Make your own homemade cast iron pizzas for pizza night in 5 steps. It’s a great change instead of the other usual pizza baking surfaces. Use a cast iron skillet for deep dish. Or use a cast iron pizza pan for regular or thin crust. Also, this is listed in our Homemade Pizzas in Oven Guide and is a part of our Pizzas, Italian Cuisine, Main Dishes, and Oven Dinners categories.
About Making Cast Iron Pizzas Recipes
Making homemade pizza in cast iron skillets is as easy as picking the pizza recipe card you want. So, follow this guide to see how to cook any pizza in cast iron. We include several pizza recipes; so, keep reading for all the details.
To begin with,, you decide if you’re going to use a cast iron pizza pan or a cast iron skillet.
Decide which size & type of cast iron surface to use: Skillet or Pizza Pan
Make Cast Iron Pizzas in 5 Easy Steps
The easiest way to make cast iron pizzas is to follow these 5 steps. Here they are:
- Make the homemade pizza dough (or use store bought dough).
- Preheat the oven and prep the cast iron surface.
- Rollout the dough and put onto the cast iron.
- Add the pizza sauce and toppings.
- Bake it.
Keep reading for all your options and how to perform those steps.
1. Make Homemade Pizza Dough for Cast Iron Pizzas
Make or buy your pizza dough. If making it by hand or using a bread maker, you’ll love it homemade. So, with homemade dough or store-bought dough, ensure it will sit to achieve at least room temperature before using it.
2. Preheat Oven and Prep Cast Iron
Then, preheat the oven to 500⁰F. Recipes will advise preheating cast iron or not. Also, the actual oven temp needed will be in the recipe.
Preheat oven to 500⁰F.
If not preheating the cast iron, prepare it for regular pizza baking by coating the interior cooking surface fully with olive oil. Then, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of corn meal (or semolina flour) across the coated area.
However, if you’re choosing to preheat your cast iron, skip these preparation steps of oiling and corn meal.
Do you preheat cast iron before baking pizza?
Making cast iron pizzas gives you the unique baking surfaces you can use either preheated or not. In other words, you can preheat the cast iron but you don’t have to. So, that’s the flexibility with using cast iron for pizzas! Typically, you’ll only preheat the oven. The crust tastes a bit better if you do preheat the cast iron but it’s still real good even if you don’t.
However, if you choose to preheat the cast iron, you’ll need to have a pizza peel. Also, you’ll need to learn how to use a pizza peel to transfer the prepped, raw pizza from the counter over to the hot, preheated cast iron cooking surface. Others’ recipes often call for preheated cast iron. Fortunately, our Darn Good Pizza Recipes typically account for your choice of using unheated or preheated cast iron surfaces.
3. Rollout the Dough and Put into the Cast Iron
You can use store-bought or fresh pizza dough. Let the dough sit and it come to room temperature, if it’s not already. Then, if a dough ball, roll it out to the desired thickness (or thinness). After that, lift it up and place it in the prepared cast iron surface. Then, press it down all the way to the edges to have full contact with the bottom and any sides (if there are sides).
Lay pizza dough onto cast iron surface.
You’ll then easily trim off the excess from around the outer edge, using a simple knife or other tool.
Trim off excess pizza dough from outer edge.
Also, if you find you’re having large bubbles on your crust bottom, you can puncture the the base of the dough in a dozen places with a fork to ensure this won’t happen. It hasn’t been an issue for me but, that’s a solution if you experience it.
If experiencing big bubbles during baking, next time prick some holes in pizza dough using a fork.
4. Add Pizza Sauce and Toppings
Spread your chosen sauce on the dough. Then, add your selected toppings, following the order shown in the pizza recipe. You’ll layer them onto the dough in the usual way. Basically, pick your favorite pizza recipe’s toppings and go for it!
5. Baking Cast Iron Pizzas
What Temp to Cook Cast Iron Pizzas?
Baking temperature for cast iron pizzas recipes is usually 450⁰F to 500⁰F. The higher temp is often better.
How long does it take to cook cast iron pizzas?
