Cast Iron Skillet Pizza

I was looking over my current issue of TN Farm Bureau magazine the other day and I tore out this recipe for a Cast Iron Skillet Pizza. The photo reminded me of the pizzas several of us at work order from Chicago. If you haven't enjoyed a Chicago deep dish pizza, you are truly missing out.

The original recipe called for 8 ounces of ricotta cheese. There was some in my fridge but I ended up using it in lasagna soup and heaven forbid...I forgot to replace it. As always, there's something on hand to modify and move forward. Additionally, the crust called for two refrigerated 12-inch pizza crusts. Those were substituted with two bags of gluten-free pizza crust mix. 

The recipe called for a no. 10 skillet but I used my trusty no. 8. We are talking DEEP dish. :-)

This is definitely a keeper. My sister Dawn ate dinner with me and she thought it would be better with the ricotta cheese. Next time, my thoughts are to use the ricotta cheese, add fresh spinach and fresh sliced mushrooms and try the refrigerated pizza crusts.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pizza crusts (refrigerated or bag mix--prepare per directions)

3 large eggs

1 lb. package of ground Italian sausage

2-3 cups Italian cheese, shredded

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup of peppers, chopped (I used a mixture of colors)

3-4 oz. pepperonis, quartered

1 small jar pizza sauce (some to used to top the pizza and some to use on the side)

Olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Brush the skillet bottom and sides with olive oil.

Chop up peppers and onions. I used two halves of yellow and orange and one whole of red. Basically, I doubled the meat, pepper and onion as I had plans with half the ingredients for another night's menu.

Line the cast iron skillet with the first pizza dough. Go up over the sides if possible. I was not able to with this no. 8 skillet. It could be because of the dough mix I used.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sliced pepperonis and cheese.
(Reserve a small handful of cheese for topping)

 Add the cooked Italian sausage, peppers and onions to the cheese and pepperoni mixture.

Fill the crust with the mixture of cheeses, meats, peppers and onions.

Moisten the edges of the bottom crust with a little water. Top with the second pizza crust and crimp the edges. Not being a "baker" there is no way this is going to come out looking like a pretty braided edge.

Cut several vent holes in the top.

Top with around a half cup of pizza sauce and brush the edges of the pizza with olive oil.

Bake for 20 minutes in the 425 degree oven.

Cover with foil and set your timer for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes to let the crust brown.

Fresh out of the oven and ready for the final toppings after a 10 minute rest period!

Warm up the remaining pizza sauce. Spread a layer on top and then add more Parmesan or mozzarella cheese to add the finishing touch.

I'm so ready to take a huge bite of this hearty slice of pizza!

Something is definitely missing. Oh yeah! The extra pizza sauce on the side. I have a few family members who would go for some ranch dressing on the side. What say you?

Notice the density of the pizza. You can drop the fork and pick it up to eat with no drooping!