Iron Skillet Pizza

Directions

1. A day in advance, start the dough.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine yeast, sugar, and water; let sit 5 minutes or until frothy.
3. Add butter, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of flour.
4. Combine on low speed until flour is incorporated, about 2 minutes.
5. Add remaining flour, half cup at a time, until incorporated.
6. Increase speed to medium and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and crawls up the dough hook, about 1 minute. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water if dough is dry and not coming together. If dough is too wet, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour.
7. Continue kneading on medium 2 more minutes, until dough is silky smooth.
8. Grease a medium bowl with olive oil and add dough to the bowl. Cover and let the dough rise until it doubles in bulk, about an hour.
9. Punch down, reshape, and let rise again (covered) in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours or overnight. Bring dough back to room temperature 2 hours before you plan to roll it out.
10. On day of assembly, start the sauce.
11. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
12. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Sauté onions until soft and golden and then stir in garlic. Cook garlic until soft.
13. Add carrot and thyme and cook until the carrot is soft.
14. Add tomatoes (along with their juice) and wine or port. Lower the heat and cook until the sauce is thick, seasoning to taste as you go. It’ll take about half an hour to thicken up appropriately.
15. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
16. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 T. olive oil over medium, brown crimini mushrooms, and set aside.
17. Meanwhile, in the same iron-skillet you'll use for the pizza, heat 1 T. olive oil over medium. Add sausage to skillet and brown.
18. Using a slotted spoon, remove the sausage to a plate lined with paper towels. You can remove some fat if desired, but leave the skillet well greased.
19. Pat or roll the room-temperature dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Let rest for 5 minutes to keep the crust from shrinking and then transfer it to the skillet. Press dough down into bottom of skillet and partway up the sides. Dock dough with fork.
20. Layer sauce, sausage, mushrooms, and cheese. Bake on bottom rack of oven for 30 minutes.
21. Remove from oven. Grate Romano cheese over top of pizza and garnish with shredded basil.