Fork WeeklyCast-iron is the closest thing a home oven has to a pizzeria deck — it holds fierce heat and fries the bottom of the crust in olive oil, giving you crackly edges and a chewy interior without any special equipment.
The move that makes it work is starting the dough on the stovetop to set and brown the base, then finishing in a blazing-hot oven so the cheese bubbles and blisters before the crust can dry out.
Cast-Iron Personal Pizzas
Deep-dish-adjacent personal pizzas with a crackly, olive-oil-fried crust and bubbling cheese — no pizza stone, just a hot cast-iron skillet.
Ingredients
For each pizza
- 8 oz (225 g) pizza dough (store-bought or homemade), at room temp
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) pizza sauce
- 1.5 cups (170 g) shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- Toppings of choice (pepperoni, basil, peppers, onions)
- Grated parmesan and flaky salt, to finish
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with a rack in the upper third.
- Stretch the room-temperature dough into a round roughly the size of a 10-inch (25 cm) cast-iron skillet.
- Set the skillet over medium-high and add the olive oil. Lay in the dough and cook 2–3 minutes, until the underside is set and lightly golden.
- Off the heat, spread with sauce, scatter the mozzarella and toppings, and finish with parmesan.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake 10–12 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the cheese is bubbling and browned in spots.
- Slide onto a board, finish with flaky salt (and basil if using), and slice.
Recipe notes & tips
- Room-temperature dough stretches without snapping back — take it out of the fridge 30–60 minutes ahead.
- Pre-frying the base in the skillet is what gives you that crackly, fried-edge crust.
- Go easy on the sauce and toppings; an overloaded pizza steams instead of crisping.
724 kcalCalories
32 gProtein
78 gCarbs
32 gFat