Gentlemanly arts - Grilled Pizza

Summer is here, and that means leaving the kitchen and enjoying the weather outside on the grill. Everyone knows meat tastes better cooked on the grill. A lot of vegetables do, too. But our favorite grilled food is pizza.

Once we discovered the magic of grilled pizza, with its crispy outside, soft doughy inside, and smokey grilled taste, we haven't been able to go back to the oven. Matt will even go out and grill pizza in the dead of winter with snow on the ground. It's not completely fool-proof. In the beginning we ate a few crumbled dough chunks and crispy blackened things, but now it seems Matt's got it down pat, and here's a picture tutorial to prove it.

 

The recipe we use:

-2.5 cups flour

-1 cup warm water

-1 packet of yeast

-1 teaspoon sugar

-1 teaspoon salt

-olive oil

-other seasoning to taste

Mix the yeast and sugar in the water and let sit until foamy. Mix the flour, salt, and what ever seasonings you like, then pour in the yeast water. Mix well with hands, then coat the dough all over with olive oil. This helps get the dough off your hands and keeps it from sticking to the side of the bowl as it rises. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 15 or 20 minutes. It should about double in volume.

The key to good pizza dough is a high hydration rate, which just means the dough should be pretty sticky and moist. The above recipe will probably need at least another half cup of water depending on how tightly packed the flour is. For extra seasonings, I use a little black pepper and garlic powder, a fair amount of red pepper flakes and copious oregano, but feel free to experiment.

 

Heat the grill to medium-high heat, and coat it well with olive oil. The pizza can be cooked right on the grill rack, which is what I usually do, but I got this grill pan for my birthday and it makes things much easier and neater.

 

Make sure the dough, the pan, and your hands are thoroughly coated in olive oil, and then press it into the pan. We use an 8"x11" jelly roll pan, but you could use whatever you have around - just make sure not to spread it overly thin.

Use a fork to poke little holes all over the dough. This helps keep those giant air bubbles you get in pizza sometimes from forming. If you are some kind of weird giant air bubble fan, feel free to ignore this step

If you didn't coat your pan in oil before spreading the dough, you will end up with your first problem right here. When you do it right, the dough flips neatly onto the grill. You want the grill hot enough to quickly cook the dough so it won't sag through the grates, but not so hot that you burn everything. Do not close the lid.

Just lift a corner and take a peek to see if it looks cooked and crispy underneath. If not, give it more time. If it's burnt, your grill is too hot or you waited too long. This probably just means the bottom is extra crispy, but the inside is still delicious. The pizza will not be the best you have ever had, but still pretty good. Whether it's burnt or just right, the top has probably started to dry out a little.

Again, do not forget to oil things up here, or you will be sorry when you try to take the pizza off the grill. Lots of oil is the most important part of grilling pizza.

If the bottom is nicely cooked, and you use your grill tools in a nicely coordinated effort, this should go pretty smoothly. Sometimes a part of the dough may have cooked onto the grill, especially if you're grilling right on the rack, so use a spatula to gently peel it loose first. You should be able to lift the whole crust off the grill before you start flipping. As you can see, I use the tongs as a sort of pivot point. If you have a really big spatula, that would be a better solution.

After flipping the pizza, turn the heat down to low, or the crust is going to burn.

We make our own sauce from a recipe in Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson, which is delicious for vegans and non-vegans (like us) alike.

This time I went with plain cheese pizza, our daughter's favorite. While the pizza is cooking with the lid closed you can run inside and wash up the few dirty dishes you made or get a drink ready.

If your cheese isn't melted the first time you peek at the pizza, first check that the bottom of the crust isn't burning, then close up the grill and wait a few minutes longer. It's also good to give the pizza a little push/lift to make sure it hasn't started to stick or sink into the grate. If the cheese is melted, you're done.

Here's where the grill pan really comes in handy. If your cooking right on the grill rack, use the spatula to remove any crust adhesions and carefully lift and slide onto an awaiting pan or baking sheet.

See how it's nice and doughy in the middle?

 

And crispy-grilled on the bottom.



Here's some grilled pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and sauteed onions. Another favorite of ours is sauteed onions and asparagus, with smoked Gouda instead of mozzarella cheese. Of course, any pizza topping will work, but I do highly recommend trying smoked Gouda.



Enjoy!