Sunday, July 24, 2011

Grilled Pizza





A few weeks ago, Darling Husband purchased this:



This handy BBQ cooks on charcoal, but ignites with gas.  So for me, this is awesome because I'm not really allowed to touch it...so dinner gets prepared for me!
I've been wanting to try pizza on the BBQ and I'm so glad we did!

Honestly, some of the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten!  If you haven't tried it, you must.
Today.  
Right now would be a good idea.
The crust was perfectly crisp, while still being tender.  The toppings were perfect.  
I wish I had more.
You just made some right?
Can I come over??


For the pizza dough we used a recipe from Bobby Flay.  The recipe called for bread flour which I think made all the difference.  Perfect crust and it held up nicely on the grill.
  
Pizza dough


3 to 4 cups bread flour (you can use other types of flour, but I wouldn't)
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water at 110 degrees F
2 Tbsp olive oil


Combine flour, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in the bowl of your stand mixer and combine.   While the mixer is running, add the water and oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball.
If your dough is sticky add additional flour.  I started out with only about 3 cups in the mix, and got all the way up to four.  Just be careful to add your flour in small amounts, 1 Tbsp at a time. 
Lightly flour your surface and knead dough into a small bowl.  Place in a bowl that has been greased with a few teaspoons of oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave at room temp for about an hour, dough should double in size.
Turn your dough out on a floured surface and divide.  We made 4 equal size pieces, for 4 small pizzas.
Roll out your pizza and there you have it!  Lightly rub each side of your dough with some olive oil before placing on the grill.





A little research gave us a couple tips: make personal sized pizzas, not one big pizza.  This way they are much easier to manage. (also you won't have to eat things you don't like, like, say mushrooms)  Also, grill the dough for about 5 minutes on each side before you even add your toppings, again, much easier to manage.
Have all your toppings cut and ready to go and once you've "pre-grilled" your crust, top away and grill for about 8 minutes.

We used pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and I roasted a red pepper.



Darling Husband started telling me a bunch of stuff about indirect heat, and coals, and temperatures, but like I said, I don't touch the BBQ so I just turned my Justin Timberlake up a little louder. (you should go see Friends with Benefits, BTW) but if you're interested in stuff like that...I'm sure I could get all the details for you.


Yep pretty awesome and something a little different to throw on your BBQ. 
Definitely a fun meal to make and have some friends over....like me, for instance.











8 comments:

  1. Yes! We did this tonight!! I cheated a bit and spent $1.29 on dough from Trader Joe's. I know how easy it is to make bread dough, but to be honest, the easy of prep (dumping it out of a bag) beats making it to me. We topped with ham, pineapple and olives. And cheese of course. We also made a dessert pizza...chocolate chips, mini marshmellows and a crumbled graham cracker. Yum! We cooked ours in a greased veggie basket/pan (you know the square kind with holes in it) because I wasn't sure about putting it directly on the grates. Plus, we've had our bbq longer than you and let me tell you, our grates are not as pretty as yours! A tasty dinner over all though :) Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Oh, and also we did not pre-cook our crust. Just threw the whole thing together and put it on raw.

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  3. Alex your pizza looks awesome! I bookmarked a recipe for grilled pizza last week and included it in my "Friday Finds". We're going to try it this week and now I'm so excited after seeing yours--it looks delicious!

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  4. Thank you for the tips of making them into individual sizes and also cooking both sides before adding toppings. Last summer I made many attempts with a very unwieldy large crust and it was kind of a mess! I will try again!

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  5. My mouth is watering!! Need to try that sometime for sure!!

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  6. Oh goodness, I'm showing this to my hubby! I need a grill that ignites with gas but burns charcoal too, perfect! We have been loving grilled pizza lately too!

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  7. I want your grill...AND your pizza! YUM! And I'm so glad you checked out my book club list...I knew I'd find a few readers who'd appreciate it :)

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  8. I want your pizza! It looks so good! That grill is the coolest thing.

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