AnchorMommy

Grilled Pizza: My favorite summer meal

June 24, 2009 by Shannon

We’re a few weeks in to what is shaping up to become a new family tradition — Friday night pizza! There’s something oddly theraputic about making pizza dough from scratch. And now that it’s grilling season, I’m all about cooking it up over an open flame. 

Grilled pizza requires a little more attention than your average grilled meal. But the results are worth it.

The trick here is to use quick rise yeast. It does the same job as regular yeast, but in a fraction of the time. Also, this recipe calls for whole wheat flour. If you’re a white flour devotee, you can use it instead of wheat. But I’m telling you — the finished product is so good you won’t miss the enriched white stuff. 

Oh, and one more thing — if you can, use a stand mixer to do the kneading work for you.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

• 1 .25 oz. package or 2 1/4 teaspoon quick rise yeast
• 1 cup warm water (not hot or you will kill the yeast)
• Generous pinch of kosher or sea salt
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• Plenty of olive oil (1 teaspoon, plus several tablespoons for brushing on the dough)

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add flour and salt to mixer bowl.
3. Pour yeast and water into bowl and mix until dough pulls away from the sides.
4. Pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil into a bowl and spread it around with your fingers or a clean paper towel. Put dough in the center of the bowl and cover with another clean paper towel, or a tea towel. Put in a warm place and allow to rise until doubled, approximately 30 minutes.
5. Once dough has doubled in size, you can split it in half for two thin crust pizzas or one thick crust pizza.
6. Turn dough onto a floured surface, knead slightly and roll into a circle with a rolling pin. 

Now you’re ready to grill! Here’s what you’ll need to have handy:

• Good grilling tools (I use tongs and a giant, stainless steel spatula. A baking sheet without sides can work for flipping as well.) 
• Bowl of olive oil
• A kitchen brush for the olive oil
• Pizza toppings

Set the grill on medium to medium low heat. Brush olive oil on one side of the dough and put it on the grill, oiled side down. Then brush oil on the top side. Close the grill for a couple minutes, then open to see if the dough has swelled and/or formed bubbles. If it has, it is time to flip. If not, keep watching it closely. After you flip it, work fast. You can add another brush of olive oil if you’re speedy. If you haven’t done this a time or two, I recommend just adding your cheese and toppings. Close the lid, and let the pizza cook for another couple of minutes. It won’t take long.

When choosing toppings, it’s important to remember that they’re not going to get cooked, just heated. So you should pick things that are yummy in a slightly raw state or pre-cooked. Here are my favorite combinations.

Margherita Pizza

• Fresh basil
• 1-2 tomatoes, sliced
• Fresh or shredded mozzarella

Green Pizza with Caramelized Onions

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup asparagus (you should be able to wrap your fingers around the bunch before they’re cut)
• 1/2 cup zucchini (1 medium or half of a large zucchini)
• Handful of shredded parmesan

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. 
2. Add onions to skillet and allow to cook 15-20 minutes, until very brown.
3. Add the asparagus and zucchini in the last couple of minutes of cooking.
4. Once pizza dough is ready, top with onions, asparagus, zucchini and parmesan.
5. Cook for a few more minutes and remove pizza from grill.

Sweet Potato Pizza with Rosemary

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium sweet potato, sliced thinly
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup fresh rosemary
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Place the sweet potato slices in the skillet and cover. After a few minutes, flip the slices and cook for another few minutes. 
3. Once pizza dough is ready, top with mozzarella, sweet potato slices and rosemary.
4. Cook for a few minutes, remove pizza from grill and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Did you get all that? It may look like a lot of work, but once you get it down, the process is like clockwork. Just don’t blame me if your oven starts feeling ignored on pizza night.