Pizza on the Grill

We had BBQed pizza last night and I forgot how much I love it. Mmmm. Everything is better on the grill and pizza is no exception: crispy crust, smoky flavor, and just feelin' fancy!

The wonderful thing about pizza is that you can slap anything you've got on top, making for a great food storage-using meal. I happened to only have cheddar (fresh market), pepperoni (smiths forever ago), and Classico pasta sauce (target- used the jar for pasta, pizza, and meatball sandwiches). Not very complicated but still good!

The original recipe had some yummy combo suggestions.

• Pepperoni Pizza: brush dough with olive oil, then top with fresh mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and some tomato sauce. Sprinkle with thinly sliced spinach, grated parmesan, coarse sea salt, and red pepper flakes
• Mediterranean Pizza: brush dough with olive oil, then top with cubed fontina cheese, slices of salami, quartered marinated artichoke hearts, and slivered kalamata olives. Sprinkle with diced fresh tomatoes and parmesan. Add torn fresh basil leaves before serving.
• Sausage Pizza: brush dough with olive oil, then top with grated white cheddar cheese, cooked and sliced link Italian sausage, and some tomato sauce. Sprinkle with thinly sliced red onion, parmesan, coarse sea salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. Add torn fresh basil before serving.

Pizza Dough

Makes enough for four 12 inch pizzas

Total time: 15 minutes + 2-3 hours rising

1 cup warn water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 Tbsp kosher salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. Proof until mixture turns foamy, about 5 minutes.

Mix flours and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add oil to yeast mixture, then pour into flour mixture. Knead dough on low 10 minutes. (If kneading by hand, knead dough the same amount of time)

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning dough to coat surface. Cover dough with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.

Punch dough down and divide it into four balls, pinching the bottoms closed. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place another hour.

Or you could be lazy like me and just throw it all in the bread maker and select the "dough" cycle. It was all ready to whip up when I got home from church. Nice.

Grilled Pizza

1. Roll out the dough into 4 12-inch thin crusts on a lightly floured surface
2. Get all of the ingredients ready. I put them all on a cookie sheet and bring them next to the grill. This pizza cooks pretty quick so there's not much time to mess with this later.
3. Preheat one side of grill to medium-high, the other side to low. Place dough over hot side, close lid, and cook 2-3 minutes. The crust will bubble and have grill marks on the bottom.
4. Use tongs to flip it over and move it to the cooler side of the grill. Brush crust with olive oil- it adds flavor and helps with the crispy texture.
5. Add toppings. Keep the amount of toppings you put on light so they will cook quickly. Return pizza to hot side of the grill for 4-5 minutes.
6. The pizza is done with the cheese is melted. I use the back of a cookie sheet to get it off the grill.

This makes quite a bit. We only ate 1 of the pizzas for dinner and had 3 left over. You could totally freeze 1/2 of the dough to use another time- just pull it out at lunch to use at dinner.

I got this recipe from Cuisine at Home magazine.