Pan Pizza
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 15-20 hours’ resting time for the dough
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 1000grams unbleached all-purpose flour, approximately 8 cups
- 30grams kosher salt, approximately 1½ tablespoons
- 700grams lukewarm water, approximately 2¾ cups
- 60grams unsalted butter, preferably high-fat European-style, approximately ¼ cup, melted
- 40grams olive oil, approximately 3 tablespoons, plus more to grease pans
- 5grams active dry yeast, approximately 1¾ teaspoons
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 1clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- Pinch of chile flakes, to taste
- 128-ounce can chopped or crushed tomatoes
- 2tablespoons honey, or to taste
- 1teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- Olive oil
- Part-skim mozzarella, roughly grated, 525 grams or 4½ cups: 175 grams or 1½ cups per pie
- Fresh mozzarella, cut into cubes, 300 grams or 3 cups: 100 grams or 1 cup per pie
- Sliced pepperoni, to taste
- 3pinches fresh oregano, or 3 teaspoons dried: 1 pinch or teaspoon per pie
For the Dough
For the Sauce
For the Pizza
Preparation
- Step 1
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.
- Step 2
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.
- Step 3
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.
- Step 4
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.
- Step 5
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.
- Step 6
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.
- Step 7
Add the tomatoes, bring to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Step 8
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.)
- Step 9
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.
- Step 10
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.
- Step 11
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.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Walter
The recipe says the crust makes three pizzas. Can you freeze the dough if you only want to make one? I'm guessing you can . . .
Laurel W
Phenomenal! Probably my favorite NYT recipe ever. I made a half recipe of the dough and used a 15-inch cast iron pan -- just right. Baked it in a 60-year-old stove set at 450 and was thrilled with the results. Best of all, this recipe is so flexible and forgiving in terms of time. I took the dough out in the morning and placed in pan as suggested, stretched to fill pan after 3 hours or so and then just let it sit out till ready to bake, some 6 hours later. I will make this again and again.
dan
Jeez, so much drama about the cast iron! I used one 8-inch and one 9-inch and put the rest of the dough in the freezer, cuz google said it was okay. The pizza was outstanding, and thank you, thank you, thank you for the metric weights!!!! It makes everything SO much easier!
Eric
Yes. Portion it out before rising, double wrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in a ziploc bag. Thaw in the refrigerator.
Maui Maggie
Made numerous times. My advice? 1. Butter the pan heavily (a good buttery olive oil will also work); 2. Don't cook the sauce. A cold combo of canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper makes for a fresher, livelier sauce; 3. Par bake the sauce and dough for 12 minutes. Otherwise, the cheese gets too brown; 4. Add cheese snd topping and bake till crust is browned: 5. Add fresh basil immediately after coming out of the oven - it wilts, but doesn't burn.
Judy Reinsberg
I make my own pizza fairly often. I use Emeril's recipe for Chicago pizza, which is very similar to this one, except he adds some yellow corn meal (1/2 c. to 3 cups of flour)...(I cut the recipe in thirds for just 2 of us. I use my black cast iron pan and it is truly better pizza than any restaurant. Sometimes I make the tomato sauce, but if I am in a hurry, I have used a high grade market brand. We like pepperoni and olives and whatever else strikes our fancy. DEEELISH!
Douglas Chapman
I've made top-of-the-stove pan pizzas for years: make the crust, thick or thin, press it to completely cover the pan (ordinary non-stick or iron), pressing the dough OVER the edges so it doesn't shrink, press pre-cooked bacon or sausage into bottom dough, fill with plenty of cooked sauce, top with tomato slices, then lots of cheese on top; cover with flat or saucepan cover; cook over very low flame on top of stove until dough is done and all bubbling . . . wow!
dogmom3
So much fun to make this dough and the pizza. Yes, great for a pizza party, but even better to divide the dough, wrap and freeze a couple for a quick dinner midweek. Just a suggestion to all the sad folks who could actually critique pouring water in a measuring cup and have notone shred of imagination: if you haven’t anything nice to say, then I suggest you say nothing at all.
SH in SF
Can we break the love affair with plastic wrap? A damp clean kitchen towel works just as well.
Osama
I started with vanilla ice cream instead of the dough, and substituted chocolate sauce for the to,ato. Skipped the oven. Delicious.
Marjorie
Silly question: If you pre-heat your cast iron pan, how to you press the dough into the pan without burning your fingers?
Jackie Foster
With the exception of breakfast cereal, nearly all meals are faster to obtain by just "picking up the phone", but perhaps you didn't realize you were on a newsfeed for cooks and cooking. Suggest you head over to the Uber Eats website and share your phone dialing tips with that crowd.
