This is hands down one of the easiest homemade pizza to make at home. Cast iron pizza delivers a perfectly crispy bottom crust with chewy edges – all achievable in your home oven. The cast iron acts like a pizza stone on steroids, creating an impossibly crispy base while the high edges support generous toppings. It’s pizzeria-quality results with a fool-proof method without wood-fired oven!

Understanding Your Components

1. Dough: This is a high-hydration focaccia dough (around 65-70% hydration) that creates those beautiful air bubbles and chewy texture. A long, cold fermentation in the refrigerator (24-72 hours) develops complex flavour and makes the dough easier to work with. The extra moisture might seem tricky at first, but it’s what gives you that light, airy crust with the perfect chew. If you’re short on time, you can use store-bought pizza dough, but the flavour won’t be quite as developed.
2. Cast Iron Skillet: This recipe uses a 6.5 inch/16.5cm cast iron skillet. The cast iron retains and distributes heat evenly, creating that crispy bottom crust that’s impossible to achieve on a regular baking sheet. Make sure your skillet is well-seasoned – this prevents sticking and adds flavour. The high sides also mean you can load up on toppings without worry.
3. Sauce: Keep it simple with a no-cook sauce made from quality canned San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Cooking the sauce beforehand makes it too thick and concentrated – you want a bright, fresh tomato flavor that doesn’t compete with your toppings. If you’re short on time, you could also use pizza or pasta sauce
4. Cheese and Toppings: Low-moisture mozzarella is your best friend for cast iron pizza – fresh mozzarella releases too much water and makes the crust soggy. I like to finish with freshly grated Parmesan for extra flavour. For toppings, less is more – overloading prevents proper cooking and makes the crust soggy.

Tips!

Cold Fermentation: Plan ahead and let your dough ferment in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. This develops flavour, improves texture, and makes the dough much easier to stretch and shape. Bring to room temperature 1-2 hours before using. If you don’t have time, you can skip this step.

Oil is Your Friend: Don’t be shy with the olive oil in the pan – this is what creates that crispy, almost fried bottom crust with incredible flavour. The oil should generously coat the bottom and come slightly up the sides.

Storage and Reheating Guide

• Dough Storage: Refrigerate dough for up to 5 days (flavour improves over time) or freeze portioned dough balls for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen dough in refrigerator overnight.
• Cooked Pizza Storage: Store leftover pizza in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
• Reheating – Stovetop Method: Heat a skillet over medium heat, place pizza slice in dry pan, cover with lid, and heat for 3-4 minutes until bottom is crispy and cheese melts. This is the best reheating method!
• Reheating – Oven Method: Reheat in a 375°F oven for 8-10 minutes until heated through and crispy
• Sauce Storage: Refrigerate unused sauce for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months

Make ahead tips:

• Dough Ahead: Make dough 1 day in advance for best flavour development – it actually improves with time in the refrigerator
• Sauce Ahead: Prepare sauce up to 1 week ahead and store refrigerated, or make large batches and freeze in portions
• Portion Dough: Divide dough into individual pizza portions before refrigerating so each piece is ready to use
• Prep Toppings: Pre-cook meats, roast vegetables, and grate cheese up to 2 days ahead for quick assembly
• Par-Bake Option: Par-bake crusts, cool completely, then freeze. Top and finish baking from frozen for quick weeknight pizzas

Ingredients

(makes 6.5 inch/16.5cm cast iron skillet pizza – double the recipe for a bigger pizza)

Dough:
150g bread flour
100g warm water
4g instant yeast
3g salt
4g sugar
5g olive oil
sesame seeds

Homemade Ranch:
Low-moisture Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Passata
Meat of your choice (cooked Italian sausage, pepperoni etc)
Stracciatella, garnish
Basil, minced for garnish

Method – How to make Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

1. Dough: In a stand mixer, add in all your ‘Dough’ ingredients, except for the sesame seeds, and turn your machine onto medium speed. Mix until the mixture turns into a ball, away from the sides. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading until it no longer sticks to your hand and bench.
2. Place dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let it rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, do your first stretch-and-fold. Essentially, lift up one side of the dough until it’s fully stretched and then fold it onto itself. Turn your bowl 90 degrees and repeat for all 4 sides. Cover and let it rest for another 30 minutes. Repeat the stretch-and-fold 3 more times with 30 minutes of rest in-between. After the stretch-and-folds are done, let the dough rest either in the fridge overnight or if you don’t have time, for 90 minutes.
3. Overnight option: in the morning or 2.5 hours before you’re ready to eat, remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room-temperature for 90 minute. Non-overnight option: move onto step 4.
4. Sprinkle your sesame seeds onto a plate in an even layer. Gently stretch out your dough ball into a round circle and place your dough on top of the sesame seeds to coat the base. Transfer your coated dough into an oiled cast iron skillet and let it proof for another 60 minutes.
5. Pre-heat your oven to 250C/480F. Drizzle olive oil onto your proofed pizza dough and dimple the top of the dough. Par-bake the dough for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add on your toppings and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes. Top with Stracciatella and basil.