Farm Girl's Iron Skillet Pizza

Pizza....homemade....from scratch.....in an iron skillet

This inspiring concept came from an episode of Martha Stewart.  I love iron skillets...I have lots of 'em, I use them almost exclusively in my cooking.  The one above was my grandmother's.  She used it for 70+ years.  Here's my version of the one from Martha's show:

Ingredients

                     6 ounces sweet Italian sausage
      1/2  of a small onion, finely chopped 
      1/2 of a small green pepper, finely chopped
          tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
         3/4 pound pizza dough (recipe below)
         1/4 cup tomato sauce
         2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
         Coarse salt
       6 thin slices pepperoni4
          4 ounces shredded mozzarella         

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove sausage from casings. Break into bite-size pieces. Saute over high heat until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.  Set aside.  Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute the onion and green pepper about 3 minutes.  Set these aside, too.

2.     Brush a 9 or 10" cast-iron skillet with 1 teaspoon oil. Press dough flat in the skillet, spreading to edge.

3.     Combine tomato sauce, garlic, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Spread over dough.

4.     Cook on the stove top over medium-high heat until bottom is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to oven; bake 3 minutes. Scatter sausage, onion and green pepper and pepperoni slices on top; continue baking until edge of crust is golden brown, about 8 minutes. As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.

     Pizza Dough (this recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas)

    1 envelope of active dry yeast

    1 cup of water, 110 degrees F

    1-1/2 teaspoon sugar

    2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups flour

    2 Tablespoons olive oil

    1 teaspoon salt

     Dissolve yeast and sugar in water, let proof 10 minutes.  In a large bowl, combine  2-1/4 cups flour, olive oil, yeast mixture and salt.  Dough will be pretty wet.  Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary.  Coat the surface of the dough ball with butter (oh! Butter!!)  and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm, draftless spot.  Divide the risen dough in half.  Use one half to make your pizza.  Wrap the other half in plastic wrap, label and freeze for later.