Perfect Pan Pizza

Perfect pan pizza, with an easy, homemade no-knead pizza crust, classic toppings, baked to perfection in a steel or cast iron skillet or pan.

📝 Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups bread flour, Italian "00" Pizza flour or all purpose flour ( plus more, as needed)
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Instant yeast (such as SAF Brand *See Note 1 below for other yeast options)
• 1 1/4 cups water (at room temperature)
• 3/4 cup pizza sauce (store-bought or *See Note 2 below for a quick and easy homemade option)
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups full-fat, low moisture pizza mozzarella cheese (grated)
• 20 Pepperoni slices (or to taste)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (for greasing the pan)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Timeline: Stir together the dough in the morning (before 9am is ideal) and allow to rise on the counter through the day (at least 7-8 hours is best). About 1 1/2 hours before you want to eat, form dough into a ball. It will rest for 1 hour after that. Preheat your oven during this rest time and gather your pizza topping ingredients. Finally, spread the dough into the your baking pan, top and bake!
2. 2Make the pizza dough: Stir together the dough ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon (dough will rise a lot at one point, so use a large enough bowl to allow it to triple in size). Dough will be shaggy and dry, but just stir as best you can to moisten the flour well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set on the counter to rise for 7-8 hours (the longer the better!).
3. 3Baking pan options: A 12-inch bottom diameter round cast-iron skillet or steel skillet is the perfect size for this dough. Alternately, you can use a metal, 9x13-inch baking pan, either a cake pan or a high-sided baking sheet. A heavier and darker pan is best, if you have options. You can also make two smaller 8-10-inch pizzas in smaller round skillets or cake pans.
4. 4About 1 1/2 hours before you want to eat your pizza, remove the dough to a floured work surface. The dough will look very moist and sticky in the bowl. Use a silicone bowl scraper if you have one, to make easy work of getting it out of the bowl. Dust the top of the dough with a bit of flour, as well, then gently knead the dough a bit, working in a bit of additional flour, as needed, only if the dough is sticking to your work surface or hands. Form the dough into a ball. Brush the baking pan liberally with olive or vegetable oil and place your dough ball into the centre of your prepared baking pan. Cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rest for 1 hour.
5. 5Preheat oven to 500F (regular bake setting/not fan assisted)
6. 6Once dough has rested, using only your fingertips, gently press down and stretch the dough towards the outside edges of the pan. It will want to shrink back a bit, but keep at it. You don't want to deflate the dough too much, so only use your fingertips. If it is stubborn, let it rest a couple of minutes, then try again.
7. 7Once the dough is stretched to the outside of the pan, top with pizza sauce. I like to spread the pizza sauce right to the edges of the dough, but you can leave a margin around the outside, if you like. Sprinkle with some red pepper flakes, if using, then top with grated cheese and pepperoni.
8. 8Bake pizza in preheated 500F oven for 13-15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Let pizza rest in pan about 4-5 minutes, then loosen with a spatula and slide onto a cutting board, to slice and enjoy.