I’ve made grilled pizza several times this summer, and it’s much easier than I expected. I found several recipes that suggested oiling the grill grates and/or the pizza dough, but I found this step unnecessary. In fact, oiling the pizza dough made it very stretchy and hard to flip onto the grill. Next I’m going to try personal sized pizzas and more unusual toppings.
Grilled
Preheat the grill. Divide one crust recipe into at least 2 crusts to make smaller and easier to handle pizzas. Stretch each pizza dough ball into a smallish crust, about 12 inches in diameter. Make sure all you toppings are ready to go be four you start grilling. Turn down the grill to medium high and place the pizza dough directly on the grill grates. Grill for about two minutes. Lightly flour a large cutting board or cookie sheet. Remove the crusts from the grill using a large spatula and flip the crust so the grilled side it up and the raw side is down on the floured cutting board. Top pizza as desired, and return to grill for another 3-4 minutes. Crust will be crisp on the outside with a slightly chewy center, and topping will be melted but not browned. It’s best to go a little light on the toppings so they have time to heat up, or consider preheating the meat. This is a great summer pizza.
In the oven
Place a pizza stone on a lower rack and preheat oven to 475 degrees. With floured hands, stretch dough into a thin crust and place on parchment paper on top of a baking sheet. Top the pizza using some of the ideas below or your own favorite toppings. Using the baking pan, transfer the pizza to the oven and slide the parchment onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese is slightly browned.
Pizza #1 – traditional
1 pizza crust
Tomato sauce sprinkled with Italian seasoning
1 ½ cup shredded mozerella cheese
Turkey pepperoni
Chopped green pepper
Chopped onions
Black olives
Spread the pizza sauce on the crust, and top with remaining toppings. I like to put the cheese on last so it “glues” the other ingredients onto the crust.
Pizza #2 – white pizza
1 pizza crust
Pesto sauce
1 to 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese
Spread pesto onto the crust in a thin layer. Beware of using too much pesto since the premade pesto sauces are all very salty. Top with cheese.
Homemade Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 packet pizza crust yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup warm water bath water temperature
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Heat hot tap water for 20-30 seconds in the microwave until it reaches bath water temperature.
- Combine 1 cup of the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large medium bowl. Add water and oil and mix until well blended.
- Gradually add second cup of flour until soft dough ball is formed.
- Knead dough on a floured surface for 4 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Alternately, mix and knead the dough in a stand mixer.
- Dough can be divided into two thin crusts or one regular crust, about 12-14 inches in diameter.
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