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The Berserker

Pepperoni, bacon, sausage crumble, mozzarella. No vegetables were harmed.

Makes

One 10-inch deep dish, 6 wedges

Hands on

30 min

All in

5 h 30

Oven

230 °C (450 °F)

What you need

• 3 cups (750 ml)all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (250 ml)water, warm
• 2 tbsp (30 ml)olive oil, plus more for the pan
• 1 tsp (5 ml)instant yeast
• 1½ tsp (7 ml)salt
• 1 cup (250 ml)tomato sauce
• 2¼ cups (560 ml)mozzarella, shredded
• ⅔ cup (160 ml)pepperoni
• 4 stripsbacon, cooked and torn
• ⅔ cup (160 ml)Italian sausage, browned and crumbled

How it goes

1. 1

   Mix the flour, yeast and salt, then the warm water and oil. Stir to a shaggy dough — no kneading. Cover and leave it on the counter 4 hours, or in the fridge overnight.

2. 2

   Oil a 10-inch cast iron skillet generously — more than feels right. That oil is what fries the bottom crust, which is the entire difference between this and a pizza on a tray.

3. 3

   Press the dough out to the edges of the pan with oiled fingers. If it fights back, leave it 15 minutes and try again. Let it rise in the pan 45 minutes.

4. 4

   Cheese to the pan wall, then the sauce, then all three meats. Cook the sausage and bacon first — raw sausage on a deep dish renders fat into the crumb and the middle never sets.

5. 5

   Bake at 230 °C (450 °F) on the lowest rack for 22–26 minutes, until the cheese is browning in patches and the edge has pulled away crisp and golden. Slide a spatula under and look — the bottom should be fried, not pale.

6. 6

   Let it sit 5 minutes before cutting, then lift the whole thing out onto a board. Cutting in the pan ruins both the pizza and the pan.

A couple of things

• Use the small pepperoni that curls into cups. The fat pools in them and crisps the edges, which is the best part of the pizza.
• Three meats is already a lot of fat. Skip the extra oil drizzle everyone wants to add at the end.

Contains : wheat, milk