Skillet Pizza

[Planman1954]

I cook almost everything in my skillet. Tonight I made what I call a "Southwest Chicken Pizza." It is good! I've made pizzas for years in a skillet, and recently had a wild hair to make a chicken pizza:


 
Here's how I did it:
Grease skillet and sprinkle on corn meal. Prepare pizza dough. You can use any kind. Add a pizza sauce (I use the basic stuff from walmart, but I sprinkle a little sugar on top of it!)
I top it with a cut up chicken breast and bacon that I browned first together in another skillet, some sautéed bell peppers and onions (cooked in the left over bacon grease,) a little cut up pepperoni, some rotel tomatoes, and top with cheese. It takes about 20 minutes to brown the crust at 425 degrees.
Anyway, I enjoyed eating it watching football!

[Mike@Norwood]

sounds good and looks amazing

[drobertson]

Great looking dish! Looks like it would make a couple of meals,  the rotel is a great idea, a little pop to it,  david

[drobertson]

Yep! 8) pretty killer Sunday night dinner,   it works,  and tastes great! lots of fun and eating! 

 
thanks for the idea,  david

[WildDog]

Looks great, we havn't tried pizza that way, will need to give it a go.

[Planman1954]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Love my skillet....

[luvmexfood]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

[Planman1954]

It's funny you should ask that. My mother (83) just told me the story...again...about her cast iron skillet that she received after helping some friends move when she was around 18. It's still the same. So the answer to your question is...they last a LIFETIME!

[Jeff]

I've started making my chicken pizza in out big cast iron pan. It's the way to go.

  

 

[WV Sawmiller]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

   If you take decent care of them I'd think they last forever. My wife was given my grandmothers cast iron when Grandma died. She has had it 35 years now. Looks just like when she got it.

P'54,

    Good looking meal. Looks like the ultimate deep dish pizza. I'm going to have to try that.

[21incher]

That looks real good Jeff. I bet the cast iron makes the crust nice and crispy. digin_2

[sandsawmill14]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

i have an 8" cast iron skillet that was my grandmothers "bread skillet". it was given to her from her mother when she got married and was starting out in '45 or '46 (i cant remember which) and it was used hand-me-down skillet then. now my wife has been cooking cornbread for about 15 yrs in it ;D
i think we will have to try that pizza too digin1
the only way you can hurt them is break the handle off or bust them with cold water

[Jeff]

This is our 2 handed skillet. 12" across the bottom.

[Bark Beetle]

That looks really good and I bet it tatses better than it looks.

[Ianab]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

You'd have to seriously abuse it I suspect. Dropping it into cold water maybe?

One of my smaller pans survived a "burnt to the ground" house fire. I'd left it with the Ex when I moved out, and the house burnt down shortly after. Found the pan in the ashes under the kitchen sink. Had to wire brush a melted aluminium pan out of it  :D  But re-seasoned it and it's fine again.

Will have to try this method. I make pizza quite often, with fresh dough mixed up in the bread maker. Should come out fine in the big pan I've got that's similar to the ones shown.

[blackfoot griz]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

You'd have to seriously abuse it I suspect. Dropping it into cold water maybe?

One of my smaller pans survived a "burnt to the ground" house fire. I'd left it with the Ex when I moved out, and the house burnt down shortly after. Found the pan in the ashes under the kitchen sink. Had to wire brush a melted aluminium pan out of it  :D  But re-seasoned it and it's fine again.

Will have to try this method. I make pizza quite often, with fresh dough mixed up in the bread maker. Should come out fine in the big pan I've got that's similar to the ones shown.

She must not have seasoned the cast iron skillet very well if the aluminum one stuck. :D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I like anything cooked in those old skillets. 

[red]

Anything ? . . no I am not going to say it . . .

[Jeff]

http://www.goats-in-the-backyard.com/do-goats-eat-tin-cans.html

[MikeAM]

I cook almost everything in my skillet. Tonight I made what I call a "Southwest Chicken Pizza." It is good! I've made pizzas for years in a skillet, and recently had a wild hair to make a chicken pizza:


 
Here's how I did it:
Grease skillet and sprinkle on corn meal. Prepare pizza dough. You can use any kind. Add a pizza sauce (I use the basic stuff from walmart, but I sprinkle a little sugar on top of it!)
I top it with a cut up chicken breast and bacon that I browned first together in another skillet, some sautéed bell peppers and onions (cooked in the left over bacon grease,) a little cut up pepperoni, some rotel tomatoes, and top with cheese. It takes about 20 minutes to brown the crust at 425 degrees.
Anyway, I enjoyed eating it watching football!

