Pizza-Hut like Pan Pizza - homemade dough

Ingredients for 3 (9 inch pan pizzas)
5 cups of flour
2 1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp yeast
2 1/4 cup water, plus a splash
4 1/2 tsp oil

Directions:
1. Combine ingredients together and mix with a wooden spoon just until there is no dry flour. Don't press or knead here.
2. Cover with plastic wrap for 8 hours. When rested it will look like a bowl of chunky soup.

3. Flour the dough and flour the surface. Divide the dough into 3 balls. Roll and punch them a bit so they become smooth - just 30-60 sec. 

4. Oil three pans well with olive oil. Place one dough ball in each pan. Move them around to get them covered in oil.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for another 2-3 hours.

6. The dough should now be completely proofed and almost fit the whole pan. Use your fingers and press some air bubbles out of the dough and make sure dough is to the edge.  You don't really want to form a big crust here because you want toppings to go to the end. If you press too much your dough will be harder and less of a doughy consistency that we are looking for here.

 7. Once you get the dough set, just lift it up a few times from the edges of the pan to make sure there are no air bubbles trapped underneath.

Ingredients for pizza:

3 sweet Italian sausage links, casing removed

3 hot Italian sausage links, casing removed

10-15 pepperoni

28 oz can of cheap tomato sauce

salt

pepper

garlic powder

red pepper flakes

oregano

Italian seasoning

1 Shallot, minced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 TBSP honey

1 TBSP olive oil

5 slices of provolone cheese

16oz bag block of mozzarella, shredded

Parsley for garnish

Grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Melted butter (for coating the cast iron pan before you put the dough in and for brushing on the crust)

1. Add the sausage and olive oil to a large high sided pan. Break up the sausage and brown. Remove with a slotted spoon.

2. Add the shallot and garlic to the same pan. Add in a few pinches of each seasoning here.  Soften the shallot and stir - about 4 minutes.

3. Add your sauce, more seasoning and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add in your honey and stir.  Taste for seasoning.

5. Preheat your oven to at least 425. If your oven can go as high as 500, do it. The crust will be softer. 

6. Once your pizza dough is in the pan, brush it with a little melted butter, add your sauce (1 ladle per pizza), mozzarella cheese, then sausage, then provolone, then pepperoni. Make sure to push fillings to the edge.

Note: You end up with a little less than a cup of sauce, you likely won't use it all but I keep it warm to dip my crusts in)

7. If your oven is at 425 it will take about 25 minutes. 450 degrees 20-22 minutes. If you are cooking at 500, bake about 15-20 minutes. Crust should be nice and golden. Move pizzas around the oven halfway through for even cooking. If you take it out of the oven and lift pizza with rubber spatula you should see the underneath nicely golden brown and it will look done. 

8. Enjoy with a nice red wine and some extra parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes for topping!  We ate them all!