How to Make Homemade Cast Iron Pizza
There truly is nothing greater in this world than a delicious and crispy deep-dish cast iron pizza.
This homemade cast iron pizza will be the best thing your tongue has ever had the privilege of touching. That I guarantee!
Homemade Cast Iron Pizza Materials & Ingredients
- Pizza Dough: You can either use store-bought or homemade dough. Store-bought pizza dough is typically sold in 1lb balls, which is more than enough for one larger cast iron pizza. And if you’d like to make your own dough, consider checking out our amazing and easy homemade pizza dough recipe here.
- Cast Iron Skillet: If you’re looking to make personal pizzas I would consider using an 8″ or 10″ sized cast iron pan. However, if you want to make something big enough I recommend using a larger skillet such as a 13″.
- Butter or Olive Oil: We are going to melt about 2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil and rub the top surface of our dough to give that flaky and flavorful crisp.
- Garlic Powder: 1 tablespoon of garlic powder to add to the buttery rub that we’re going to put on the surface of our pizza.
- Pizza Sauce: Unless you’re one of those weird people that just doesn’t like pizza sauce, cheap and easy options include store-bought pizza sauce, homemade pizza sauce (tomato sauce + seasonings), or even some marinara sauce you may sitting around.
- Toppings: It is said that the toppings make pizza and I couldn’t agree more. Consider using mozzarella or sharp cheddar for the cheese and finish off with whatever toppings you feel like your mouth deserves. My personal favorite pizza contains mushrooms, bell peppers, Italian seasoned ground beef, pepperonis, black olives, and delicious banana peppers.
How to Make Homemade Cast Iron Pizza
So, now that we have all the goodies we need to craft this amazing cast iron pizza, how do we make it?
Step 1: Preparing Our Dough
The amount of dough you use will depend on the size of the cast iron skillet you are using and how thick or thin you want your crust to be.
If you are using anything larger than a 12″ skillet and want a moderately thick crust, consider using your entire 1lb serving of store-bought dough or single serving of homemade dough.
However anything smaller than 12″ skillet, you may consider tearing off a little dough or just making 2 thinner crust pizzas!
After you’ve determined how much dough you’ll be using, our next task is to shape our dough.
Dust a large cutting board or any other hard surface—such as your countertop—with a little bit of flour and throw your dough on it.
Next, using your hands or a rolling pin begin to flatten your dough into a disc.
Now that we have our dough ready, it’s time to prep our oven and cast iron skillet!
Step 2: Preparing The Oven
This step is easy! Simply move one of your oven racks to the middle shelf and begin preheating the oven to 475°F!
Cast-iron gets very hot and if we cook our pizza on the bottom shelf the bottom of the pizzas is going to cook much faster than the top.
To remedy this, we’re going to move the pizza a little higher up and a little closer to the source of heat. This will help give that golden brown crisp to the top of your pizza.
Step 3: Preparing Our Cast Iron Skillet
Before we can put our dough on our cast-iron skillet we need to preheat and oil the skillet.
Place your skillet on the stovetop at low-medium heat. If you’re using a smaller skillet such as an 8″ or 10″, pour about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter into your pan.
However, if you’re using a larger skillet such as a 13″ or 15″, double that to 2 tablespoons of oil or butter.
Allow your skillet to warm up and spread your butter or oil around evenly on the bottom and up the sides.
When your skillet is warm, grab your dough and throw it on. Literally, throw it on.
In my experience doing this quickly and with confidence is the way to go. If you take too long or are scared of putting the dough on the skillet unevenly, the dough is going to stretch, rip, or bunch up.
Just grab and throw! The oil will let it slip around enough to position it correctly if you fail miserably.
If you have extra dough running up one of the sides, either rip it off or squish it down. I prefer squishing it down as you can probably see in the picture above!
Step 4: Add Your Butter or Oil Rub
Next, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Note, you can also use olive oil as an alternative to butter.
With a pastry brush, begin to rub down the surface of your pizza paying special attention to the edges.
This rub will give your pizza crust that garlicky-buttery and breadstick like texture and taste. It will also prevent your sauce and toppings from seeping into your crust and making it soggy. Yuck!
Step 5: Add Toppings & Cook
Next add your sauce, all your favorite toppings, and put it in the oven (middle rack!!) for roughly 12 – 15 minutes.
You may have to leave it in longer, but you’ll know it is done when both the top and bottom of the crust has a golden brown crisp to it.
And by all means, cook it longer if you like a little black on top!
Once you think it’s ready, pull it out and let the cast iron cool on the stovetop for a couple of minutes before trying to scoop it out of the skillet.
Using metal spatula pull your pizza out of the cast iron and let sit for a little bit longer before cutting and serving — unless you like lava hot sauce!
That’s it! That is all there is too it!
Best Homemade Cast Iron Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza Pan or Cast Iron Skillet
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Rolling Pin
- 2 Large Mixing Bowls
Materials
Pizza Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup Lukewarm Water
- 2 1/4 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 3 1/2 - 4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 11 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
Optional Ingredients
- 1 - 2 Tbsp Basil
- 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 Tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Proof yeast by adding 1 cup of lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1 packet ( 2 1/4 tbs) of active dry yeast to a large mixing bowl.
- Gently mix them in your 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and any of the optional ingredients such as basil, Italian seasoning, and black pepper to your bowl
- Next by hand or using a mixer begin to add 3 cups of flour and mix it in well. Gradually continued to add flour until the dough begins to firm up into an elastic ball.
- In another large mixing bowl spread a light layer of olive oil around the inside. Give your pizza dough a good dusting of flour and place it inside.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour. Dough should at least double in size.
- Remove dough and knead it 3 or 4 times to release some of the trapped air.
- Using your hands or a rolling pin begin to flatten your dough into a disc. Then transfer it over to your pizza pan or cast iron skillet.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Rub down the surface of your pizza.
- Add sauce and toppings and cook at 475 degrees F for 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.