fridge
overnight.
Let me know if you’re going to try this recipe and what your favourite pizza toppings
are.
Thank you for watching and I will see you in my next video.