This is how you make a cheesy and easy pan pizza

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the food lovers of online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat and what to cook. This time our chefs serve you: the recipe for a delicious cheesy and soft pan pizza.

So, phew, what a time... Shall we just casually throw together a pan pizza? So casually that it only needs to be ready by tomorrow, that it only requires a few ultra-simple ingredients, and that you can even make it if you've never baked anything doughy like bread or pizza. Really, you want this.

The reason it only needs to be ready by tomorrow, or can be, is because the dough (which only requires a few minutes of active handling from you) wants to rest in the pan for a night. Just like we all do, right? We came across this recipe on the American site Food52 and the whole video explanation is so relaxed that we thought everyone could use a little tranquilo pizza comfort. Because even though these seem like a lot of steps, how easy they are!

Here's how to make the simple pan pizza dough with just 5 ingredients (aside from sauce, mozzarella, and toppings)

• Put flour, salt, yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium mixing bowl. Mix for about 1 minute with a flexible (silicone) spatula or your hands until a rough dough ball forms, scraping the dough from the sides as you go.
• Loosely cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
• Then moisten your hand and scoop your hand under the dough ball as if you are going to lift it out. Instead, pull the edge up a bit and fold it towards the center of the ball. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat this three times. The four folds you just made replace kneading.
• Cover the bowl again with the towel and set the timer for another 5 minutes. Repeat the four folds. Cover again with the towel, set the timer, and fold again. Repeat.
• This whole process needs to happen a total of four times.
• After the fourth folding, cover the bowl again with the towel and let it rest for 40 minutes.
• Then, still covered, place it in the fridge and let it sit for at least 12 hours and up to 72 hours.
• About three hours before you want to serve the pizza (or eat it alone on the couch), start preparing the pan.
• Take a heavy deep oven-safe skillet, preferably cast iron, about 22 cm in diameter.
• Grease with 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil and make sure (for example with a brush) that the bottom and inside walls of the pan are well coated with oil.
• Place the dough in the pan and turn it once so that both sides of the dough get greased.
• Then push the dough with your fingers towards the edges and also make dimples with your fingers in the meantime.
• If the dough wants to shrink back, that's okay, cover it again with the towel and let it rest for 15 minutes, and repeat the pushing and dimpling.
• The dough should now touch the inner wall of the pan, but if it doesn't, repeat the 15 minutes of resting under the towel one more time.
• Cover again and let it rest and rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
• Half an hour before baking, place one rack at the bottom and one rack at the top of the oven, which you preheat to 220 degrees. No problem if you only have one rack, just carefully move it up later.
• Just before baking, spread 3/4 of the mozzarella over the dough and make sure nothing is left uncovered; this way you get nice crispy cheese edges.
• Spoon the tomato sauce over it, but do not spread it out.
• Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top.
• Place the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese bubbles and the edges and bottom are golden brown (check carefully with a spatula). If the bottom is brown but the top is still a bit pale, move it to the top rack. If the top is good but the bottom is not brown yet, let it stay on the bottom for another 2-4 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on when you find your pizza ‘done’.
• Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a heat-resistant surface.
• Carefully run a spatula along the edges to prevent the cheese from sticking to the sides while cooling.
• Let it cool a little and then carefully use a wide spatula to remove the pizza from the pan and place it on a rack or board, so it doesn't get soggy in the pan.
• Slice and serve warm.

This is a delicious thick-style pizza that is a bit of a cross between focaccia and pizza. Ice-cold Italian beer on the side and your evening is completely set. And if you also want to see the soothing video of Food52 it, take a look below:

Source and header image: Food52