That looks real good. I have 2 large iron skillets that cook most of my meals, never thought to bake a pizza in em before.  I do make a ton of pizza on a stone using a no knead bread dough. I usually preheat the oven/stone on max 550° for a half hour and the pizza finishes in 10 minutes. Does the crust get crispy when you don't preheat the skillet?

[Jeff]

I form the doe in the pan, and then I put it in a preheated 425° oven for 5 minutes. I then remove the crust from the oven and add my sauce and toppings, and place it back in the oven for around 20 minutes.  We are making a Italian sausage/mushroom/black olive pizza for supper because I had extra ingredients left from last nights chicken pizza. I'll take some picks of the crust tonight.  It is not crispy, but it is golden brown and holds together very well. I'm guessing if you made it thinner, and pre-baked a few more minutes, or even used a hotter oven, you could get it crispy, but we don't like it that way.

[4x4American]

Looks like a cast iron skillet. I use mine a lot. Just a curiosity question. Wrecken you could ever wear out a cast iron skillet? Belive they would last forever.

I was told that somehow they can crack if you leave them on the heat too long without anything in it?  I use my cast iron skillets to cook about everything anymore.  Even my ice cream lol

[pappy19]

Not true, in fact the best way to clean up an old crusty cast iron skillet is to put it in a self cleaning oven and let her rip. After the oven does it's cleaning, the cast iron will be cleaned to only a small amount of ashes. After that, I wash it with soap and steel wool, rinse well and put back in the oven at 300 for about an hour. Take it out and brush vegie oil or Crisco all over it, wipe off the excess and place back in the oven upside down at 300 for another hour, then turn off the oven and let it cool by itself. Your skillet is now cleaned and seasoned. Some folks use EZ-Off on skillets, but I like the oven clean method myself. I've been using Griswold cast iron for all of my cooking including skillets and Dutch ovens. To me, the old Griswold skillets and Dutch ovens were the very best cast iron ever made.

[sandsawmill14]

i dont think heat would hurt them as i burn mine off to clean them.  use hickory or oak slabs build a hot fire and throw them in there and leave them for a few hours sometimes overnight if i get lazy or the fire is to hot  then i season them and there ready to go. they dont have to get red hot to clean them but i have seen them red hot several  time and have never busted one

[4x4American]

Maybe I didn't remember it right, I think maybe he meant that if you turned the heat up on high to get it to temperature, and then you forgot about it and left it on for too long, then went and tossed something cold in it, maybe thats how you can crack it?  I like how the old cast is smooth

[Jeff]

That would make sense.

I've screwed up and left mine on a burner for a couple hours. Started to heat the pan on a high burner, got called away, and come back to say oh CRUD! What did I do? Nothing. Just let her cools back down. No harm.

[sandsawmill14]

yep that makes sense to me to
i should also say i dont have to burn off our skillets but once every year or 2 but when i do i do them all at once some need it and some dont but all 5 get then im done for another year or 2 ;D

[Jeff]

 

  

  

  

 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

http://www.goats-in-the-backyard.com/do-goats-eat-tin-cans.html

:D :D :D :D we would even eat you Pizza.....and live to tell about it.  ;D

[sandsawmill14]

you are making me hungry digin_2 digin_2 digin1 :D :D :D

[4x4American]

I just seared a nice fat juicy angus steak in my skillet...eating it now with the forum..yum!  That pizza looks awesome I am most definitely going to give that a try! 

[Planman1954]

Wow! I forgot about this thread until I saw a recent post. I make a skillet pizza about every two weeks or so. The crust is fantastic....just like the picture Jeff posted. Gary

[drobertson]

You bet Jeff has it going,, I preheat too, this is not pizza but have that planned for later in the week, ham and bean this evening,  with corn bread in a skillet,


  

 
top and bottom,  I like it a little more golden on top, but it was done, and flopping out easy, so why wait,,

[4x4American]

MMM cornbread, I love cornbread, but haven't had it in a long DanG time!  Gonna have to add that to my bucket list 

[sandsawmill14]

bucket list ??? ??? just make you some  we have it 3-4 times  week normally but it has been a little different here he last couple weeks  : cornbread is good stuff ;D

[MikeAM]

  

  

  

 

Looks like a good pie there I'm gonna have to try me a skillet pizza this weekend. Making a batch of the dough this afternoon. I usually make enough for 5 or 6 loaves at a time and keep it covered in the fridge until I have time to bake a loaf of bead or a pizza.

[4x4American]

 :D  just funning around...never take what I say too seriously, because 10 times out of 9 I'm funning around

[pappy19]

If you really want a dynomite crust, preheat your skillet and drop in 2 tablespoons of butter, then add your dough flatten and cook as usual. Your crust will be nice and crusty and have a super buttery taste.

[Jeff]

I actually use a spray butter to lubricate the skillet before forming the dough.

