Wood-Fired Oven Pan Pizza

A Pan Pizza Loaded with Pepperoni

A delicious and easy to make pepperoni pan pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven.

If you like pizza, try this pan pizza with a thick chewy crust that is easy to make. You don't need a wood fired oven to make this (but it was fun). A cast iron skillet and a conventional oven at 550 degrees works just fine. This pizza dough is probably unlike any pizza dough that you have every made. It's sticky and and seems to have a mind of its own. But that's OK, it makes a great pizza.

Mix the Dough

Add the sea salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Then, add water and swirl around until dissolved. Add the yeast and wait 15 seconds. Swirl the mixture to dissolve the yeast. Add flour and mix with a dough hook until it just comes together and there are no stray pieces of dough on the bottom of the bowl. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Need the dough with the dough hook on the mixer’s slowest speed for three minutes. Increase the speed to the next lowest setting and mix another three minutes.

Now, it's time to let the dough rest. Place the dough ball in a dough tub or bowl sprayed with a little cooking spray and let it rise for four hours. It will nearly double in size.

Place the dough ball on the countertop keeping it as round as possible. Lightly dust the dough with a little flour to make it easier to handle. Stretch the dough out and fold it like a letter, left to right then right to left, overlapping about ⅓ of the dough each fold. Repeat the fold top down and bottom up. Tighten the dough into a ball.

Place the dough ball in a cast iron skillet that has been thoroughly coated with olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the top of the dough and stretch the dough as much as possible. It will snap back but will be easier to stretch after a short rest.

Let the dough rest 10 minutes, then continue to stretch the dough to the edge of the skillet.

Par Bake the Pan Pizza Crust

Spread ⅓ cup of sauce over the dough. I prefer a simple sauce made with canned San Marzano tomatoes imported from Italy and a little sea salt.

Par-bake the pizza for about 10 minutes at 550 degrees until the edges are light golden brown and the sauce has caramelized a bit. This is necessary to make sure that the dough is done inside.

Add More Sauce, Cheese and Toppings and Bake Again

Remove the par-baked dough from the oven and add more sauce, cheese and toppings and bake for 10 more minutes.

Cut and Serve the Pan Pizza

Use a spatula to carefully transfer the pizza from the pan to a cutting board. The pan will be VERY HOT, so be careful.

More Great Pizza Recipes

• Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza in a Wood-Fired Oven
• Margherita Pizza with Buffalo Mozzarella
• Mushroom and Goat Cheese Pizza with Fresh Basil
• Wood-Fired Oven Pepperoni Pizza
• Carnitas Pizza

Watch How to Make Wood-Fired Oven Pan Pizza on YouTube