Sourdough Skillet Pizza with a Caramelized Cheese Crust

A hybrid of two recipes from King Arthur Flour, Sourdough Pizza Crust and Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza

JUMP TO MY RECIPE

I wasn't going to write about this recipe. That is, this wasn't meant to be a blog post, it was just meant to be dinner. But when this looker came out of the oven all golden and perfect and gorgeous, and then the taste lived up to the appearance, I knew I had to write something.

When it comes to bread recipes (pizza dough being a kind of bread), I'm persistently loyal to King Arthur Flour. I love their products, too, but when I'm on the hunt for a bread recipe, my first stop is ALWAYS King Arthur. In my experience, their recipes are delicious, well-tested and consistent. Not to mention they have a nice straightforward web layout which prioritizes recipes over photos, and I love them for that.

I'm a fan of making pizzas at home. It just makes sense some times. Economically, the cost of pizza ingredients is generally less than the cost of a pizza plus delivery. Also, making it at home shortens the time and distance between fresh-from-the-oven and your mouth. Win win.

Even so, I've never really made a pizza at home that quite delivered (pun very much intended) pizzeria levels of flavor, complexity and ooey-gooey cooked to perfection goodness. Until I met this bad boy. I bake and cook a fair amount, and even in light of being a more-than-competent home cook, this pizza made me super proud of myself. And I'm so so so glad I made enough for leftovers.

The end product here is close to Chicago-style deep dish, but with a crunchy, crusty, caramelized cheese crust that is very much like what you'd get at a Lincoln Park pizza joint with a Melvillian name (you know the one I mean).

Like all things bread, this recipe takes time and patience - and, if you're like me and genuinely fascinated by the combination of flour, water, yeast and salt and the way a dough feels in your hands and changes over time, all the better. This is a sourdough crust, because I have a mostly-neglected starter in the fridge. If you didn't join the sourdough cult at the beginning of the pandemic, give this recipe a try, or use the full Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza recipe linked above.

I used the crust ingredients and method from one recipe and modified the topping cooking method from another. This is my best effort at making one cohesive recipe from the two for a Sourdough Skillet Pizza with a Caramelized Cheesy Crust.

THE RECIPE

Sourdough Skillet Pizza with a Caramelized Cheesy Crust.

Meal: Dinner Cuisine: Pizza

Skill Level: Medium Time: 6 hours

Yield: 2 10-inch pizzas (I made one 11-inch and 1 7-inch)

Crust

• 1 cup (227g) sourdough starter, unfed/discard at room temperature

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons to 3/4 cup (141 to 170g) lukewarm water

• 2 1/2 cups (300g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• 1 teaspoon (6g) salt

• 1/2 teaspoon instant or active dry yeast

• Olive Oil

Toppings

• 12 oz (2.5-3 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese

• 16 oz pizza sauce

• Other toppings of your choosing (meats and vegetable toppings should be pre-cooked)

• 4 oz freshly-grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Stir in the liquid (if any) on top of your sourdough starter and pull off the 227 g for this recipe and feed the rest. Allow your 227 g of discard to come to room temperature.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the starter, water (start with the lowest amount), flour, salt, and yeast. Sir to combine.

3. Knead with the dough hook for about 5-7 minutes until the dough wraps around the hook and the bowl is clean.

4. Please the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rest in a warm place until doubled in bulk. About 3 hours, up to 4.

5. Once the dough has doubled, pour a small amount of oil into two cast iron skillets and use a paper towel to spread the oil around and up the sides.

6. Divide the dough in half (for two equal size pizzas) and place into the skillets. Flip the dough a couple of times to coat all sides in olive oil.

7. Using the tips of your fingers gently push the dough out to the edges of the skillet. If the dough is tense and doesn't want to stretch, or retracts after you stretch it, let it rest for 15 minutes and try again. Once you get the dough to the edges of the skillet, gently dimple it all over with your finger tips.

8. Cover the skillets with kitchen towels and let rise in a warm place (I turned my oven all the way down to 170 and let them rise on the stove top) until risen and puffy. About 90 minutes to 2 hours.

9. About 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, move one oven rack to the lowest position, and one to the highest and preheat your oven to 450.

10. As the oven preheats, spread about 3/4 of the mozzarella cheese over the dough, covering it entirely, edge to edge.

11. Dollop the pizza sauce on top of the layer of cheese getting even coverage over the whole pizza.

12. Add any additional toppings to your pizza at this time. (I did some finely chopped pepperoni and it was delicious).

13. Top with the remainder of the mozzarella and then about 3/4 of the Pecorino Romano.

14. Bake 18-20 minutes at the bottom of the oven, then check the bottom of the crust. If the crust is golden brown but the top of the pizza isn't, move the pizza to the top rack for another 4-5 minutes.

15. Carefully remove the pizza from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then run a butter knife around the edges of the pizza to loosen the caramelized cheese and slide the pizza onto a cooling tray or cutting board.

16. Top with a generous pinch of Pecorino Romano and serve!

Give this pizza a shot with your favorite toppings and let me know how it goes. I'm sure I'll be making it again soon!