Pizza Day! (And Calzones)

Cast Iron Pizza and Calzones

Pizza is the ideal comfort food for every occasion. After having a wonderful night out with friends to having a party about it as the honored guest. Here is an amazing pizza recipe that suits all occasions. Through you will need some advanced preparation, you can cook the most beautiful pizza in your oven using a cast iron pan.

Equipment needed:

Cast Iron skillet

Can opener

Cutting board

Measurement spoons

Garlic crusher (optional but highly recommended)

Kitchen Aid with dough paddle or large bowl

Plastic Wrap

Large Pot and top

Cheese grater (if needed)

Pizza Ingredients: Makes for 1 large cast Iron Pizza

• 2.5 tsp of yeast or 1 packet
• 2/3 cup of hot water (100-115 degrees)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil and a little extra for later
• 1.5 to 2 cups of all-purpose flour

Sauce:

• 1 small or ½ large onion minced white onion
• 1 24 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 4-6 cloves of crushed garlic
• Chili powder
• Oregano
• Black pepper
• 1-2 tsp Kosher salt or fine sea salt
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
• Squeeze ofTomato paste
• Thyme
• Basil

Dough Preparations

It is best to make the dough a day in advance. It will give a better and chewier texture once it rises twice.

1. To start making the dough, start by getting 2/3 cup of hot water combined with 1 teaspoon of yeast. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar to this mix in order to activate the yeast quickly. Let this mixture combine for 10 to 15 minutes or when it starts bubbling.
2. With a Kitchen Aid or just by mixing it yourself, start combining 2 cups of flour, teaspoon of salt, and table spoon of good quality olive oil slowly into the ball on low. Once that is mixed after a couple minutes, add the yeast water into the Kitchen aid until a ball is formed. 
3.  
4. Once the dough is completed, place the dough in an olive oil greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put it in a warm area of your kitchen for the first rise for about 2 hours. Once it has risen, the dough should have doubled in size, remove the dough onto a flowered surface and deflate the dough slightly by pounding it. Just a couple punches and cover again in the bowl with plastic wrap and let it do a cold rise through the fridge for 8-12 hours or preferably overnight and await for tomorrow’s festivities.

Pizza Day: Making the Sauce and Pizza

The pizza sauce is easy and should be made two to three hours before the pizza making process in order to get the ingredients together.

1. On the stove, lightly pour some high-quality olive oil onto your pan and heat it up on medium-high to start. 
2. Once the olive oil is shimmering on the pan, add 4 cloves of crushed garlic to the stove and stir until fragrant. 
3. Once the garlic is fragrant, add a squeeze of tomato paste, a couple shakes of chili powder, and one minced small onion into the pan to combine these ingredients. After a couple minutes, the onions will be cooked and fragrant.
4. Lower the heat of the pan to medium-low and add a 24 ounce can of crushed tomatoes to the pot. Add about a teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, 1 tablespoon of oregano, thyme and some freshly minced basil. 
5. Let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes and test to see how the ingredients are tasting. If needed, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to help combat the tomatoes’ acidity and mix to combine until dissolved. 
6. Later on, add about 1/3 of a cup of shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese to the sauce and mix it to dissolve. Once all these ingredients are combined, then cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and simmer for about an hour and half on low heat. Check the sauce about every 15 minutes to stir the sauce and to check to see how it is developing. 
7. Taste to add pepper and salt as you think. It is always good to test for salt and pepper because you can always add more but will be unable to remove it. When the sauce is cooked, take off the heat but leave the lid on to keep the sauce cooking internally and should be ready by the time you start assembling your pizzas.

Special Additions: If you are cooking fresh sausage, meats, and other things to use as toppings for your pizza them save the oil and juices from the meat and add it into the sauce and stir to completion. It will add more flavor and texture to the sauce and bring some heat.  The first time I developed this recipe I had some chorizo and lamb sausage pan fried and added it into the sauce and thought it brought out more flavor. 

Topping Selection:

There are combinations of topping combinations that bring out the best in pizza. Growing up, I didn’t enjoy vegetables on my pizza. I was a classic pepperoni or meat lover person. However, that has slowly changed. Although, I do enjoy the classic margarita or pepperoni pizza, here are some other combinations that I have enjoyed personally with this pizza.

Assembling your pizzas:

Before you start assembling your pizzas, preheat your oven in advance to 500 degrees. Feel free to use any toppings you like. With this recipe, I tend to stay with spicy meats like sausage, pepperonis, chorizo as well as minced red onions, bell peppers, etc.  It is best to have these cut into pieces in advanced along with some freshly shredded mozzarella cheese.

Remove the pizza dough from the bowl and slowly roll it out slightly. Once the dough is slight rolled out, put the dough in a slightly greased cast iron. Slowly expand the dough to the edges of the pan with your hands. For beginners, I would slowly push down on the dough out to the pan until the pan is covered in your dough. If the dough starts to get tight, then let it rest for 10 minutes and then work on it again. It is okay if there are some holes and try to add some extra dough to cover. The goal is to keep the dough as evenly spread out as possible and a nice crust formed about a 1/2 or more. You can make the crust as thick or as thin as you want based on how much dough you have left over. Be sure to let the dough relax in the cast iron for a couple minutes before starting to add the rest of your pizza ingredients.

With the sauce, slightly warmed on the stovetop, add a couple spoonful of tomato sauce and use the bottom of the spoon to spread it out throughout the dough. Once the sauce is covered put on your toppings and shredded mozzarella cheese. Once that is completed, put in a 500-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on your pizza as it cooks in the oven.  You want to look for a nice brown crust and a lightly browned dough on the bottom of the pan. Once completed, use a spatula or two if needed because it is a big pizza and put on a pan or board to let cool for about 5 to 10 minutes. Once cooled, use a pizza cutter or a long sharp knife to cut into 4-8 evenly cut pieces. 

Calzones

For Calzones (because it is another pizza transportation system for your pizza satisfaction needs), the recipe for the dough and the sauce are the same. Roll the dough out a nicely floured surface into about a 1/4-inch dough. Calzones do not require sauce inside. On one half of the dough, start putting in all your ingredients and tons of cheese into the dough while leaving some room for the edge. With a cup of water, start watering the edges of the dough and pull the dough over the toppings in to form a giant “empanada.” With the edges, crimp and fold the dough edges on itself. This will prevent any major explosions in your oven. Once complete add a little water and flour to the top of the surface and let that giant calzone cook in your over for 15-20 minutes or until it is lightly browned. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into four beautiful pieces.

 

What you should be left with is a beautifully cook pizza slice with the wonderfully infused ingredients.

Notes: If you are doubling or tripling the dough recipe, then I recommend doubling the sauce to go with it.