J.
To reduce this recipe to make dough for one skillet pizza: 1 cup water, 2 T butter, 1 T olive oil, 3/4 t. yeast. I didn’t make it a day or two ahead (because come on). Instead, I made the dough as instructed in Steps 1 and 2, all the way through the kneading in Step 3. I let it rise for 3 hours, then transferred it to the oiled skillet and let it rise one more hour. I then made the pizza as instructed in Steps 9 and 10. It worked perfectly!
perry balin
I am a novice cook, not Italian, and have never made pizza or sauce in my life. I did not have a cast iron pan so I just used an old 8x8 with high sides that was probably last used for brownies or Rice Krispie treats. I’m happy to say the pizza came out delish! I followed the directions to a tee and found it very to be low-stress. It’s mostly just waiting on your precious dough. I’ll definitely make it again. Only complaint: the dough is a tad dry the next day so I dipped it in extra sauce.
ah
tough crowd, Sam. this is a delicious pizza
lisa
I followed Maui Maggie and it worked nicely. I had 11 inch pan and upped dough ratio but not necessary. 600 g would have been plenty. Added more sauce and baked 12 min adding shredded cheese, fior di latte, bacon, chicken and black olives. Very good but too bready ergo suggestion to reduce dough proportions a bit. But very tasty
Silke
If I announce that dinner will be this pan pizza the whole family is delighted with everyone mentioning multiple times during the day how much they are looking forward to it. Not an easy feat, but this recipe does it.
Mark Vinci
I did an experiment on 1/28/24 1) one load of dough flat in greased Lodge w/ Rope of mozzarella dough mounted around rim w/ Olive oil greased aluminum pie pan bottom down covered in Saran wrap for afternoon rise, 2) thin dough olive oil mounted in Lodge pan for afternoon rise. My plan is to “stove top” low heat, fry thin dough and check it out.
Cristie
Can anyone clarify how many this actually serves? Says 6-8, but the notes imply enough for a party crowd…
smith
I made only 1/2 of the dough recipe, and it was too thick for 2 10” cast iron pans, I couldn’t get the dough up to 200 degrees without burning the toppings. It would be good to tell us the temp of the crust in the middle because it is such a deep pie.
Laurynn
This was top notch! I used a combination of cake pans and cast iron, and the cast iron makes all the difference. Make sure to get that cheese alllll the way to the edge to get some nice crispy bits!
Ri
This recipe is incredible. The pizza sauce is by far my favorite and when it meets the Parmesan it's to die for. Adding 70-120g of sugar to the dough really gives it another really iconic pizza hut note.
annie w
Make sauce per recipe. But I start with half the amount of honey and then taste; then add more honey to taste. Sauce should be made at least a day ahead for optimal flavor. Dough can stay in the fridge a few days— tastes even better.
EC
I STILL give this recipe 5 stars! It is so good. When it's last minute, I pick up some dough at Publix or Trader Joe's. It's all about the cast iron pan and lots of olive oil. It brings me back to my childhood days earning BOOK IT! Personal Pan Pizzas at Pizza Hut. Haha ;-)
skc
Freeze extra dough after step 3
Robin
Delicious recipe, start to finish. For anyone interested in a sourdough version, here's the conversion I used and it worked as wonderfully as the original using conventional yeast: 910 gm flour 610 gm water 182 gm starter (ripe/fed at 8pm, mixed in at 8:30am) 30 gm kosher salt 60 gm butter 40 gm olive oil
Mason
Crust is exactly like Pizza Hut (in a good way). Will make this again.
GAD
Laurel's advice for a half-recipe is spot on. Made this proportion in my bread machine and rejoined the recipe midway in step 3. I make thin crust pizza all the time, but this deep-dish had my family swooning.
Michelle
Made a 1/2 batch of dough and full batch of sauce exactly as written, leaving out only the fresh mozzarella when making the pizza. This is an excellent recipe as is—it’s not trying to be anything other than a homemade Pizza Hut pan pie and it absolutely delivers on that front! I used 1/2 my dough for the pie (so 1/4 total dough recipe for 1 pizza instead of 1/3) and froze the other half. I found this to be a perfect amount of dough. Also echo the recommendation to be generous with the sauce!
Kathy
This was a complete failure. Crust was still raw after 20 minutes. The second time I tried heating the pan on the cooktop before putting it in the oven, but had the same result. I have made both pizza and bread before, so I don’t think I goofed up the crust. On to another recipe!
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