Best Cast Iron Buttery Deep Dish Pizza Crust Recipes

CAST IRON DEEP DISH RECIPE (CHICAGO-STYLE!)

Steps:

• Set out a large 12-14 inch deep-dish cast iron skillet. Brush the skillet with olive oil, then sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal. Flour a clean work surface and roll the pizza dough out into a circle, 2 inches wider than the bottom of the skillet. (So a 14-inch circle for a 12 inch skillet.) Move the crust to the skillet and press the dough around the sides of the skillet. Let it rest while you make the sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Move one rack to the lowest position.
• Set a separate skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and break it apart with a wooden spoon as it browns. Once cooked, turn off the heat and set aside.
• Set a medium saucepot over medium heat. Add the butter, chopped onion, and garlic. Sauté for 3-4 minutes to soften. Then add in the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, sugar, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Spread the shredded cheese in an even layer over the bottom of the pizza crust. Cover the cheese with the cooked sausage. Gently pull the edges of the pizza crust up the create a rim around the fillings. Then spread the chunky tomato sauce over the sausage.
• Bake on the lowest rack for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden-brown.
• Once out of the oven, sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese and parsley. Cut and serve.

HOW TO MAKE CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Please use my step-by-step photos below this written out recipe as a guide to making the pizza. For best results and ease of mind, read through the recipe completely before beginning. You will need two deep dish 9×2 inch round cake pans if you are making both pizzas at the same time. You can also use 9 inch springform pans.
• Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. If you do not have a stand mixer, use your hand mixer and a very very large bowl. If you do not have any mixer, you will do this all by hand. Again, use a very large bowl. Give those ingredients a quick toss with your mixer on low or with a large wooden spoon. Add the warm water and 1/4 cup of melted butter. The warm water should be around 90°F (32°C). Make sure it is not very, very hot or it will kill the yeast. Likewise, make sure the butter isn't boiling hot. If you melt it in the microwave, let it sit for 5 minutes before adding. On low speed, beat (or stir) the dough ingredients until everything begins to be moistened. Continuing on low speed (or remove from the bowl and knead by hand if you do not own a mixer), beat the dough until it is soft and supple and gently pulls away from the sides of the bowl and falls off of the dough hook- about 4-5 minutes. If the dough is too hard (it will be textured from the cornmeal), but if it feels too tough, beat in 1 teaspoon of warm water. Alternatively, if it feels too soft, beat in 1 Tablespoon of flour.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Lightly grease a large mixing bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside, turning it around so that all sides of the dough are coated in the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size.
• Once the dough is ready, lightly flour a large work surface. Remove dough from the bowl, set the bowl and aluminum foil aside (to use later). Gently punch down the dough to remove any air bubbles and roll the dough into a large 15×12 inch rectangle. Spread 1/4 cup of softened butter on top of the dough. Roll it up lengthwise per the photos below. Cut the dough log in half. Form the two pieces of dough into balls and place back into your greased bowl. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to rise in the refrigerator (not in a warm place) for 1 hour until they are puffy as you make the sauce.
• Place butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and allow it to melt. Once melted, add the grated onion, salt, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Once the onion has slightly browned after about 5 minutes, add the garlic, tomatoes, and sugar. Turn the heat down to low-medium and allow it to simmer until it's hearty, fragrant, and thick- about 30 minutes. You'll have about 2 and 1/2 cups of sauce at this point. If you have more than that, keep simmering until the amount has reduced. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to be used. You may store the sauce in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days if planning to make the pizza another day. You may freeze this sauce for up to 2 months as well.
• Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
• After the dough balls have risen in the refrigerator, they should be puffy. Keep one ball of dough in the refrigerator as you work with the first one. Roll it out on a lightly floured work surface, working it into a 12-inch circle. Using your rolling pin as a guide (see photos below), place over a 9×2 inch deep dish cake pan. Using your fingers, press the dough into the cake pan. Make sure it is nice and tight fitting inside the pan. Trim any excess dough off the edges with a small knife. Repeat with 2nd dough. Brush the top edges of the dough with a little olive oil, which gives the crust a beautiful sheen. Fill each pizza with 1/2 of the cheese (about 2 cups/8 oz per pizza), then the pepperoni and bacon or your desired toppings. Pour about 1 and 1/4 cups (300ml) of sauce evenly on top of each. If you do not like that much sauce, you can reduce to 3/4 cup (180ml) per pizza and have leftover sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup (22g) of grated parmesan cheese.
• Place the cake pans on top of a large baking sheet, which will catch anything potentially spilling over the sides of the pans. (Nothing usually does.) Bake for 20-28 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Feel free to loosely cover the pizzas with aluminum foil after the 15 minute mark to prevent any heavy browning and uneven baking. Remove the pizzas from the oven and allow to cool in the pans placed on a wire rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, slice, serve, and enjoy. Place any leftover pizza in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Reheat leftovers in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 15-20 minutes or until hot.

