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Cast-Iron Pizza With Fennel and Sausage

4.8

(64)

Image may contain Food and Pizza
Photo by Alex Lau, styling by Claire Saffitz

Pizza dough is usually sold as a 1-lb. ball. You only need 12 oz. for this cast-iron pizza recipe; tear off 4 oz. for making garlic knots. We used a 10" pan, so if yours is bigger, use a bit more dough. Cooking sausage in the pan before adding the dough infuses the crust with porky flavor.

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What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    2 servings

Ingredients

12

oz. store-bought pizza dough, room temperature

5

Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

8

oz. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

Kosher salt

cup prepared marinara

¾

cup coarsely grated low-moisture mozzarella

½

small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced

3

garlic cloves, very thinly sliced

Crushed red pepper flakes and torn basil leaves (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place a rack in top-most position of oven; preheat to 475°. Place dough on a work surface; drizzle with 1 Tbsp. oil, turning to coat. Stretch out to a 10" round and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

    Step 2

    Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium. Cook sausage, breaking up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned in spots and cooked though, 5–8 minutes. Transfer sausage to a small bowl.

    Step 3

    Remove skillet from heat and carefully lay dough inside (use spoon to help you extend dough all the way to the edges). Season with salt, then spread marinara over entire surface of dough. Top with mozzarella, then fennel, garlic, and cooked sausage. Drizzle with another 2 Tbsp. oil. Peek underneath the crust—the bottom should be golden brown and crisp from residual heat in the skillet. If it’s not, set over medium-low and cook until crust is golden brown, about 3 minutes.

    Step 4

    Transfer skillet to oven and bake pizza on top rack until crust is golden brown around the edges and cheese is browned in spots and bubbling all over, 10–14 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, then top with red pepper flakes and basil. Sprinkle with more salt and drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil.

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  • I’m echoing the last few reviews. Never had a problem getting recipes or printing them. Suddenly I have to subscribe $?… I suppose I’ll rely on foodnetwork.com The pizza was amazing!

    • Anonymous

    • Portland,OR

    • 1/28/2023

  • Hysterical on the "reviews"! I don't know what's going on with BA and Epicurious, but I've had a subscription to BA since my Mom first gave me one as a gift when I was a junior in college (in 1979) and you've just about lost me. Epicurious just blew up my recipe box and now BA won't let me print recipes. This is ridiculous.

    • Kim

    • Wisconsin

    • 12/22/2022

  • I renewed my expired subscription a month ago; even rcv’d 1st new subscript issue!! But your site keeps telling me that I’ve received my “ last”free recipe!! Tired of that! Plzzz fix it!

    • Anonymous

    • OK

    • 11/15/2022

  • I agree with my fellow cooks - not being able to save recipes is a huge detraction.

    • Nora

    • Italy

    • 11/14/2022

  • I agree with Anonymous: I end up emailing myself these recipes, or worse - printing them out! Why can’t we have a “save” feature like The NY Times Cooking blog?

    • Anonymous

    • London

    • 11/14/2022

  • It's so incredible frustrating that we cannot print recipes, there's no way to save favorites in your profile, like what? What's the point of paying for this if there's no standard user benefit like simply the ability to save a recipe.

    • Anonymous

    • 9/27/2022

  • Pro-tip from an amateur baker: let the dough "proof" for a full 2 hours in a large bowl, so that it grows by 50-100% in volume and reaches room temperature. Putting it somewhere warm might help; my oven with the light on (but not turned on to bake) provided just enough heat. This helps the crust rise more during baking and is easier to stretch when putting it in the pan. Bain Marie, the olive oil prevents sticking. You shouldn't have any splits in the dough if you let it reach room temperature. It should be easy to stretch then. The cast iron shouldn't be "flaming hot," as the directions say to remove from (medium) heat, so you can easily use your hands or a spoon to lift up an edge. Flaming hot would scorch the dough. If it stuck badly to the pan, your cast iron may not be seasoned sufficiently.

    • James

    • Seattle

    • 9/22/2022