Pizza in a Cast Iron Skillet

My friend JJ recently posted his recipe for what he calls the "best" pizza.  The dough rises in the same cast iron skillet the pizza is eventually cooked in.  I can't wait to try it!

Here is exactly what he shared:

Here’s how I did it. Start with the dough. Store bought is fine, but making your own is so easy and much tastier. We use Pioneer Woman’s simple recipe, available here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/.../2010/02/my-favorite-pizza/
 
Once you’ve got the dough, grab a 12 inch cast iron skillet (smaller would work but then you’d probably want less dough). Drop some olive oil in the skillet, roll the dough around in the oil, cover with plastic wrap and let that sucker rise for about an hour.
 
In the meantime, make your sauce. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan, get it hot over medium heat but don’t burn it! Drop in 1-2 cloves of minced garlic for like 15-20 seconds. Add a can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Cook that up for about 10 minutes, then add herbs of your choice. I went with straight basil but oregano would be a good choice as well. The tomatoes will cook down and you can mash them up, but I opted for an immersion blender to get it really smooth. Cook it until it reduces a bit and you look at it and say, “now that looks like pizza sauce.” Bam.
 
At some point, preheat the oven to 500.
 
When it’s time to start the fun, punch the dough down and arrange it in the pan so it covers the bottom and up the sides to your desired crust level. Put the sauce on there and whatever other goodness you crave (last night was ham, fresh mozzarella, and minced garlic). Fire up your stove-top burner at medium high and put the skillet on that for 4 minutes. This gives the crust a head start. Then, throw it in the bottom rack of the oven for ten minutes. After ten minutes, drop the temp to 400 and cook for another 5-15 minutes until done. Slide it onto a cutting board, resist the urge to attack it zealously, and let it rest for like 5 minutes.