Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita
Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita is the ultimate in simplicity and taste. It’s crisp crust is topped with a simple home-made pizza sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. One bite of this classic pizza and you’ll never opt for the store-bought pizza again!
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons (11-ounces, 312 grams) bread flour
- 1 ⅛ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup (6-ounces, 177 ml) filtered water (See Tip 1)
Homemade Pizza Sauce
- 1 (28-ounce, 794 grams) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced minced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red or white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pizza Margherita
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 pound Pizza Dough, room temperature (from above)
- ⅔ cup Homemade Pizza Sauce
- ½ cup (1.5-ounces, 43 grams) Parmesan cheese, grated
- 3 cups (12-ounces, 340 grams) whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Add bread flour, yeast, and salt to bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse 5 times to combine. Add olive oil and water. Process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds. Let rest for 2 minutes. Process an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to lightly floured surface; knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place in a large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-½ hours. Yield: 1 pound of pizza dough - enough for 2 pizzas. (See Tip 2)
Homemade Pizza Sauce
- Place drained tomatoes in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Add garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and oregano; process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month.) Yield: 2 cups.
Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Brush 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in bottom of 12-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside.
- Divide pizza dough in half. Press and roll one piece of dough into an 11-inch round. Transfer to prepared cast-iron skillet; gently push it to the corners of the pan. Spread ⅓ cup of homemade pizza sauce over surface of dough, leaving ½-inch border around the edge. Top with ¼ cup (half) of the grated Parmesan cheese. Top with 1-½ cups (half) of the shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Set skillet over medium heat and cook until the outside edge of the dough is set and the pizza is lightly puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer skillet to preheated 500°F oven; bake until the edge of the pizza is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove skillet from oven and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of chopped basil; let cool 5 minutes. Slide pizza onto paper towel lined cooling rack; cool 5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve. (See Tip 3)
- Repeat with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, dough, ⅓ cup of homemade pizza sauce, grated Parmesan cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, and basil.
- Yield: 2 11-inch pizzas.
Tips/Notes
- You should avoid using tap water when making the pizza dough, or any yeast dough for that matter. The reason is that tap water contains chlorine which can kill or retard the growth of the yeast. That's why you should use filtered water from your refrigerator (if your refrigerator has a water filter) or bottled water.
- Alternatively, the dough can be refrigerated for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours.
- The reason for putting it on the paper towels was to remove any excess olive oil from the bottom.
Nutrition
Calories: 485kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 20gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 790mgPotassium: 133mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 456IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 371mgIron: 2mg
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