Cast Iron Skillet Pizza


 
ChuckO

ChuckO

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
It's been several months since Nate first published this cook, and it's been in the back of my mind ever since

https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?66800-Kettle-Pizza-Deep-Dish

I picked up a 15" Cast Iron Skillet at Walmart for $45 and the only known use for it (at present) was to do a CI Skillet Pizza. Truth be known, I would have been fine just using my 12" Skillet, but in our house you go BIG or you go home

The goods

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The Dough (yes that's Barb's pizza dough recipe, the only dough you need to know)

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Que the Assembly line

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On the Gasser at 400 degrees

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15 minutes later

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This was very good pizza, I will do this cook again because there was room for improvement, but for the first time, it was a very worthy cook. I don't think I'll bother with the 15" CI Skillet again, unless we have people over. One slice of this pizza is all you can eat. It was a fun cook

Hope everyone had a nice weekend, this was without a doubt the best weekend in kalifornia in a long long long time
 
Chuck that looks delicious! I am going to have to try this. You are right about Barb's recipe. I want some pizza! Great job! That final pic looks so tantalizing! How did the crust turn out? It looks wonderful from here.
 
Robert T said:
How did the crust turn out?
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Hi Robert, the crust was OK, I greased the bottom of the skillet and might have overly done so because the bottom was somewhat fried, not terribly but enough that it's something I want to improve upon
 
Chuck try using olive oil in the pan instead.. Like maybe a 1/4 inch or so and then your dough o n top of that.
 
Looks great Chuck, it took us a few tries to nail down using the CI for deep dish pizza also. Once you get it figured out it's amazingly good. We found indirect at about 350-375 seemed to solve the overcooked top and bottom. You're right though one and done of a deep dish for me too.
Barb is working on a updated dough that has olive oil in it that we think will allow a higher temperature cook without burning. We will post the results of our experiment shortly.
 
Chuck, that pizza looks awesome. Like Rich said I'm going to try a new dough. Will keep everyone posted and share pics on the cook.
 
I took a couple slices to work in my lunch, the flavor is actually better than it was when it came out of the BBQ. Normally pizza loses a little something, but this pizza got better
 
Nice job! May I suggest losing the premade Ragu Pizza sauce and get a can of whole San Marzano or plum tomatoes. Then crush those up in a sieve collendar and let a lot of the moisture drain out. Use this as your sauce and season to taste. And layer the bottom with cheese. This will lesson the standing moisture on the pizza and the cheese will act as a moisture barrier so the crust doesn't get soggy. Also, with a standard pizza dough, olive oil in the pan and the dough on top of that. The dough should feel like it is floating. 450 degree indirect and rotate 180 halfway through. Just peek at the side of the crust to see how much time you have. Just a couple changes that I think can take your deep dish to the next level. Then of course, try one of the deep dish dough recepies I mentioned. I believe I mention what I might change in each recepie. They are oil heavy to get a more buttery type deep dish crust. 😎👍
 
Preheat the skillet or not? Doesn't look like anyone is, but to me it doesn't seem as if the skillet would heat up quick enough to brown the bottom.
 
Nate Frost said:
May I suggest losing the premade Ragu Pizza sauce and get a can of whole San Marzano or plum tomatoes. Then crush those up in a sieve collendar and let a lot of the moisture drain out. Use this as your sauce and season to taste.
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Will do. My kitchen is tore up from the floor up, so I kinda rushed this cook


Nate Frost said:
And layer the bottom with cheese. This will lesson the standing moisture on the pizza and the cheese will act as a moisture barrier so the crust doesn't get soggy
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Good info, thanks


Nate Frost said:
Also, with a standard pizza dough, olive oil in the pan and the dough on top of that. The dough should feel like it is floating
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Interesting, so I should have standing oil in the bottom of the skillet? I used olive oil on the top and bottom of the crust, but only brushed it on and was worried that I had too much


Nate Frost said:
try one of the deep dish dough recepies I mentioned. I believe I mention what I might change in each recepie. They are oil heavy to get a more buttery type deep dish crust. ����
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I hate to deviate away from Barb's dough but the "buttery type crust" does sound ideal for the deep dish pizza.

Thanks for checking in and advice, much appreciated! Good luck with sale / move
 
James Bea said:
Preheat the skillet or not? Doesn't look like anyone is, but to me it doesn't seem as if the skillet would heat up quick enough to brown the bottom.
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After I put my crust in the skillet and got it all fitted, I did put it on the stove on medium while I was adding the ingredients. Once done, I moved it to the BBQ. I'm not sure if this is ideal or not? I would be curious if Nate checks back, to hear his thoughts
 
That's why they pre-heat pizza stones. What you could do is:

Do it the way you're doing it now (oil/skillet). Once it's mostly done (about a minute before), lift/slide it out of the pan (kinda like when you make an omelet and slide it onto your plate) directly on the grill rack. It'll be nice and firm so don't worry about it falling apart.

Let it finish cooking there for a minute or so or till the crust gets it's nice brown crust and dried out a bit. Then use your peel to lift it off when ready. I use a metal peel for taking the finished pie off my stone (but I build it on a wooden corn-meal covered peel). The metal peel is super thin for the lift. The wooden one is too thick for the finished pie but doesn't matter when putting the raw pie into the oven.

That's what pizza joints do albeit in a regular (but hot) oven. Take it off the pizza pan and slide it back onto the oven surface to get it crispy/brown.
 
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Anyone ever use a springform type pan with no bottom in place? I like the "pull and crisp" idea Len offered. I'm just not a big deep dish pizza guy, I like them crisp and pretty thin.
 
Chuck it looks great but to make the crust bottom don't use any oils in bottom pan use corn meal The pie will slide out and have a nice crisp crust

jerry
 
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