IRON SKILLET PIZZA

Have you ever baked homemade pizza in a cast iron skillet? Oh my soul! It is so YUMMY!
The crust gets crispy on the bottom but stays moist on top. If you have an iron skillet, you simply MUST try this some time! You won't be disappointed and you'll probably never bake it on a pizza pan ever again!

IRON SKILLET PIZZA

Instructions for basic pizza dough:

Preheat oven to 400.

2 pkgs. quick rise dry active yeast
1 cup warm water (120ish degrees)
3 tblsp. veg. or olive oil, plus extra for drizzle
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
Approx. 3 cups flour, plus extra for handling

It's good to "feel" out your dough. Start with the yeast in a mixing bowl. Add the warm water, oil sugar or honey and let everything dissolve together. Begin adding flour. (This can be done in a mixer, but I prefer to mix by hand, adding the flour a cup or half a cup at a time.) After mixing in about half the flour, add the salt. Mix in the rest of the flour, and when dough can be handled without sticking too badly, begin kneading by hand until soft and elastic, about 12-15 times. Let it rest for about 15 minutes. Punch it down, knead and let it rest again, if you have the time. After the second rise, form it into whatever you want (loaf, rolls, etc.) and bake in 450 deg. oven until golden brown. But this time we're forming it into our pizza dough. So lay it on the counter and begin rolling it into a circle big enough to fit your cast iron skillet on the bottom and up the sides a little. Grease your skillet heavily with Crisco. Pat dough into skillet and push up sides of the pan a little.

HAM & PINEAPPLE PIZZA

1/2 cup pizza sauce
1 lb lean deli ham, sliced into thin, bite size pieces
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained (if you don't have crushed, you can use chunk, just dice it up)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Spoon the pizza sauce (or pasta sauce, doesn't matter) evenly over your dough in the iron skillet. Top with 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Layer on your ham and pineapple and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is light golden brown on the bottom.

*Feel free to add more or less ham, pineapple or cheese, according to your taste.

UPSIDE DOWN PIZZA

This is another "hurry up" picture. I didn't have time to garnish it. I made this for my Fall ladies meeting this month and the ladies really liked it. It was so quick and easy to throw together and the variations on it are endless. It would make an easy weeknight dinner for your family too. You'll have to give this one a try. I promise you'll like it. It's relatively inexpensive too, depending on how many, and what sort of toppings you choose to put on it.

UPSIDE DOWN PIZZA

1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
1 onion chopped
1 (15 oz) can pizza sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2/ tsp. dried oregano
Pepperoni
Cooked deli ham, diced
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 Tblsp oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Brown beef and onion in skillet. Drain and return to skillet. Stir in pizza sauce, garlic salt and oregano into the beef. Spread beef mixture into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Top with pepperoni and ham pieces (and any other pizza toppings you like). Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, salt and flour. Pour over meat mixture in baking pan. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serves 12.

PIZZA RUSTICA

I was so happy with the way this recipe turned out. Talk about a HEARTY dish! Wowzers! 1 piece of this with a big ol' salad and you are set for dinner. Don't let the length of the recipe scare you off, it really is simple to fix and well worth the effort! You won't be sorry you took the time to roll this one out! On a side note, we aren't big fans of Italian sausage, so we substituted regular pork sausage, and diced deli ham. And it was wonderful!

PIZZA RUSTICA

2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 (12-ounce) bunches fresh spinach, stemmed, coarsely chopped (about 12 cups), or 1 (10-ounce) package frozen cut-leaf spinach, thawed and drained
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta
12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, coarsely chopped
4 large egg yolks, beaten to blend
Pastry Dough, recipe follows
1 large egg, beaten to blend

Position the rack on the bottom of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sausages and saute until golden brown, breaking the sausage into pieces, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the same frying pan over medium heat. Add the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts and the juices evaporate, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Squeeze the spinach to drain as much liquid as possible.

Into a large bowl, add egg yolks and beat lightly. Stir in the ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese. Add the sausage, the spinach and prosciutto to the mixture and stir to combine.

Roll out larger piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 17-inch round. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch springform pan. Trim the dough overhang to 1 inch. Spoon the ricotta mixture into the dough-lined pan. Roll out the remaining piece of dough into a 12-inch round. Place the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges of the doughs together to seal, then crimp the dough edges decoratively. Brush the beaten 1 large egg over the entire pastry top. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan over the top. Bake on the bottom shelf until the crust is golden brown, about 1 hour.

Let stand 15 minutes. Release the pan sides and transfer the pizza to a platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

Pastry Dough:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup cold solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, beaten to blend
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Blend the flour, the butter, the shortening and salt in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Blend in the eggs. With the machine running, add the water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, with 1 piece twice as large as the second piece. Flatten the dough pieces into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes.

Yield: 2 dough pieces (enough for 1 Pizza Rustica)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

I thought this pic was funny - my daughter Hannah totally approved of this one! LOL