CAST IRON BUTTERY DEEP DISH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• 1. PREP/PREPARE
• 2. THE DOUGH
• 3. Gather your ingredients.
• 4. Add the flour, cornmeal, yeast, oregano, basil, sugar, and the salt to a large bowl.
• 5. Mix to combine.
• 6. Chef's Tip: The making of the dough is best accomplished using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.
• 7. Add the melted butter, and the warm water.
• 8. Mix until the ingredients are combined, and the dough begins to crawl up the hook, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• 9. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and kneed for about two minutes. It should be elastic, and slightly sticky.
• 10. Place a bit of olive oil into a large bowl.
• 11. Add the dough, and turn to coat.
• 12. Tightly cover the bowl with cling wrap.
• 13. Place the bowl somewhere out of the way on your countertop, and allow the dough to rest for 1 to 3 hours, or until doubled in size.
• 14. Chef's Tip: You can speed the process up by heating up your oven to about 180f (82c), turning it off, and then placing the covered bowl in the oven.
• 15. After the allotted time, remove the cling foil.
• 16. Place on a lightly floured surface, and pat out, or roll into a rough rectangle.
• 17. Spread the softened butter over the top.
• 18. Roll the dough up, as you would dough for cinnamon buns.
• 19. Form into a ball, and place back into the bowl.
• 20. Chef's Note: DO NOT kneed the dough, just carefully shape into a ball.
• 21. Cover and place into the refrigerator, for about an hour.
• 22. Remove from refrigerator, and place onto a lightly floured surface.
• 23. Roll out into a circle, big enough to cover the bottom of a 10-inch (25cm) cast iron skillet.
• 24. Coat the bottom and sides of the skillet with the olive oil.
• 25. Carefully add the dough, and gently fit it to the skillet.
• 26. Cover the skillet and allow the dough to rest for 1 hour.
• 27. Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 425f (220c).
• 28. Add the toppings to your pizza... Your choice.
• 29. Chef's Note: I use a tasty sauce with pepperoni, sausage, and a good buffalo mozzarella.
• 30. Brush a bit of olive oil on any exposed dough.
• 31. Place the skillet on the stove over medium-high heat, and cook for 2 to 4 minutes.
• 32. Chef's Tip: This will help to crisp up the bottom of the crust.
• 33. Add the skillet to the preheated oven, and bake until the cheese is bubbly and golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• 34. PLATE/PRESENT
• 35. Since this is pizza, serve it casual style with a nice cold beer, or beverage of choice. Enjoy.
• 36. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.

CAST-IRON FAVORITE PIZZA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, combine butter, eggs, grated Parmesan, salt, yeast mixture and 2 cups flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down; let rest for 5 minutes. Grease a 12-in. deep-dish cast-iron skillet or other ovenproof skillet; sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough into pan; build up edges slightly., Preheat oven to 400°. In a large skillet, cook beef, sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender, breaking meat into crumbles, 8-10 minutes; drain. Spread pizza sauce over dough to within 1 in. of edges; sprinkle with meat mixture. Top with mushrooms, pepperoni, ham, olives, mozzarella and shredded Parmesan., Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted, 30-35 minutes. Serve with additional pizza sauce.

SKILLET DEEP DISH PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cook the sausage rounds until they turn brown on each side, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Grease the inside of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with the butter. Place the pizza dough in the center and spread evenly towards the bottom edge and 1 1/2 inches up the sides.
• The order of topping layers is very important to achieving a crisp bottom pizza crust. Begin with the sausage. Evenly lay the sausage on the dough, followed by the mozzarella and marinara. Sprinkle the garlic and oregano on top. Finish with the Parmesan and drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• Place the skillet pizza on the bottom rack of the oven and cook until the edge of the crust is golden brown and crusty, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

PAN PIZZA

Steps:

• Make the dough a day or two before you want to bake; the recipe makes enough for three pies. Combine the flour and salt in your largest mixing bowl. In another mixing bowl, combine the water, butter, olive oil and yeast. Mix well.
• Use a rubber spatula to create a well in the center on the flour mixture, and add to it the liquid from the other bowl, stirring with the spatula and scraping down the sides of the bowl to bring everything together. Mix it all together until it is a large, shaggy ball of wet dough, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Uncover the dough and, with floured hands, knead it until it is uniformly smooth and sticky, approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Move the dough ball into a clean mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 3 to 5 hours at room temperature, then refrigerate, at least 6 hours and up to 24.
• The morning you want to make the pizzas, remove the dough from the refrigerator, divide into 3 chunks of equal size (about 600 grams each) and shape them into oblong balls. Use olive oil to grease three 10-inch cast-iron skillets, 8-inch-by-10-inch baking pans with high sides, 7-inch-by-11-inch glass baking dishes or some combination thereof, and place the balls into them. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature, 3 to 5 hours.
• Make the sauce. Place a saucepan over medium-low heat, and add to it 2 tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is shimmering, add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, until it is golden and aromatic, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and a pinch of chile flakes, and raise the heat to medium. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture is glossy and just beginning to caramelize.
• Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Take sauce off the heat, and stir in the honey and salt, to taste, then blend in an immersion blender or allow to cool and use a regular blender. (The sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. It makes enough for 6 or so pies.)
• After 3 hours or so the dough will have almost doubled in size. Stretch the dough very gently to the sides of the pans, dimpling it softly with your fingers. The dough can then be left to rest for another 2 to 8 hours, covered with wrap.
• Make the pizzas. Heat oven to 450. Gently pull the dough to the edges of the pans if it hasn't risen to the edges already. Use a spoon or ladle to put 4 to 5 tablespoons of sauce onto the dough, gently covering it entirely. Sprinkle the low-moisture mozzarella onto the pies, then dot them with the fresh mozzarella and the pepperoni to taste. Sprinkle with the oregano and lash with a little olive oil.
• Place the pizzas onto the middle rack of the oven on a large baking sheet or sheets to capture spills, then cook for 15 minutes or so. Use an offset spatula to lift the pizza and check the bottoms. The pizza is done when the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and starting to brown on top, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

THE REAL CHICAGO DEEP DISH PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Combine yeast mixture, flour, corn oil, and kosher salt in a large stand mixer with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Form dough into a ball and transfer to a buttered bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
• Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.