Have you ever ordered pizza from your favorite pizza place and thought to yourself, “I wonder how they get this crust so buttery and crispy?”… well, I am about to tell you exactly how… and it is no where near as tough as you may think…
This crispy pan pizza rivals ant take out pie and the toughest part about making it, is waiting for the dough to rise. That’s it… and we can all learn to be a little more patient, right? It is so worth it and if you mix up the dough before you go to bed, you can have this perfect pizza for dinner or even lunch the next day.
Let get started…
This dough is 100% foolproof IF you weigh your flour and I would say 80% foolproof if you don’t have a kitchen scale. Now if a 100% foolproof crispy pan pizza dough isn’t reason enough to buy a kitchen scale, I don’t know what is!
In a large glass bowl, combine 20 ounces (or 4 cups, spooned and leveled) of bread flour with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of instant yeast.
Add 1 2/3 cups of warm water and use a silicone spatula to mix until you have a sticky, shaggy looking dough and can no longer see any dry ingredients left at the bottom of the bowl.
This is how the dough should look at this point. This dough does not need to be kneaded, but we will do several folds to incorporate some air into the dough and be sure that everything has been evenly mixed before we let it rest.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Using a silicone spatula, pull the dough from the sides of the bowl in 4 different positions into the center. I usually do this at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock.
Place the towel back over the bowl and repeat this process every 5-10 minutes 3 more times for a total of 4 times.
This is what the dough should look like after all of the folds have been completed. Even though we never kneaded the dough, it is now much smoother and full of air bubbles. Beautiful, right?
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for from 8 to 24 hours. I haven’t noticed any big difference between the long and short end of those options, so I usually just plan it around when I want to have the pizza ready.
The best option is to mix the dough up before you go to bed and then it will be ready to use anytime the next day. You could make breakfast pizza, lunch pizza, dinner pizza or a late night snack pizza. Your options are plentiful.
Look at how much the dough has grown overnight. I would say that it has about tripled and is definitely ready to move onto step 2.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil into 2 cast iron pans. You can use anything from 9″-11″ pans, but keep in mind that using a 9″ skillet will give you thicker, deeper pizzas and using an 11″ skillet will give you thinner results.
If you don’t have cast iron skillets, you can use an oven safe skillet or even a cake pan, BUT the crust will not be quite as crispy if it is baked in something other than cast iron.
Spread the oil all over the interior surface of the skillets with your fingers.
This dough is way too soft and sticky to transfer out onto a board, so use your oiled hands to divide it in half in the bowl. Take 1 half out of the bowl and form it into a round ball. Place the dough into the oiled skillet and then flip the ball of dough over a few times to ensure that all sides of the dough are coated with oil.
Repeat with the other half.
Gently press the dough out a bit towards the edges of the pan with your fingers. You will not get it fully spread out at this point, but do not worry! Over the next two hours, it will spread out nicely.
Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let them sit at room temperature for two hours.
About 30 minutes before the dough is done resting, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Once the dough has rested for 2 hours, gently work the dough out toward the edges of the pan with the tips of your fingers.
Regardless of what you will eventually top your pizza with, cover the entire surface of the dough lightly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Adding cheese first, will help to create a barrier between the dough and the sauce preventing a soggy crust.
Add dollops of your favorite marinara and then add your favorite toppings…
Today, I am topping one pizza with pepperoni, marinara and mozzarella and I am topping the other pizza with parmesan, italian sausage and caramelized onions.
You can top your pizzas with anything you love, just try to keep the amount on the lighter side to avoid making the dough too heavy to bake up crisp.
Bake uncovered on a middle rack at 450 degrees for 16-20 minutes. Just keep an eye on it around the 15 minute mark and take it out when it looks done to your liking. I love my pizza really brown and crispy, so I left it in the full 20 minutes and it was absolutely perfect.
Look at that beautiful pizza...
The crust is thick and buttery and full of these air holes that create such a fantastic texture. It is the best crust I have ever had… at home, in a restaurant… even from my own grandmothers kitchen.
The air holes are my favorite. They add a beautiful chewiness to this dough that gives me all of the classic pan pizza vibes that I love. The edges of the pizza are crisp and buttery and the cast iron skillet creates a great golden brown crust throughout the entire bottom of the pizza.
Once your pizzas are ready to slice, transfer them out onto a cutting board and grab some extra parmesan, red pepper flakes and finely chopped parsley for garnishing.
Now all there is to do is to slice each pizza into wedges and enjoy!
If you have leftovers, cover them tightly with foil and chill until you are ready to enjoy them. Reheat them covered with foil in a 375 degree oven until warm and sizzling. The crust is still delicious the next day, but it will be more chewy and a little less crisp than it was on the first day.
If you are looking for a fabulous pizza recipe that requires no kneading or special over the head fancy pizza shaping skills then you should give this crispy pan pizza recipe a try!
Buon appetito!
Crispy Pan Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 20 ounces of bread flour (approximately 4 cups)
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of instant yeast
- 1 2/3 cups of warm water
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
Pizza Toppings
- marinara
- parmesan, cheddar or mozzarella, shredded
- pepperoni or cooked ground sausage
- fresh parsley, finely chopped
- parmesan, grated (optional garnish)
- vegetables, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Combine 20 ounces of bread flour with 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of instant yeast and 1 2/3 cups of water until a loose dough forms and no dry ingredients are left behind
- Cover the bowl with a towel for 5-10 minutes and then use a silicone spatula to pull the sides of the dough into the center in 4 different places. Repeat this 4 times (every 5-10 minutes).
- Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for between 8-24 hours
- Divide 4 tablespoons of olive oil between two 9"-11" cast iron pans ensuring that all interior surfaces are coated
- Divide the dough in half with oiled hands and gently roll each half into a ball
- Place one half of the dough in each pan and roll it around in the oil a bit and then flip the dough over, so the entire surface of the dough is oiled
- Gently press the dough out with your fingers so that it spreads out a bit. It does not need to reach all the way to the edge at this time
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let them rest at room temperature for 2 hours
- Place a rack in the center in your oven and preheat your oven to 450 degrees about 30 minutes before your dough finishes resting
- Gently work the dough out towards the edges of the pan and press down any air bubbles
- Cover the entire surface of the dough lightly with finely shredded mozzarella or parmesan and then add your other toppings
- Bake on middle rack at 450 degrees for 16-20 minutes
- Transfer the pans onto a heat proof surface to cool for 10 minutes
- Carefully transfer the pizzas directly onto a cutting board
- Slice into wedges, grate a little parmesan and enjoy!
*This recipe was developed by Foodie with Family and it is truly wonderful!
