Pizza in a Cast Iron Pan

It does not seem possible that pizza is a meal that makes everybody is afraid to make at home. I used to work at a California Pizza Kitchen restaurant, so making pizza is not a fear of mine at all. However, when I viewed through many YouTube videos using the following process of making pizza, I decided to give it a try. This recipe is based on the "no-knead bread" recipe to create a pizza dough. The pizza topping possibilities are endless and are very much a personal choice. I like the BBQ chicken pizza on the California Pizza Kitchen menu. This recipe is nearly a mirror image of it, but I created this recipe for busy women who want to make pizza for their loved ones. All the ingredients are store-bought. The pizza dough used is no-knead pizza dough, which is easily made and only requires the time necessary for the dough to rise.

Ingredients:
Pizza dough ingredients:
1 ½ cups of bread flour or all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 cup tap water
Topping ingredients:
1/2 cup BBQ sauce, homemade or store-bought
1 cup roasted chicken or leftover chicken, cut into cubes
1/4 cup sliced red onions
1/2 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 cup 5 cheese

Green onions for garnish

Directions:
To make the pizza dough:
Combine all the pizza dough ingredients in a bowl. Stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the countertop for 12 to 18 hours (you can prepare the dough the night before and it will be ready at dinner time). It does not matter how long it sits after rising.
This is how the dough should look after 18 hours.

Use 3 tbs of olive oil to grease well the cast iron pan. Flour the spatula and your hands to handle the dough because the dough is very soft and sticky. Transfer the dough into the greased cast iron pan. Use your hands to stretch dough to cover the bottom of the pan. Do not worry if the dough does not cover the bottom of the pan because it will fit the bottom of the pan later. Cover pan with plastic wrap for another hour.

Before proceeding to the placement steps below, use two tbs of the BBQ sauce and add to the chicken cubes to marinade in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Steps for placement of toppings onto the dough:
Have all the topping ready and preheat the oven to 450° for at least 20 minutes.
Spread the remaining BBQ sauce all over the pizza dough

Half of the cheese

Chicken, mushrooms, and red onions (or other toppings of your choice)

Top with the other half of cheese

Just before placing the pizza pan into the oven, heat the pizza pan on the stove top for 2 to 3 minutes just to warm up the cast iron pan. Then place the pizza pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions just before removing from oven. Serve.