Homemade Cast Iron Pizza with No Knead Dough
This is not an original recipe of mine! I learned how to make cast-iron pizza with no knead dough from J. Kenji López-Alt. His original recipe is posted on Serious Eats here. I've already made this three times since Kenji reshared his method during COVID-19 quarantine. It's now a family favorite!
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Though it isn’t my recipe, I do have some tips!
Instead of using bread flour as directed, I used all-purpose flour.
AP flour has less protein than bread flour, but letting the dough proof for a good amount of time (and, well, yeast) will produce enough gluten protein. I left mine for about 12 hours (note: California summer).Oven temperature variance—My oven maxes out at 500°F, and a 10-11 minute cook time suffices.
How do I know when it’s done? I check the top of the pizza/the cheese starting at 9 minutes (I like little brown spots on the melted cheese). And then, using a long cake spatula or pie server, I check the bottom of the crust. I take the pan out of the oven when it’s a light golden color.
My cheese/top looks done but the bottom isn’t browning!
That’s okay! Turn on your stove to medium (if electric, turn on high to heat it up quickly but drop the heat to medium when you actually put the pan on the stove) and finish the pizza crust on the stovetop. BE CAREFUL! You can burn it at this point if you are not careful! Don’t take your eye off the pizza, and keep checking the crust every 20 seconds while the pan is on a hot stove.Transfer the pizza to a cutting/serving board or plate when it’s done in the pan. Because cast-iron pans retain heat quite well, leaving the pizza in the pan while serving/eating might overcook the crust.
I highly recommend finely grating parmesan or pecorino romano cheese all along the crust pre-bake to form lacy, crispy crust edges.
My favorite cheese/topping combo: homemade pizza sauce spread all over to the edges, pecorino romano/parmesan thinly grated all along the crust, mozzarella freshly shredded all over the remaining pizza, any vegetable or meat toppings, and a light scattering of some mozzarella to lace over top of the toppings. Optional Maldon sea salt and oregano sprinkled all over.