If you want a homemade pizza that requires no kneading, no special flour, or long wait time (because who among us has ever said “what I really crave is pizza that will be ready 1 to 3 days from now”), you should really, really be making more pan pizzas at home. You might even consider it a worthwhile addition to your 2026 cooking bucket list.
They’re actually impossible to mess up, falling into none of the other traps that besiege most homemade pizza efforts. Not only do you not need to knead the dough, you can pile it with all of the toppings your heart desires and it will never sog or flop in the center. You don’t have to watch the oven like a hawk or end up with something that tastes more like a cracker than a pizza — it actually bakes at a high heat for a full 30 minutes, yet will forgive you if you pull it out a little late. You don’t need a fancy pizza oven; the extremely basic one in my apartment handles this like a pro.
But the texture of the pizza tastes like something you worked much harder for — a thick, airy dough, pillowy and rippled with blistered cheese and toppings that go all the way to the toasted cheese edges (one of my favorite parts), and browned to a seasoned crouton-like crisp underneath, the kind that makes an audible crunch when you cut through it.
Below is the pizza in its more basic format: sauce, two types of cheese, a little basil on top, approved by the buttered noodle contingent of the family (just kidding; she will eviscerate the basil). But toppings are easy to add. Sometimes I roast some while the oven preheats (thickly sliced mushrooms, diced onions, peppers, and more); others can be sliced thin and piled on (such as pepperoni or fresh vegetables) right before baking. Be generous with the toppings; it won’t weigh the pizza down.
Note: This is the pan pizza dough we use in the Spinach and Artichoke Pan Pizza, the Pizza with Broccoli Rabe and Roasted Onions, and the Angry Grandma Pizza (in Smitten Kitchen Keepers) but as I made it for dinner last week for the millionth time, I realized that the site was lacking in this household favorite with no bells or whistles.
P.S. If you’re my teenaged son reading along, wondering what kind of recipes you might include in that core recipe arsenal we discussed: yes, this! [Before you say anything, no, I’m not emotionally prepared to have a website that spans from pre-kids days to baby food to a learn-to-cook list for an 11th grader but here we are!]
Simple Crispy Pan Pizza
- 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use Diamond brand kosher salt; use half of other brands)
- 1 cup lukewarm water (100° to 115°F)
- Olive oil
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce, prepared or homemade
- 6 ounces coarsely grated or torn mozzarella cheese (1 1/3 cup grated)
- 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
- Seasonings such as salt, pepper flakes, and dried oregano
- Handful fresh basil
Crust
To finish
Assemble the pizza: Heat your oven to 450°F (230°C). Coat a 12-inch (30-cm) round cast-iron skillet with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Scrape dough into the pan, then turn it over once so it’s oiled on both sides. Dip your fingers in the oil to coat them and dimple the dough out to the edges as best as you can; it’s okay if it doesn’t fully stretch at this point. Set it aside, loosely covered, for 30 minutes to finish proofing.
To assemble: Spoon the sauce generously over the dough, covering it all the way to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with mozzarella, then parmesan. Season as you wish with salt, pepper flakes, and oregano, then drizzle a final tablespoon of oil over the top before transferring it to the oven.
Bake the pizza: For 30 minutes, until deeply golden brown at the edges and toasty on top. Yes, this baking time and temperature is correct. It sounds very long but I’ve made a hundred of these pizzas and always regret when I take it out before 30 minutes, as the edges have a less satisfying crunch.
To serve: Scatter with fresh basil. You can serve it right in the pan, but I prefer to protect my knives. Loosen the pizza from the pan and slide it onto a cutting board before cutting it into wedges.
Do ahead: Leftovers reheat fantastically. I heat leftover slices on a foil-covered sheet pan at 350°F or 375°F for 5 to 10 minutes.
Seen here: I’ve had this cast-iron skillet for 20 years! You can also use your Staub x Smitten Kitchen Braiser. I use this dough whisk. And I’m obsessssssed with this stunning olive wood board I bought myself recently from Etsy. I want every size. While you can bake this in any old 9×13-inch baking pan too, I bought this one just because I wanted the cast iron edges to be as good as they are in a skillet. Pizza like this is such an easy win when kids’ friends come over, I might buy a second one soon.
