Simple. Savory. Inexpensive. Impressive.

What more can I say about this deep-dish pizza made with crust from scratch? Not much, other than Yum! And Try it!

CRUST

I make mine in a breadmaker and have never done it without, but those who make breads by hand can use the same ingredients and follow your typical dough-making method.

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (more or less, as desired)

1 tsp bread machine yeast

Place ingredients in breadmaker pan in order listed. Turn to dough cycle (takes 1 1/2 hours in mine).

When dough cycle is complete, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat inside of cast iron skillet with olive oil or non-stick spray. Spread the dough in the pan, attempting to create crust up pan sides a bit — but it will slide down, so don't worry about it.

TOPPINGS (use your favorite pizza toppings instead of the following, if preferred):

1/2 cup pizza (or pasta) sauce

4 ounces sliced pepperoni

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup diced green pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzerella

1/2 teaspoon (or so) dried basil

Spread sauce over crust, within about 1/2 inch of edge. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, then diced onions and peppers. Top with most of pepperoni slices, covering the entire crust (except edges). Top that with remaining shredded mozzarella, add remaining pepperoni slices then sprinkle with dried basil.

Bake 25 minutes at 400 degrees. If crust isn't as as dark as you'd like, bake a few minutes more. Remove pizza from oven and let stand five minutes before slicing.

Slice into six pieces — which is plenty for two hungry people or enough for three more dainty diners.