The oven timer is counting down. Second by second. :30, :29, :28... My face is pressed up against the oven door as I gaze through the tempered glass at my cast iron skillet creation. Will it be cooked all the way through? Will the crust be crispy on the outside but a little bit soft and puffy on the inside? Will the cheese be browned and the sauce be sweet but tart and wonderful? The timer beeps repeatedly, and I excitedly shove my hand into an Ove Glove.
You may think I am exaggerating just a bit, but my heart was actually leaping.
I was pretty damn proud of myself for actually BAKING something without burning it, undercooking it, or making the pizza stone EXPLODE (that's another story, and there was no pizza stone involved in this recipe, thank goodness). When I pulled the cast iron skillet out of the oven, I beamed and promptly asked my mom, "Is this what giving birth feels like?"
This recipe comes from The Food Lab authored by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. Google him... The man's a food genius. https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab
Here's the recipe:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/01/foolproof-pan-pizza-recipe.html
Important Note: He highly suggests measuring the ingredients in grams on a food scale, but I don't have one of those. His conversion for bread flour is incorrect. I found that out the hard way. You are going to want to use at least 3.25-3.5 cups of bread flour! The other conversions are correct.
Another note: Set aside a good chunk of time for this recipe. The dough is "no-knead" which, according to Wikipedia, "is a method of bread baking that uses a very long fermentation (rising) time instead of kneading to form the gluten strands that give the bread its texture." Mmmm... gluten...
I must say though, this was soooo worth the time. It was the most flavorful homemade crust (and bread) I have ever had, and the recipe was IDIOT BAKER PROOF. That's me... the idiot baker. I don't bake.
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Onward!!!
This dough recipe makes two pizzas. I used the other half for spinach bread. Future blog... 🤔
12 hours later...
Another 2 hours later...
This part was fun. The dough rises *a touch more* and is easy to spread out. Pop all the air bubbles by essentially playing the piano on the dough. Lift the edges of the dough to let the trapped air underneath escape. Some people may like bubbly pizza crust, but I don't. Sue me.
I made the sauce the night before. Make sure the mozzarella is low moisture. I mixed it with Monterey Jack. They are both mild cheeses that are slightly sweet. I recently had amazing Detroit Style pizza and was inspired to put the cheese down first. Note: Again, this recipe makes two pizzas. I may have gotten sauce happy and used the whole thing on one pizza. Next time I will be using less. I also saved the leftover onions from the sauce. The sauce recipe is included in the link above as well!
500 degrees and 17 minutes later... A beautiful pizza is born. The recipe calls for 12-15 minutes at 550, but our oven is temperamental, and I was not ready to put our fire extinguisher to use. It still turned out perfectly. Look at that browned bottom!
I have honestly never cooked a homemade pizza and felt completely satisfied with the outcome...until now. Not having to knead, roll, stretch, and transfer the pizza to a stone was convenient and stress-free. I will 100% be making pizza like this again soon! Less sauce though... less sauce...
Serious Eats has many pizza recipes! Feel free to Google them and see what you like! Don't be afraid to tweak recipes to suit your needs. Enjoy and have fun!!