The biggest obstacle to making great pizza at home isn’t the dough.
It’s the oven.
Italian pizzerias bake pizzas at temperatures that most home ovens can only dream of reaching. For years I tested countless pizza dough recipes. The dough rose beautifully, full of promise, but once it entered the oven, all the magic disappeared.
So I gave up for a long time.
Then I discovered a game-changing trick shared by Simona: a scorching hot cast-iron skillet and a brief start on the stovetop before finishing the pizza in the oven.
Everything changed.
The crust puffed.
The bottom turned golden and crisp.
Finally, my home oven was no longer the enemy.
ROMAN OR NEAPOLITAN?
In Italy, pizza is broadly divided into two great traditions.
Pizza Romana (“bassa”) is thin, crisp, and lightly charred.
Pizza Napoletana (“alta”) is softer, with airy borders and a wonderfully chewy interior.
This method produces something beautifully balanced between the two: a thin base with light, puffed edges and an interior full of tiny bubbles created during the long rise.
THE RISE
Good pizza begins long before baking.
Fresh baker’s yeast, 0 flour, olive oil, and a touch of sugar work together to create a dough that becomes increasingly elastic and airy as time passes.
Don’t worry if the dough seems too soft or sticky.
Moisture is one of the secrets to a light, digestible crust.
And patience is the other.
After an initial rise, I leave the dough overnight in a warm oven with the light on.
The following day I divide it into individual loaves and let them rise once again before shaping them gently with my hands.
THE GAME-CHANGING TRICK
After the second rise, I stretch each dough ball into a rough circle the size of my cast-iron skillet.
Then comes the secret.
I place the empty skillet over high heat until it becomes scorching hot.
Only then do I carefully lay the dough inside.
The heat immediately reactivates the fermentation: bubbles appear and disappear across the surface while the borders begin to inflate before my eyes.
After about one minute, I spoon over the tomato sauce and transfer the skillet to the highest rack of the oven.
A minute later I add the mozzarella and finish baking.
It’s the closest I’ve ever come to reproducing the intense heat of an Italian pizzeria in a normal home oven.
A PIZZA THAT FEELS ITALIAN
The more you stretch the dough, the thinner the final pizza will be.
But thanks to the cast-iron skillet, the borders always puff beautifully and the crumb remains full of the tiny air pockets created during the long fermentation.
The result is light, digestible, and immensely satisfying.
Italian pizza dough recipe
Ingredients
- 17.6 oz 0 flour - 500 gr
- 6.7 oz hot tap water + something more - 250 ml
- 0.4 oz fresh baker's yeast - 12 gr
- 2 teaspoons sea salt - 10 gr
- 3 teaspoons sugar - 10 gr
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil - 30 gr
Instructions
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Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the hot tap water. Let it rest for five minutes in a warm place. During winter, I place it in the oven with the light on, and if it's not enough, I set the temperature to 68-86°F (25-30°C). After five minutes, you should see a slight bubbling, even just a hint on the sides. This means the yeast is active. If not, start all over again.
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Add the olive oil to the yeasted water and mix well.
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Place the salt on the bottom of the mixer's bowl. Add the flour too.
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Initiate the engine, slow speed, and gradually pour in the yeasted water. Work the dough for about ten minutes; you'll see it coming together and collect all the flour from the bowl sides.
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After ten minutes, add circa 1.7 oz (50 ml) more hot tap water, and work the dough: it will wrap itself around the hook after about five minutes. Timing depends on the flour quality and gluten.
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Add about 0.7 oz (20 ml) of hot tap water. At this point, the dough will go back to almost liquid, but don't worry, keep kneading, always low speed, until it wraps around the hook once more. The result will be a soft and sticky dough.
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Remove the hook and cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth. Place it in a warm spot of your house - away from drafts and temperature swings - or in the light-on or low-temperature oven, 68-86°F (25-30°C). I keep the oven on for four to six hours, then turn it off and leave the dough rising overnight. Try to get close to this.
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The next day, take back the bowl, pour the dough over a lightly floured working surface and grease your hands with a bit of olive oil. Don't worry if the surface of the dough has dried a bit: it happens. Work the dough with your hands, shortly, and form four round, same-size loaves.
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Cover them with the kitchen cloth and let them rise for at least a couple of hours.
PIZZA MARGHERITA
Pizza Margherita remains Italy’s great classic: tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
From there, the possibilities are endless.
Prosciutto crudo (always added after baking), mushrooms, olives, or burrata all make wonderful variations.
The only rule is to drain the mozzarella well before baking so that excess moisture doesn’t compromise the crust.
ALSO FOR STORE-BOUGHT PIZZA DOUGH
The cast-iron skillet method works beautifully even with store-bought dough.
In Italy, many people buy their panetti from the neighborhood bakery or pizzeria.
Using the skillet transforms them completely, producing a pizza far superior to simply rolling out the dough and baking it directly in a conventional oven.
Cast Iron Skillet Italian Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 loaf pizza dough about 7-9 oz - 200-250 gr
- 100 - 125 gr mozzarella
- 4-5 tablespoons tomato paste - passata
- olive oil
- salt
- 3-4 basil leaves - fresh
Instructions
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Dice the mozzarella into small pieces, place it in a colander or a fine-mesh sieve in the sink or over a bowl to collect liquids. Let it release the extra milk for at least half an hour.
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Preheat the oven to the maximum, mine arrives at 482°C (250°C), and place the rack on the upper level.
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Place the tomato paste in a bowl and season it with half a teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Mix well, and set aside.
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Clean the basil leaves and set them aside.
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Take the pizza dough loaf and place it on a lightly floured surface. With your hands greased with a few drops of olive oil, work the dough with your fingertips, gently, to form a pizza base the shape, or almost, of your skillet.
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Place the cast-iron skillet on the stovetop, high heat, and wait until it becomes scorching - about five minutes.
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Delicately and carefully, transfer the pizza base to the skillet with both hands. Cook one minute. You'll see the dough puffing all around the surface.
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Add the tomato sauce, a spoonful at the time, and spread it, with the back of the spoon, all over the surface - but not the edges.
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Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake the pizza for one minute.
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Take it back, scatter the mozzarella evenly on the surface, and immediately return the skillet to the oven.
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Bake it for four to six minutes. With the help of a spatula, lift the pizza and check the bottom; when golden, your pizza is ready. With time you'll get to know your oven and know exactly the time needed.
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Take the pizza out of the oven and garnish it with the basil leaves.
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Repeat for all your pizzas.
Recipe Notes
We usually eat all from the same pizza once out of the oven, while the following is baking.
Did you know that modern pizza was born in Naples? Probably. But did you know there was a time when nobles ate it in their gardens, paired with sublime wines?
If not, let me tell you about it — or rather, let my Naples Simposio do the telling. Take a look inside here.
Claudia