it’s not delivery: deep dish skillet pizza

When I told my husband that we’d be having pizza for dinner, he assumed we’d be ordering in some delivery. Nope, this was going to be the real deal with homemade crust and all. While I’ve made homemade pizza in the past, my dough usually comes from a bakery that does all the labour for me….I just need to let it rise, punch it down and stretch it out. Not too much hassle. But now that I’ve primed my yeast-baking skills, I figured it was time for me to branch out and bake a real pizza with real dough made from my 2 hands. Exciting times in this household!


I always thought making dough would be tough but really it’s pretty simple. Just a few repetitive steps: stir, knead, rise, punch, knead…ta-da!! I had spotted a recipe for a deep dish sausage pizza in the Gourmet Cookbook (my go-to cookbook edited by my muse, Ruth Reichl), and decided that I’d create my own sauce and toppings but definitely follow the dough recipe step by step. While I followed the directions carefully, this dough was unlike any of the bakery dough that I had used in the past. While it was much easier to work with, it certainly wasn’t as elastic and stretchy so that made me slightly fearful that I had somehow screwed up this pizza attempt. Luckily, the crust was perfect and even tastier than its bakery counterpart!


As for the toppings, I just went with what I had in the fridge. I love pineapple on pizza, but you could certainly substitute your favorite toppings to make the pizza of your dreams. Instead of mozzarella cheese, I used a farmer’s cheese recommended to me by the proprietor of my favorite local Italian deli. He not only sold me some lean pancetta, but told me that the farmer’s cheese would go great on pizza. It was perfect!

24 comments to “it’s not delivery: deep dish skillet pizza”

  1. 1
    megan   April 18, 2008 at 11:06 am

    oh, no–yum! the only thing that i truly miss since going vegan is cheesy deep dish pizza. it can’t be replaced, so i don’t even bother trying. i’ll just drool over yours instead.

  2. 2
    VeggieGirl   April 18, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    delivery-pizza has NOTHING on your gorgeous pizza-pie – yum!

  3. 3
    Mari   April 18, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Wowsa,I would have never thought to do deep-dish pizza in a cast iron skillet! Cast-iron is just the best, isn’t it?

    That pizza looks scrumptious and I say that with authority, as I’m pizza lover no. 1! 😉

  4. 4
    cookinpanda   April 18, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    I love love love homemade pizza and this one looks perfect. The first photo is excellent, by the way, and has made me quite hungry.

    I don’t usually do the skillet thing– just bake my pizzas, but seems worth a try.

  5. 5
    bellcurves   April 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    this looks so yummy–what a great idea! i’ll have to try this sometime. my dad made homemade pizza several years ago and had fun with it. maybe it’s my turn to see what it’s all about. boy, i’m hungry!

  6. 6
    Bijoux   April 18, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Finally! I’ve been waiting so long for this recipe. You’re becoming quite the seasoned dough chef LOL.
    I have made home-made pizza before but I always buy the dough from the market, and I still have a hard time with it. I make a big mess, get flour everywhere, parts of the dough stick to the counter and end up with holes on the dough…but in the end it’s all GOOD!! Yum!! I still need to buy me a cast iron skillet and then I will attempt to make pizza ‘a la kickpleat’ 🙂

  7. 7
    hag   April 18, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Yum! That looks good! What a great idea to put in a cast iron pan too! makes the whole thing easier, and you can get more fillings!

  8. 8
    aria   April 18, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm nyam nyam – i;m eating my screen that looks soooooo goood

  9. 9
    Connie   April 19, 2008 at 6:05 am

    wow, that is some serious pizza action you got going on there

  10. 10
    Sylvie   April 19, 2008 at 8:26 am

    That’s one good looking pizza.

  11. 11
    Lina   April 19, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    Oh wow! That looks soooo good! I am a pizza freak but I’ve never even tried making my own from scratch before.

  12. 12
    kickpleat   April 19, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    meg, i would definitely miss out on cheese if i were a vegan (which is why i can’t commit!), so i understand your loss.

    yeah, hag, a cast iron pan works great for a deep dish pizza. so good!

    thanks veggiegirl!

    mevrouw, i love my old cast iron pan! it’s from my husband’s grandmother and it gets used on an almost daily basis.

    thanks cookinpanda, i did bake the pizza but in the skillet!

    bellcurves, it’s pretty fun making a pizza! so much better than calling someone to make it for you.

    thanks bijoux! this dough is so much easier than the market or bakery kind. i used to have all those problems too. maybe the next pizza dough i’ll make will be the more traditional variety and i’ll have those exact problems too.

    hahaha, thanks aria!

    thanks connie. it’s tres serious 😉

    thanks sylvie! it tastes even better than it looks!

    lina, you should give it a try! if i can do it so can you!

  13. 13
    coopernicus   April 20, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    I am a pizza addict and that looks awesome. I saw an ATK episode where they did ‘pan pizza’ in straight sided 9″ cake pans. That looked pretty kewl as well.

  14. 14
    woolies   April 20, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    We make pizza, including the dough, sometimes. It is almost always better than anything you can buy or have delivered.
    YUM
    I bake it in the oven on a baking stone…

  15. 15
    L   April 21, 2008 at 3:15 am

    Made this for lunch on Sunday. It was great but your’s looked better. Thanks for posting!

    Leigh Ann

  16. 16
    Sandy   April 21, 2008 at 6:56 am

    Seriously, my mouth watered when that picture came up. YUM!

  17. 17
    kickpleat   April 21, 2008 at 10:44 am

    coopernicus, pizza in pans? i’m in! sounds awesome.

    woolies, i’m now definitely tempted by a baking stone….but do i need another thing for my tiny kitchen? ack!

    leigh ann, glad you tried it out! homemade is the best 🙂

    trust me, sandy, the pizza tastes way better than that photo 😉

  18. 18
    Anne Stesney   April 21, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Can I get one of your pizzas delivered to my home? You’ll only have to cross the country and the border. I know it’ll cost me but from the looks of the picture, it’ll be worth every penny!

  19. 19
    Cakespy   April 21, 2008 at 11:17 am

    Oh my. This looks so, so, so, so, so good! And no way could delivery compare to this. Some people are all about thin crust pizza–I do not understand this phenomenon. Give me this gooey, deep dish version any day!

  20. 20
    Brilynn   April 24, 2008 at 9:00 am

    I love homemade pizza, it’s always so much better than anything you order out. I like pineapple on my pizza too!

  21. 21
    P K   May 6, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    This is awesome! Such a good idea! I gave it a shot and loved it so much, I posted about it on my fledgling blog. You can see it here if you like. I gladly gave you credit. Great job!

  22. 22
    cheesefairy   January 11, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    Did I miss something – I tried this dough and it was incredibly dry and tough. My other dough recipe calls for 1.5 cups of water..is there a typo in the recipe as posted?

    just curious…

  23. 23
    kickpleat   January 11, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    cheesefairy, i looked again at the dough recipe in Gourmet and it is indeed only 1/2 cup of water. i remember the dough feeling strange to the touch & i didn't think it would work out, but it did (thankfully for me). sorry yours didn't work out as well as mine and i haven't repeated this recipe again for myself. sorry it was such a bummer for you!

  24. 24
    cheesefairy   January 11, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    Hey, thanks for checking. I need more faith, evidently 🙂

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