Stupid Pizza Tricks For National Pizza Month: Artisan Upside-Down-Skillet Pizza!

October is National Pizza Month. This 31-day celebration of all things pizza-ish is usually about pizzerias giving great deals, pizzerias giving back, people eating pizza—all the things you’d expect.

What I don’t see a lot of during national pizza month is a) a lot of celebration about making pizza at home, or b) a lot of stupid pizza tricks--of which there are many. Here now, a single article to fix all of that.

Welcome to baby’s first artisan upside-down-skillet pizza! Yes, you’re probably wondering what your peripatetic pizzaiolo has been putting on his mushroom pizza. Nothing you can’t get in a supermarket, be assured.

I wanted to prove it is possible to make an artisan pizza without any special tools. Here’s the method. It’s actually a pretty smart stupid pizza trick, something I did last week on the spur of the moment.
 
Does this seem daunting? Trust me, it’s far easier than using a lot of the little outdoor pizza ovens on the market.
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If you take a 12-inch skillet and heat it upside down in your oven at 550 degrees for half an hour, you can use it to bake an artisan-style pizza. In the fridge, I had a six-ounce dough ball, some sauce and some cheese. I pre-heated an upside down cast-iron skillet in the top third of the oven.
 
I grabbed the smallest cutting board I have. (It’s about 8 x 10 inches and thin, made of bamboo.) I dusted it, flattened the dough ball on it, stretched it to out to 8 inches, then sauced it and sprinkled it with cheese. (It suddenly occurs to me that sounds like a dance. Note to self: work on writing "Hokey Pokey Pizza.")
 
Opening the oven, I briefly felt the panic of a pizza-making newbie. I clenched. I began sweating. I felt my heart in my throat. Will I be able to launch this baby onto the bottom of that skillet?
 
It’s actually pretty easy. It starts by envisioning success. If you envision flying cheese and splattering sauce as amid flapping wings of dough, that’s what you’re gonna get. But a little strategic positioning and a little gentle shaking, and that cute little raw pizza slides right into place.
 
Turning the oven to high broil and giving the pizza about five and a half minutes, it came out perfect. I pinched it by the edge of the crust, slid it onto the now clean cutting board, and voila! It’s a nice little crusty, crunchy, cheesy, savory delight. And so cute!
 
Definitely easier (and making bigger pizza) is using purpose-specific tools. But in an effort to demonstrate that pizza is really pretty simple, this was a stupid pizza trick with purpose.
 
I have not written formal instructions on how to do this. If enough people are interested and reply to this missive, I will cobble together a document with a recipe and specific instructions. (But really, it’s smarter to just read my book and buy some tools.)
 
All hail the stupid pizza tricks! Happy National Pizza Month! If you want to know how to make artisan pizza in your home oven with some special tools, check out award-winning my book here. 

​Free The Pizza!