Thick Crust Chicken Marsala Pizza (Cast Iron Skillet)

• servings: 1 serving
• active time: 30 minutes
• total time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

1 recipe King Arthur crispy cheesy pan pizza crust

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 oz baby bella or brown mushrooms (sliced)

⅓ cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

⅓ cup Marsala wine

½ tablespoon flour

½ medium shallot (minced)

1 cloves garlic (minced or grated)

salt and pepper

⅔ cup fontina cheese (grated on the large side of a box grater)

⅓ cup low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella (grated on the large side of a box grater)

1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken (or sliced mushrooms)

fresh oregano (for topping)

Directions

Marsala sauce

Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook mushrooms until browned and slightly charred. Transfer mushrooms to blender, but don't blend yet.

With the pan still on medium heat, cook garlic and shallots in remaining butter until slightly soft and translucent, about 60 seconds. Add the flour and stir until cooked, about a minute. Then add the marsala wine and stock, stirring to scrape browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add ¼ tsp salt and a few grinds of pepper, stirring to combine.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly. Then add liquid to the mushrooms in the blender.

Blend liquid and mushrooms until smooth. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.

Pizza assembly

Make the pizza dough according to directions, up through step 8 (2 hours before baking, let the dough rise in a well-oiled cast iron pan). If using a different pizza dough recipe, adjust your timing accordingly.

Mix the fontina and mozzarella cheeses together in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 450°F with oven racks in the lower and upper third positions.

30 minutes before baking top the dough with a layer of shredded cheese blend, covering as much of the visible crust as you can to prevent the sauce from seeping through. Reserve about ¼-½ cup of cheese for later.

Dollop small spoonfuls of the sauce on over the cheese — about 6-10 dollops is enough. You do not need a lot of sauce for this pizza and you will have about half or more than half of the sauce leftover.

Layer on the shredded chicken, then top it with the remaining cheese blend and finish with the fresh oregano leaves.

Bake the pizza on the lower oven rack for 18-20 minutes. When the timer goes off, slide a spatula carefully under the pizza to check the bottom. If it’s crisp and golden brown and pulls away easily from the pan, you can remove it from the oven. If the bottom still seems pale or soft, leave it in the oven for another 2-3 minutes. If the bottom is good, but the top still seems light, transfer the pizza to the upper rack for an additional 2-3 minutes.As KAF cautions: “Home ovens can vary a lot, so use the visual cues and your own preferences to gauge when you’ve achieved the perfect bake.”

Remove the pizza from the oven and run a knife around the edge to separate it from the pan. Let the pan cool for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack, then remove the pizza from the pan so that the crust doesn’t get soggy. The pizza is pretty sturdy so you might be able to do this with one large spatula and a lot of confidence — otherwise use two spatulas and work quickly to transfer the pizza to a serving platter or onto the cooling rack.

Slice the pizza using kitchen shears (seriously, it totally works) and serve it while it’s still warm.