Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Pizza on the Grill...

Our good family friend Bethel came to visit yesterday so I decided to get out of the kitchen and do individual pizzas on the grill.I made the crust early in the day, put it in a Tupperware container and let it rise for several hours and that worked well.

Later, I sliced up the toppings and lightly sauteed some green bell pepper and red onion while put some sliced mushrooms in the microwave for about 1 minute.

Everyone loved the pizza and if you are watching your weight, it is perfect too. You can't put too much cheese on them so the toppings and grilled flavor carry taste--it is not smothered in cheese.

This is an amazing way to make and eat pizza. The crust is thin and crispy and the toppings fresh and delicious. The pizzas cook fast, so have  your ingredients ready and perhaps have an assistant. [Adapted from AllRecipes.com]

Grilled Pizza This makes about 3 small pizzas. We can do two at a time on  our 4-burner grill.

In a bowl:  dissolve yeast in warm water, and mix in honey. Let set for ten minutes until frothy. Mix in the salt, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil and flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes.

    1  package active dry yeast or 1 scant Tablespoons
    1 cup warm water
    1 tsp honey
    2 teaspoons kosher salt
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

You can place dough in a well oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Set aside to rise for 1 more hour, or until doubled again. Another option, is to knead well, put in a covered container, like Tupperware, crack the lid a bit and let rise for a few hours. You don't need to punch down and let rise twice if you don't have time. Just make the crust early in the day, let sit for 3-6 hours, punch down and use.
Heat together in microwave for 30 seconds and set aside.

     1/4 C olive oil
    1 teaspoon minced garlic

Pinch of 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough off. Put flour on the counter and roll the dough out thin--like a pie crust. Make sure the dough is well floured. We found if we put each dough on a square of non-stick foil it was very easy to work with. I rolled out each crust, put it on a sheet of foil and then stacked them to carry out to the grill.

Prepare toppings. You will need:

    1/4 cup tomato sauce with added garlic and fresh basil, or use prepared pizza sauce
    2 cups shredded mozzarella  or pizza cheese-We used a 6 cheese Italian mix and it was great. Be sure it is shredded fine.
    pepperoni, fresh veggies sliced thin--may want to saute a bit.
    garlic olive oil [that you made earlier]
    Two spatulas or a spatula and some tongs
    An assistant is helpful :)--Thanks Kari

Turn on grill or get charcoal grill hot. I like it at around 400 degrees to start with. Brush the grate with some of the garlic olive oil.Turn crust on foil upside down so it drops on the grill. Close lid and let bake for 2 -3 minutes. You want to take it off the grill when the top is puffy and set and the bottom is crispy but not burnt. You may want to turn the grill down to medium low at this point.

While not on the grill--flip crust upside down on the foil it was on before--so that the grill marks are on top. Brush lightly with garlic olive oil and some sauce. Go lightly on the sauce. Top with toppings and cheese. Use a light hand with the cheese. If you are making 3 pizzas only use 2/3 cup on each one. If you put on too much it won't melt. Return to the grill to finish baking. You don't need to hurry this step. Once it is off the grill take your time putting on the toppings. We used spinach, green pepper, red onion. chopped tomatoes, mushrooms. pepperoni and green olives--with everyone choosing their favorites.

Close the lid and bake until the cheese melts and the bottom crust is baked and not burnt. If the crust is done but the cheese not melted move it to a cooler part of the grill and/or put it back on the foil for a minute or two. This takes only about 3 minutes for this part of the pizza to be done.

We did two at a time and while the two were cooking we prepared the others, working in a bit of an assembly line. Each pizza takes only about 2-4 minutes on a side.


Here is a video from AllRecipes that shows how they do it. My crust is thinner. and toppings smaller and we remove it from the grill to put the toppings on. Theirs does not look as good as ours and seems more burnt, but at least you get the idea.

Happy Grilling,
Jill

[Next time we do them I will take photos.]

1 comment:

  1. I make a grilled pizza, too, and the family loves the crust so much that I often just make it and "fry" it in olive oil on the stove for dinner bread! this sounds great!!

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