With a room temperature (not preheated) cast iron skillet or cast iron pizza pan, it will take about 20-26 minutes. And that’s if you’re baking on the 2nd from the top oven rack. However, if you choose to preheat the cast iron, it will cook about 2 to 4 minutes faster.
How do I check a pizza during cooking?
Because of differences in ovens, various skillet & pizza pan sizes, and differing altitudes start checking it in about 18 minutes to ensure a golden brown. Or check sooner if you preheated the cast iron or for very small pizzas. So, on your first cast iron pizza, you can remove it from the oven. Then, use a spatula to lift up the pizza and check the bottom.
When it’s done, carefully remove the cast iron pizza from the oven. Then, let it rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing to serve.
How To Make A Thin Crust In Cast Iron Pizzas
When you stretch and roll out your pizza dough, just keep shaping it until it gets very thin. You can keep flour on the counter during this step so the dough will hold up without tearing. Later, you can trim off the excess dough.
Crispy Cast Iron Pizzas
If you want your pizza crust crispy, have a thicker oil coating on the inside of the cast iron surface before laying the dough in it. This means to put more than you did to prep the cast iron but, not too much as you just want a crispy crust, not a hard one.
Add Extra Oil to Make Pizza Crust Extra Crispy
Thick Crust Pizza
So, if you want to ensure to get a pizza with a thick crust, just roll out the dough as you normally would ensuring it’s not too thin. Our pizza dough recipes allow for some excess so, rolling it out thicker will use up any excess dough normally left over.
Make the Pizza Crust More Chewy
If you more chewiness, after you’ve shaped the dough, let it sit for about 15 minutes before spreading the sauce and other toppings. Your dough thickness will increase some.
Another way is to ensure you’ve added the optional ingredient of “Vital Wheat Gluten” in the pizza dough recipe. Generally, the amount to add is usually 1 tablespoon per cup of flour.
Serving Your Homemade Cast Iron Pizzas
After baking and removing from the oven, let the cast iron pizza sit for at least 5 minutes before cutting. Then, you can use a rolling pizza wheel cutter directly on the cast iron. Just start in the center, press deeply, and roll back and forth between the edges. After that, you can use a knife or kitchen shears to get any hard to reach places. Another option is to remove the pizza from the cast iron surface and put it on a cutting board and slice it there.
Slice and serve cast iron pizzas directly on and from cast iron surfaces
Expert Tips on Reheating Pizza in Cast Iron
If you have any leftover pizza from the fridge, you can always use cast iron for reheating a few slices. So, just heat up the cast iron on a stovetop at medium heat. Then, coat each slice of pizza bottom with some olive oil, and lay them into the hot skillet.
To reheat pizza slices, warm up cast iron skillet or pan at medium high heat. Then, add pizza slices and drop down to medium or low.
It might take about 3-5 minutes, and you might want to consider lowering the heat to medium low or low at some point. Sometimes, adding a little shredded mozzarella cheese gives it a fresher taste.
If the pizza has a thick crust, you can use a lid to cover it during this process but you’ll want the last 1-2 minutes with no lid to keep the crust crispy. Also, see our article on “How to Reheat Pizza in an Oven: Expert Ways“.
Pizza Sides with Cast Iron Pizzas
Read our article “Sides With Pizza: The Best Pizza Sides To Serve” to see a lengthy list of ideas.
Conclusion
Now you know how to make cast iron pizzas. You’ve ensured to let the dough sit at room temperature. You also know you don’t have to preheat the cast iron in the oven. And, it’s just a matter of preparing the cast iron surface, laying on the dough, and topping it.
You’ve also learned to bake the cast iron pizza and to let it sit about 5 minutes. Then, you can slice it directly in the cast iron. You’ll have the best cast iron pizza than your local pizzeria.
For more info, read our “Homemade Pizzas in the Oven” Guide. It covers a lot of details, options, and tips for making pizzas at home.
And, for the classic Lodge cast iron surfaces, visit the Lodge Cast Iron site.
Related To Homemade Pizza Baking
- Best Pizza Peels by Purpose, Material, & Surface
- How To Use A Pizza Peel
- How To Make & Bake Pizza in Oven – Several Recipes
- Cast Iron Pizzas – Complete Guide (this post)
- Reheating Pizzas
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