Grilled Pizza

Dough: 

You’ll need pizza dough. You could also buy dough. Many grocery stores and bakeries sell fresh, raw pizza dough. I’ve never grilled the kind in the tube, but even that would probably work if you’re in a pinch. I use this recipeand it makes 2 medium/large pizzas or 4-6 smaller personal pizzas.

I use it for everything–pocket sandwiches (like Hot Pockets, only not gross), breakfast pocket sandwiches, pizza crust, pizza pockets, whatever. 

Breadsticks

1 1/2 c. warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour

In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 c. flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in the bowl.
Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Remove from bowl and place on a lightly-floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter.

Roll out each piece of dough into a snake and then drape over your forefinger and twist the dough. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly, but it’s okay if they’re close; pulling apart hot bread is one of life’s greatest pleasures!

Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes. Look how fat and happy they are…

When there’s about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425. When done rising, bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Rub some butter on top of the breadsticks (just put a ziploc bag on your hand, grab some softened butter, and have at it) and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning or the powdery Parmesan cheese in a can and garlic salt.

Or you could sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.

Toppings:I suggest going a little lighter than normal on the toppings for a few reasons. 1. It will keep the pizzas easy to work with and easy to move around, etc. 2. The toppings will cook faster and be sure to be done if they’re not piled on heavy. 3. Probably the biggest reason- the grill adds so much flavor and texture that you don’t want (or need) to overpower it. Grilled pizza works great sauce-less, or try it with marinara, bbq, or garlic alfredo.

First you need to preheat your grill. The rack needs to be nice and hot so the dough will start cooking immediately and the overall temperature needs to be hot in order to act like an oven when the lid is closed. I set my gas grill to medium-high heat, and leave the lid shut.

Next, get all of your toppings ready. You have to move very quickly while on the grill so everything needs to be prepared and easy to grab. I usually set up a platter with everything I need and keep it next to the grill.

You’ll need:
1. Your toppings (cut, sliced, shredded, etc.) including sauce.
2. Some olive oil and a brush to brush it on.
3. A spoon to spread on sauce
4. A large spatula to flip the pizza

When your dough is ready, roll it out with a rolling pin, or even just use your hands to press and stretch it. Now listen.  You don’t need to make round pizza. I did for these pictures, but normally, I actually make them more rectangular because I have a giant rectangular shaped spatula to flip them with. The irregular shaped dough is part of the rustic beauty of grilled pizza. No rules! Don’t you feel daring??

Size: I find it easiest to make several small pizzas, especially if you’re trying this for the first time. If you want to go big, don’t go much larger than 2 pizzas per this recipe. That’s about a 9-10″ max. I like to do 4 small pizzas. You get a good 6-8″ pizza that will easily feed one very hungry adult or a couple of hungry kids. Another benefit of doing several smaller pizzas is that you can try out a bunch of different topping combos. Kids love having their own!

Once your dough is flattened out, drizzle a little olive oil on one side and brush it around

Now comes the fun part. Toss that puppy (oil side down) straight on the grill and then shut the lid immediately.

You’ll want the heat to stay inside so it acts like an oven and cooks the dough. The timing all depends on the heat of the grill and the thickness of the dough. But it usually only takes about 5 minutes or less. Have a spatula handy to lift up the dough and check it. You’ll want to see nice brown grill marks, but avoid burning it. If you can tell that your dough is cooking too fast and too hot, you may want to use indirect heat. For a gas grill with multiple burners, turn off the burner directly under the pizza, but leave the others on. For a charcoal grill, move the charcoal to one side of the grill and place the pizza on the other side.

Look at this picture:


Can you see the difference? If you look closely (you can click on it to enlarge) you’ll see that the top pic is all doughy on top and the bottom one is puffed and you can tell it’s dry to the touch. That’s a good sign it’s ready to flip. Check the bottom for nice grill marks. Right before you flip it, brush a little olive oil on the uncooked side.

As soon as you flip it grab that tray with your toppings and put them on the cooked side right away. Shut the lid again and leave it shut. The second side cooks pretty fast. If the bottom of your pizza is done, but the top still needs to cook, you can place it on an upper rack if you have one.

Take a peek at the bottom crust and as soon as it’s done and your cheese is all melty, grab a spatula and pull it off. I like to make a bunch of small pizzas and throw them all on cutting boards in the middle of the table and just let everyone cut into them.

You can make the dough as thick or as thin as you want. I did a couple of thinner crust ones in the picture below, and a thicker crust in the one above.