- 1 round of pizza dough (this can be store-bought or homemade - I made mine in my bread machine)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste - ideally sun dried
- 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce - I used a smokey version
- 6 oz. spicy salami - sliced in halves or strips
- 6-8 whole pepperoncini - ideally cheese-stuffed - sliced in half
- ¼ cup marinated sliced spicy Italian peppers in oil
- 1 cup grated Asiago cheese
- 1 cup grated hot pepper cheese
- For serving: hot sauce & hot honey
Make sure your pizza dough is at room temperature or slightly warm. Preheat the oven to 550°F. You can preheat later, but bear in mind that it takes a bit of time for most ovens to reach that temperature.
Pour the olive oil into a cast iron skillet. Rotate the skillet to fully cover the bottom of the skillet. Place the round of pizza dough in the pan and press lightly to cover the bottom of the skillet; cover with plastic wrap while you prepare the toppings.
Mix the tomato paste and hot sauce together to make a sauce for the bottom of your pizza. Add a little water or red wine vinegar to thin it out as needed. Slice the salami and pepperoncini and grate the cheese.
Remove the plastic wrap from the cast iron skillet and, using your fingers, gently press into the dough to make little divots in the dough and extend the dough at least 1 ½ inches up the side of the skillet. Using a spoon, spread the sauce you've made to the crust in the skillet. Add the salami, pepperoncini, and the spicy Italian pepper toppings to the top of the crust and generously sprinkle the grated cheeses evenly over the crust and toppings.
Bake the pizza in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and the cheese is perfectly melted. If you find that the bottom of the pizza is not crisp enough, you can put the hot skillet (use oven mitts!) on a stovetop burner over medium heat to crisp it a bit more. A few minutes ought to do it. Allow the pizza to cool another 10-15 minutes before slicing into 8 slices.
- Yields: 4 servings
- Preparation Time:35 minutes plus dough-making time if making from scratch