PIZZA DOUGH BAKED ON THE GRILL
By bjnelson55
The key to successful pizza grilling is to have all the ingredients ready at grill-side. Once the dough goes on the grate, things move fast -- no running back into the house to chop more red peppers.
Next is having a light touch: a film of sauce, one or two toppings, and a smattering of cheese. The toppings need to heat through or melt before the crust becomes charred, so less is best.
Ingredients
- 3-1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra
- 2 tsp. instant yeast
- 2 tsp. kosher or coarse salt
- 1-1/4 cup cool water
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Preparation
Step 1
Conversely, best means more flavor: By using fewer ingredients, it makes sense if they pack the biggest punch, so get the fresh-sliced pepperoni from the deli counter, along with a selection of cheeses. Fresh pesto adds garlicky vibrancy and color. Chopped olives, capers or fresh-picked arugula add bite, while grilled vegetables lend even more depth of flavor. Experiment!
You'll have the best luck with "personal size" rounds 8 to 10 inches across, which means guests can top their own pizzas. Just rein in the heavy-handed.
Heat your gas grill to medium, or about 400 degrees; if using coals, you should be able to hold your hand 6 inches over the heat for 3 seconds. Move the coals so that they heat half of the grate, to create areas of direct and indirect heat.
Lightly brush one side of a dough round with olive oil and place it oil-side down on the grate directly over the coals. Close the grill cover and oil the next round.
After about one minute, open the grill. The first round should look puffy and have clear grill marks on its underside. Remove it and flip it grilled-side up onto a cookie sheet.
Quickly spread it with toppings, then return it to the portion of the grate that's over indirect heat. Place the next oiled round on the grate over the coals. Close the grill cover. (We're creating a pizza-making cycle here.)
After another minute or so, open the grill to check on the untopped pizza. If it's ready, remove it, replace grill cover, then add toppings. The pizza in the grill should be done by now; if it is, remove it to a cutting board and place the newly topped pizza over that section of indirect heat. Place another oiled round over the coals, maintaining this system of topping and shifting until all the pizzas are baked.
Tip: Use a baking stone (and other suggestions)!
I very much endorse the idea of grilling pizza--it is much more authentic--but you left out a crucial element. Put a baking stone on your BBQ grill and bake your pizzas on the stone, NOT the metal grill. The result is a real hearth-baked pizza with the wonderful crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside crust that comes from using a baking stone. When using a baking stone, turn up your grill to the highest setting. Authentic hearth-baked pizza is baked at 700 + degrees. You can't get that in a conventional oven! The cooking time should be 5-8 minutes, but at such high temps, most toppings are fully cooked. If in doubt, half-cook your meat toppings before putting on the grill. Another tip: Put some corn meal on your prep surface to make it easier to slide the pizza onto and off of your peel (the large spatula you see in pizza parlors). Finally, this way of cooking doesn't need to be a summer-only activity. It works just as well in cold weather (assuming your grill has a lid). Just remember to heat the stone on the grill (i.e., put the stone on the grill before lighting the grill) and later let it cool completely before removing it.