My wife is the baker in the family. Dad may cook dinner, but Mom does the baking. Grilled pizza is a team effort - we get everyone involved. Mom makes the dough while I make the sauce and dice the toppings, then the kids top the pizzas while I grill them.
My wife is at a conference this week, and the kids are asking for pizza. It's time to face my baking fears and figure out pizza dough.
Of course, I have to tinker with the dough while work on it. Shhh…Don't tell Diane.
My dough is based on Michael Ruhlman's 5:3 flour/water ratio, kneaded in the food processor. The food processor makes quick work of pizza dough - 30 seconds and the dough is formed into a rough ball. The dough gets a little hand kneading, then rests for an hour. I prefer working with smaller pizzas on the grill - about 8 inches across - so I divide the dough into eight mini pizzas, and roll them out. Or, should I say, try to roll them out. This is where my weakness as a baker shows; I get flour over everything, and the pizzas come out shaped like amoebas. That's OK - they'll taste fine.
Some of you are saying "Wait, wait, wait. Pizza? On the grill? How? Why?" The trick is to bake one side of the pizza round over direct heat, to firm it up. Then, the pizzas come off the grill, get topped with whatever toppings you like, and go back on the grill over indirect heat to finish cooking and melt the cheese.
Why? The crust comes out crispy and golden, the kids love having their own pizzas, topped the way they want them, and I get to cook on the grill. Everybody wins.
The pizza goes right on the grate?
Yes, the pizzas go straight on the grill grate. You have to lay them on carefully, and they'll probably get (more) amoeba like as you do, but once they bake on the first side they firm up, lift off the grill easily with a spatula, and are easy to work with.
What about (fill in fancy pizza insert here)
I have Weber's pizza stone, but I don't like it - I'd rather work on the bare grill grate. The stone heats up, but the air in the grill cools down whenever you open the lid. And, I can only cook one pizza at a time; I can do two at a time on my kettle grill, or four at a time on my massive Weber Summit. I've read about the fancy add-ons for kettle grills that turn them into wood fired pizza ovens - see this one from Kenji Alt at Serious Eats, and this one from Charlie at the Cooking Animal. These rigs look fabulous, but they are duplicating a pizza oven, not grilled pizza. They are two different styles of pizza, and I like grilled pizza just fine.
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| Toasted on the bottom, ready for toppings |
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📖 Recipe Card
Grilled Pizza with Egg and Pepperoni
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8 small pizzas 1x
Description
Homemade food processor pizza dough grilled into small pizzas, topped with a quick tomato sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella and an egg baked right on top.
Ingredients
Pizza dough
- 4 ½ cups (20 ounces / 567 grams) bread flour (or all-purpose flour), plus more for sprinkling
- 1 envelope (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 grams) instant yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons (9 grams) table salt
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
- 1 ½ cups (340 ml) water
Pizza sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 sprig fresh oregano (or ½ teaspoon dried)
- 1 sprig fresh basil (or ½ teaspoon dried)
Toppings
- Olive oil, for brushing
- Pepperoni
- 12 ounces shredded mozzarella
- 2 ounces shredded Parmesan
- Eggs, each cracked into a small cup (optional)
Instructions
- Make the dough: Pulse the flour, yeast and salt in a food processor to mix. With the processor running, pour the olive oil and water through the feed tube, and process until the dough forms a wet ball, about 30 seconds.
- Rise: Knead on a floured counter until smooth and stretchy. Put it in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Set up the grill: Set up the grill for two-zone cooking, with medium heat on one side and no heat on the other. On a charcoal grill, spread a lit ¾ chimney of coals in a single layer over half the grill.
- Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, and sizzle for 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce, oregano and basil, and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Discard the herb sprigs.
- Shape: Divide the dough into 8 pieces, and roll each one into a thin 8 inch round on a floured counter. Move them to cookie sheets.
- Grill the first side: Brush the tops with olive oil. Working 2 to 4 at a time, lay them oiled side down over direct medium heat. Grill until bubbly on top and toasted on the bottom, about 2 minutes, rotating if there are hot spots. Move back to the cookie sheets, toasted side up.
- Top: Spread about 2 tablespoons of sauce on each pizza. Add the toppings, then the cheese (mostly mozzarella, a pinch of Parmesan). For an egg pizza, press a hollow into the center with the back of a spoon.
- Finish on indirect heat: Move the pizzas to the unlit side of the grill. Pour an egg into the hollow of any egg pizzas. Close the lid, and cook until the cheese melts and the edges are toasted, about 10 minutes (about 15 for egg pizzas), rotating every 5 minutes.
- Serve: Let cool a few minutes, cut into quarters, and serve while you grill the rest.
Notes
Equipment: A grill (a Weber kettle or larger) and an 11 cup or larger food processor.
Go crazy with toppings: precooked sausage, green peppers, pickled banana peppers, onions, slivered asparagus, mushrooms or olives.
No food processor? Knead by hand (about 20 minutes) or use a stand mixer. Short on time? Use frozen pizza dough, thawed overnight in the refrigerator.
Roll the dough with a rolling pin, always rolling away from you, and turn it a quarter turn after each roll.
On a gas grill, you can grill the first side with the whole grill on medium, then turn half the burners off while you top the pizzas.
To cut an egg pizza, cut a tic-tac-toe pattern around the yolk instead of through it, and dip the outside pieces into the yolk.
Adapted from Mark Bittman's pizza on the grill and Michael Ruhlman's pizza dough ratio.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Rise: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Favorite pizza toppings? Leave them in the comments section below.
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Ken W says
The grilled pizza was invented in Providence, Rhode Island 1980 at the Al Forno restaurant by chef/owners Johanne Killeen and George Germon and were recognized and celebrated by the James Beard Foundation for their creation. In fact what makes their grilled pizza so distinctive is that they use a custom-built restaurant grill filled with Nature’s Own brand Hardwood Lump Charcoal (burns very hot and very clean) that they cook most all the restaurant meals on but when they make the grilled pizza they sprinkle wet dried grapevine to give the dough a European country smoky flavor. Their pizza dough is made with New England johnnycake meal, whole-wheat and unbleached white flour.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Yes, the dough should freeze fine. Take it out and let it thaw in the refrigerator the morning you want to use it, and continue with the cutting and rolling step.
Terry Hoey says
Looks great! Can you freeze the dough?