Mmmm... Pizza Fridays!

One thing that we have found to be critical to the health of the Sustainable Family is great friends.  Another equally important thing is cheap meals.  For a few years now, we have had a standing "date" with our friends at our house for "Pizza Fridays".  This tradition has included pizza in many forms, but we have now found a groove with homemade pizza cooked in cast-iron pans.  I will NEVER cook a pizza any other way again.  In my opinion it is the quickest, easiest, and least messy way to cook pizza at home... by far. 

I'll explain how it's done in our house, but understand that there may be a little trial and error necessary before you can perfect it in your kitchen.  The good thing is you can still eat the mistakes.  We use store-bought pizza dough, but there are plenty of great recipes for pizza dough on the web.

If you have an electric oven like we do, set it to about 475 F and let it preheat a bit while you build your pizza.  If you have a gas oven, you will want to wait until the pizza is in the oven to turn it on.  Coat the bottom of your cast-iron pan with a thin layer of olive oil and press the dough into the bottom of the pan.  Add sauce (or just some olive oil for a white pizza) and any spices you want... I generally put garlic powder and Italian seasoning.  Add shredded mozzarella, toppings, and even a little Parmesan cheese if you like. 

Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven, and place a cookie sheet or something similar on the rack above (we have a pizza stone that is always in the oven).  The idea here is that you are trying to heat up the cast-iron pan so it perfectly cooks the bottom of the pizza crust while not cooking the top too fast.  In a gas oven, waiting until the pizza is in to turn the oven on (reportedly) works well, but in my electric oven heating the coil a bit first seems to work best.

The pans we use are Lodge brand cast-iron pizza pans.  You may be able to find these in a local store, but we couldn't so we ended up ordering them online.  You don't need to buy the pizza pans specifically though, any flat bottom cast-iron skillet you have will work, your pizza will just be limited to the size of your pan.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.  Or, if you're really up for a challenge, try it on your grill!