Cake Pan Pizzas

Cake pan pizzas. (Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen)

Serves 4 to 6 (Makes two 9-inch pizzas)

Total Time: 1 hour

Gather Equipment:

• Measuring spoons
• Liquid measuring cup
• Dry measuring cups
• 2 dark-colored 9-inch round cake pans (light-colored pans will also work, but the crust will be a little softer and less crisp)
• Plastic wrap
• Spoon
• Oven mitts
• Cooling rack
• Spatula
• Cutting board
• Chef’s knife

Prepare Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound pizza dough
• 1/2 cup pizza sauce or marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (1/4 ounce)

Heat and grease: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees F. Divide oil evenly between two 9-inch round cake pans. Spread oil evenly over bottoms and sides of pans using your fingers.

Divide: Divide dough in half. Pat and flatten each piece of dough into circle. Place 1 dough circle in each cake pan and turn to coat with oil.

Rise: Cover cake pans loosely with plastic wrap. Let dough rise on counter until slightly puffy, about 30 minutes.

Stretch: When dough is ready, gently push and stretch dough to cover bottoms of pans (all the way to edges).

Top: Spoon pizza sauce evenly over both dough circles and spread into even layer, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle each pizza evenly with mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake: Bake until cheese is beginning to brown, 10–15 minutes. Use oven mitts to remove cake pans from oven and place on cooling rack. Let pizzas cool in pans for 5 minutes. Use spatula to transfer pizzas to cutting board. Cut into wedges.

Recipe reprinted with permission from “My First Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen. Published by America’s Test Kitchen.