[21incher]

After looking at these pictures, I am going to invest in some good cast iron. I bought one of those low cost China made cast iron frying pans at TSC several years ago and it was extremely rough with big pores that everything I tried to cook got stuck and burned in. No mater how many times we seasoned it, it never was right.  What is a good brand to buy?

[sandsawmill14]

i have had good luck with lodge but i like the old one you find at flea markets the best

[4x4American]

x2 i have two lodge and I like them but the older ones are the best.  Ar you heating up the cast enough before you put anything in it? 

[sandsawmill14]

if its bread in the oven ALWAYS preheat  if frying on the stove top sometimes i do sometimes i dont 

[21incher]

x2 i have two lodge and I like them but the older ones are the best.  Ar you heating up the cast enough before you put anything in it? 

I think we did. There must be a reason a bunch of them were on the clearance rack. It is extremely poor quality with the bottom of the pan varying from 3/16' to 3/8" thick with mountains and valleys in it and big open pores in the casting. They must have used crushed stone in the sand when casting. I will look for a Lodge to try. I want to be able to make one of these pizzas.

[4x4American]

Yea the Lodge skillets are not a bad price either.  I just put the skillet in the oven with corn bread batter in it.  Another bucket list item about to be completed  8) 8) :D

[drobertson]

I've had a lodge now for several years, maybe 6? they are more grainy, if that's the right word,, not happy for some time with baked goods, I kept on seasoning as directed, coat with shortening and back upside down at 350° for an hour or more, I do a quick clean little soap and warm water,, I do not boil off,  I know a few that have and do, if not careful you can undo the seasoning on newer skillets I think, my son in law just hated his lodge, this past Christmas I asked to season it for him and we baked in it the next day, flopping out good,, I think the cleaning technique is one of the most critical on newer skillets, the old ones are just "burnt in"  slicked off, the lodge if treated right will be there years down the road, just remember them old ones are old,, and them women new how to cook with em'! 

[4x4American]

lol


I haven't had too much trouble with my lodge.  My cousin who's a chef taught me how to take care of it.  Typically I just scrape out the bark and wipe it with a paper towel (bounty is the best cause it don't leave much paper towel residue behind) and if it's really dirty I pour olive oil and salt in it for grit and scrub it lightly with a brush.  Sometimes I use water but never soap because of the degreaser in dish soap.  Plus whenever I cook anything I always warm it up til I see steam coming off or til the first part of the handle gets warm.  Then put down oil or butter followed by what I'm cooking.  On that corn bread I did last night I preheated the cast, greased it with butter, then sprinkled some cornmeal, and it peeled right out when it was done, worked great.  I'm not saying it's right but that's what works for a goofy Yankee like myself lol

[sandsawmill14]

I've had a lodge now for several years, maybe 6? they are more grainy, if that's the right word,, not happy for some time with baked goods, I kept on seasoning as directed, coat with shortening and back upside down at 350° for an hour or more, I do a quick clean little soap and warm water,, I do not boil off,  I know a few that have and do, if not careful you can undo the seasoning on newer skillets I think, my son in law just hated his lodge, this past Christmas I asked to season it for him and we baked in it the next day, flopping out good,, I think the cleaning technique is one of the most critical on newer skillets, the old ones are just "burnt in"  slicked off, the lodge if treated right will be there years down the road, just remember them old ones are old,, and them women new how to cook with em'!

i had one that was hard to get seasoned it was fine for meats but bread would stick in the center. next time you try to season it try plain lard or bacon grease  dont heat the grease or skillet before rubbing it on then stick in the oven right side up and bake at 400-450 degrees until it dry and shines. it may take 2-3 hrs to season it right but i have never timed it i just go by how it looks but if you can rub it with your finger and anything comes off it wasnt done.  it will smoke some but not to bad i never season upside down and i have better luck with lard or grease than with the veg oil they recommend 

[4x4American]

I wonder if it'd help to wire wheel it?

[gspren]

    Back to the cracking part, years ago while tent camping in cold weather we set a cold (lower 20F) skillet on a coleman stove with the burner high and it cracked like a gun going off. Big cold skillet with a small diameter flame set too high and the center expanded faster than the sides. Cooking bacon and eggs with a cracked skillet is a mess.

[sandsawmill14]

i can imagine that would be a mess next time turn skillet up side down over the burner and warm it up some first ;)  a wood fire wont do that but those little gas burners are hot

[4x4American]

wow...good to know!

[gspren]

wow...good to know!

  I was about your age when that happened so 40 years ago, I still hunt, fish, and camp with the friend that owned and cracked the skillet and on quite a few cold trips since then that story gets brought up at breakfast time. We haven't cracked another.