New York Style Pizza at Home

[sunkissed64]

Money is tight so I don't want to make a mistake. I am interested in making New York Style Pizza at home and am trying to decide what to make it on. There's so much information out there that my mind is spinning. I'm trying to decide between a baking steel (1/4 inch thick - higher I don't think I could lift.) and a cast iron skillet. From what I have read I'm thinking a baking steel would be best. Some can get pricy and super heavy. Is cast iron just as good? If you have experience with both please let me know. I just want a great NY style crust that's got good crust color underneath, soft on the inside and has typical NY slice bubbles that puff up. Thanks. Sunny

 

[taxlady]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking, sunkissed. I think (but can't say for sure) that a cast iron skillet and a baking steel would make an equally good pizza. As I see it, the problem with the cast iron skillet is getting the pizza into the skillet. It sounds tricky. If you make the pizza smaller than the cast iron skillet, it might be a lot easier.

 

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum!

Maybe one of those huge 16" CI pans would serve the purpose, and would still be lighter than those pizza steels! And you could probably get a 12" pizza into the preheated pan fairly easily, though I've never done it.

Were you considering these instead of a stone (much lighter!) because of the possibility of the stone breaking?

 

[Rocklobster]

Cast iron will take a long time to heat up compared to a thin aluminum pizza pan..you can get the aluminum ones at a supply store for a few bucks..I don't think the pizza places are cooking pizzas on cast iron...there are perforated ones also that help the bottom crisp up faster..you'll need to crank your oven as high as it will go and preheat it for a good half hour before putting the pizza in, because commercial pizza ovens are usually around 600 degrees....leave your dough out to warm up before using it..don't overload it with sauce or other ingredients or it will be soggy...don't oil the pan it will become seasoned as you use it..Use 00 flour if you can get it..

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I have made many a pizza in a 10 inch Griswold cast iron skillet. The Crust comes out beautifully crispy. The secret to cooking pizza in cast iron is to form your dough into a ball, and flatten it into a manageable disk. You will want about 3 tbs of good olive oil, with a couple pats of butter to grease the pan. Put the butter in first, before the oil. Place the dough disk into the pan,and press the dough to fill te pan. Add toppings and pop into a 500' preheated oven for 15 minutes, or better yet, over a solid bed of hot charcoal (use lump charcoal as it burns hotter, though briquettes work) o a Webber Kettle grill, if you have one.
Place grill lid on top with both bottom, ant lid vents fully open. Bake for 15 minutes.

Of course you can use any cast iron brand. I just like my Griswold best. As it is a little thinner material than most cast iron, it heats quicker. It cleans up easy, and makes great pizza, thin, New York style, Detroit style, Chicago Deep Dish, it doesn't,atter. I've made them all in my cast iron, and they all turn out great. It's my go-to pizza pan.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[WhateverYouWant]

If you truly want a NY style pizza, you'll be better off with a pizza steel, but keep in mind it will take an hour or two to come up to temp in a conventional oven.

A cast iron skillet does have a number of advantages though. You can start setting the crust in the pan over the stove top. Then sauce it and add cheese and toppings and it is ready for the broiler in 7-10 minutes. Another few minutes under the broiler and it is ready (usually less than 15 minutes start to finish).

While the crust will be a bit thicker than a traditional NY style, starting the crust on the stovetop gives you a bit more control of the browning… especially with heavily sauced or topped variants.

As for getting the crust into the skillet… you actually do your final proof in the pan. First add a good glug of olive oil into the pan along with a big pinch of corn meal or semolina (you can even season the bottom of your crust by adding in dried herbs, salt, and pepper - delicious). Smear it around with your hand to coat the bottom and sides, and then stretch your dough to just a bit larger than the skillet and plop it in. Let it proof for a half hour or so and then you're ready for the stove top.

 

[taxlady]

Cast iron will take a long time to heat up compared to a thin aluminum pizza pan..you can get the aluminum ones at a supply store for a few bucks..I don't think the pizza places are cooking pizzas on cast iron...there are perforated ones also that help the bottom crisp up faster..you'll need to crank your oven as high as it will go and preheat it for a good half hour before putting the pizza in, because commercial pizza ovens are usually around 600 degrees....leave your dough out to warm up before using it..don't overload it with sauce or other ingredients or it will be soggy...don't oil the pan it will become seasoned as you use it..Use 00 flour if you can get it..

Actually, Little Caesars does use cast iron skillets, at least the one near me in DDO.

I was thinking that the cast iron skillet should be preheated. That's why I figured it would be a bit tricky to get the dough in straight without burning yourself. But, you gave me an idea. If I got a thin aluminium pizza pan that fit inside the cast iron skillet, I could arrange my pizza on that and then pop the whole thing into the preheated cast iron skillet. Heck, I could turn the skillet upside down and just put the pizza pan on it that way. Fit wouldn't have to be as exact.

 

[powerplantop]

I really like my baking steel.

 

[powerplantop]

I really like my baking steel.

This one was cooked this afternoon on the baking steel

 

[larry_stewart]

Ive never tried a pizza steel ( dont have one) but have been using a stone for decades with good success. I actually use it on the grill too. I start the pizza off on the stone which is on one side of he grill, then slide the pizza off directly on to the grill side to finish it off. Ill use the CI ( or something similar ) when making Chicago stye.

 

[jennyema]

New York pizza is a specific type of pizza that you really can’t make using a pan. It needs a flat surface like a pizza stone or steel