Warm the smaller portion of water to about 100°F and add it to your stand mixer bowl.

Add the yeast and whisk for 30 seconds. The yeast should dissolve and bubble – if it doesn’t, the yeast is dead and you need new yeast.

Add the flour to stand mixer and start the mixer on its lowest speed.

Add the diastatic malt powder. Again, if you can't easily find this ingredient, it's optional.

Add the two tablespoons of butter.

Add the salt.

o When most of the water is added, the dough ball should be sticking mostly to the hook and not the bowl.

o Let it continue mixing for another minute and then stop the mixer and check the dough with your hand. It should be sticking to itself (not separating) and only just a bit tacky to the touch. If the dough feels dry and is separating, add the rest of the water and continue to mix.

o If you add all of the water and the dough becomes too sticky, that's okay - just add additional flour about a tablespoon at a time and allow it to mix in.

Stop the mixer and use your hands to pull the dough off of the hook and press any loose bits of dough/flour into the dough ball. Hand knead the dough for a minute to make sure the dough feels well mixed and isn't sticking much to your fingers. If it is, put back in the mixing bowl with another tablespoon of flour mix for 1 minute and check again.

Cover the dough with a damp tea towel or cloth for 30 minutes in a warm spot in your kitchen.

The dough can be used at this time, but it will have more flavor if stored in the fridge for 24-48 hours. If using the dough tomorrow, place in an air-tight container and put in the fridge. Make sure the dough has time to come up to room temperature before rolling out.

Remove the pizza sauce from the fridge and let it also get to room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to 500°F about 30 minutes before you start the steps below.

Use 1 tablespoon of cold butter and hold it in your fingers to spread across the entire pan. Once the butter melts, use your fingers to make sure the entire pan is covered.

Dust your work area with the cornmeal.

Transfer the dough onto the cornmeal. Although you CAN, I recommend not flipping the dough over and keeping the cornmeal on just one side of the dough.

Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough so that the rolling pin won't stick.

Begin rolling the dough out.

o I recommend using a rolling pin to keep the dough thickness consistent and to get the largest pie circle.

o Add more flour to the top as needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking. If the bottom is sticking, you can add additional flour and/or cornmeal to the bottom to keep it from sticking to your work area.

Roll the dough until you get a 16" circle.

Carefully lift the dough circle and place in the center of the pan.

o It will be a bit tricky to get it centered and have the dough extend over the top of the pan. The dough may also try to bunch up.

o Be gentle and position it the best you can - don't tear the dough trying to make it perfect!

Use your fingers to tuck the dough into the bottom edge.

Now use the rolling pin and roll it across the top of the pan. This will cut the extra dough from around the edge making the top of the pizza level with the top of the pan.

Gently pinch the top of the dough against the pan to secure it.

Place the slices of cheese over the entire bottom of the pan. The slices will overlap. To keep the dough from puffing up, you might want to tear bits of cheese to get the cheese covering the bottom all the way to the bottom edge.

Slice the casing of the sausage and pinch small pieces of the uncooked sausage over the entire bottom.

o YES! The sausage will cook. We'll make sure!

o Distribute the sausage evenly (and therefore thinly) over the entire bottom.

Distribute the pepperoni slices over top of the sausage.

Place the pizza in the oven on the bottom rack for 15 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven. As you remove it from the oven, rotate the pizza 180° (so you don't forget later!).

Add the sauce on top of the cooked sausage.

Return the pizza to the oven and cook for another 12 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven.

Use a flexible spatula and very gently run it under the pizza to loosen it from the cast iron pan without penetrating the bottom crust. Check the color of the crust - it should be a golden brown and crisp like a pie. If it's not quite done, you can return it to the oven for 1 to 2 extra minutes.

Once finished in the oven, use the spatula to gently transfer the pizza to a large cutting board. This can be a tricky step since you don't want to open the bottom of the crust. If you can have someone help you "catch" the pizza on the cutting board while you slide it out, it can be handy.

Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes.

If you have one, use a pizza rocker to cut the pizza into slices. If you don't have one, I suggest using the longest knife you have. You can use a regular pizza wheel cutter, but it will be trickier to get a clean cut of the outer crust.