Cast Iron Pizza

My mom bought me a 12" cast iron pan for my birthday, nice right? Except cast iron pans have always intimidated me and I've never wanted one hahaha!! But between my sister gushing about how fantastic her cast iron blackened salmon is, and my mom gushing about how her cast iron pizza tastes just like take-out pizza, I slowly warmed to the idea of owning a scary pan. (Although still secretly wondering if I could find a place to store said scary pan when I never use it LOL.) Cue this first attempt at making pizza and call me a convert!

I can't remember exactly how mom said she makes her pizza, but I do remember her wise advise to 'just google it, there's tons of recipes' so that's what I did. And read quite a few different ways to go about it, so I then did what I tend to do - yep, I winged it.

Preheat oven super hot - recipes say 500-550' but that scared me so I chickened out and turned it to 475'. 

Have the dough shaped and ready to go (I used store-bought, mom makes her own dough), I used the kind in the tube which makes a rectangle shaped crust so I just stretched it into a rough circle. Also have whatever toppings you are going to use on standby - I did pizza sauce, pepperoni, canned (drained) mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese. 

Put the skillet on the stovetop over medium heat for a couple minutes, then add some canola oil and let it heat up. Turn off the burner and carefully add the crust, pat it down and press out the best you can without burning yourself (use a spoon if you want). Add the toppings. The heat of the cast iron should get a good crust on the bottom, lift it up a bit to check and if it's still doughy on the bottom turn on the burner for just a minute or two to get it a little golden brown. 

Transfer skillet to oven and bake pizza until crust is golden brown around the edges and cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10-14 minutes. Carefully remove from oven (remember the handle will be hot too!). 

I didn't take lots of pictures since I didn't really know what I was doing, but you guys - this is fantastic and I hope you'll get that intimidating cast iron pan out of the basement and give this a try! Thanks again mom for the pan (I've made blackened salmon twice now and we love it too, so at least I have 2 great things to make with this pan!).