Previously
6 months ago: Focaccia with Zucchini and Potatoes
1 year ago: Potato Leek Soup
2 years ago: French Onion Baked Lentils and Farro
3 years ago: Cauliflower Salad with Dates and Pistachios
4 years ago: My Favorite Lentil Salad
5 years ago: Lemon and Lime Mintade
6 years ago: Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger
7 years ago: Plush Coconut Cake
8 years ago: Sheet Pan Meatballs with Crispy Turmeric Chickpeas
9 years ago: Chocolate Dutch Baby
10 years ago: Blood Orange, Almond, and Ricotta Cake and Cabbage and Sausage Casserole
11 years ago: Key Lime Pie and Make Your Own Vanilla Extract
12 years ago: Pear and Hazelnut Muffins and Warm Lentil and Potato Salad
13 years ago: Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard, and Garlic
14 years ago: Buttermilk Roast Chicken
15 years ago: Baked Potato Soup
16 years ago: Black Bean Soup + Toasted Cumin Seed Crema and Cranberry Syrup and an Intensely Almond Cake
17 years ago: Clementine Cake and Mushroom Bourguignon
18 years ago: Chicken Caesar Salad and Fried Chicken
19 years ago: Grapefruit Yogurt Cake
PERFECT! Will make this week. Love the spinach/artichoke pizza. I think that you mean 3/4 *cup* of tomato sauce, and that you “Coat a 12-inch (30-cm) round cast-iron skillet *with* 3 tablespoons olive oil.”
Thanks, now fixed. [Amanda, who helps me out behind the scenes, is on maternity leave so I’m probably going to have even more typos than usual, ha.]
You’re worth all the typos! Happy to be your proofreader if you need temp help :)
11th grade?? He is NOT!! *faints
1. I’ve been a reader since 2009 when another site i followed at the time posted your breakfast pizza. I made it and was made a permanent fan. Every recipe of yours seems like a recipe I would make if I could write recipes. They are always immediately at home with me.
2. Your Margherita pizza dough was my go to for a very long time
3. Your foccacia for a crowd dough has taken its place for pizza as I get lazier than the lazy Margherita dough…
5. This will be next as my kids prefer thick pizza…but do you think can I double it and use a ten inch and a 12 inch pan? My 12th grader eats an obscene amount of pizza.
6. I have children in your kids’ ballpark ages so the nostalgia for baby days is shared!
This looks amazing! Do you have any suggestions for tomato sauce?
https://lebengut.today/2013/10/lazy-pizza-dough-favorite-margarita-pizza/%3C/a%3E I really do need to clean up this old recipe but this contains an almost no-recipe sauce from canned tomatoes plus garlic and seasoning. You don’t even need to cook the sauce before making the pizza, it cooks when the pizza does and has a great flavor. But, storebought works too, any jarred sauce you like.
Wondering about adaptability for a large group that is about half thick-crust lovers and half thinner-crust lovers.
Am I better off making this dough for one group and your other pizza dough for the other group? OR can I just stretch this one into a larger pan? I notice that it is a high hydration dough (90%) largely the same as your focaccia for a crowd, which is a family favorite. Our thinner crust dough is about 65% hydration (adapted from a different smitten recipe, I think).
So, I guess I am wondering — Is it the higher hydration that makes this a thick, forgiving crust, or is it the pan size? Or the combination? Thanks for another great idea.
This looks like your focaccia for a crowd (our favorite) done a pan pizza.
You can press this out more thinly in a pan but it will bake faster. But you can use the dough two ways. The combination of a thicker pan and high hydration allows that long bake time that gives us the distinct textures — a fantastically crunchy crust, pillow inside, blistered and browned on top.
I will definitely make this. But I just wanted to add that I have a college graduate (!) who will move out someday (?) and I’ve been thinking of making her a book of recipes, some of which will undoubtedly be yours.
Hi Deb, I was wondering if you have any tips for making this gluten-free?
Please drop the core recipe arsenal!
Here for the learning to cook / teaching the hungry teenager to feed themselves in volume content :) So far my 12 year old has mastered smoothies and fried rice. Pizza sounds like a good next step!
I think you left out the 1 tablespoon measurement for the olive oil in the dough. Here’s what you have in the recipe for the Spinach and Artichoke pan pizza:
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use Diamond brand kosher salt; use half of other brands)
1 cup lukewarm water (100° to 115°F)
1 tablespoon (15 grams) olive oil
Thank you — now fixed!
Thanks for this! Good sleuthing! I had just opened the bottle of olive oil!
Comment before me is TOTALLY out of line. I’m with you, against people like that.
Now removed
You’re next, you filthy cunt. Can’t wait to hear your skin sizzle. Not before I stuff my cock in some kike slit before I blow your brains out.
As for Deb’s 17-year-old, he’ll have to be dismembered before I can stuff him in the oven.