Grilled pizza

Have you ever had pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven in a restaurant? You can get very nearly the same effect at home on your Weber grill or similar barbecue grill. Here’s the basic method:

1. Prepare a hardwood charcoal fire and set the rack in your grill to 3 to 4 inches above the coals.
2. When your coals are ready, roll your pizza dough out into a free-form round no more than about 1/8 inch thick, no lip. About 12″ across is the largest size that’s easy to work with.
3. Gently drape your pizza dough on the hot grill. The dough will puff slightly, the underside will stiffen, and grill marks will start to appear. This should take no more than a minute or so.
4. Using tongs flip the pizza onto a warmed cookie sheet or remove the pizza from the grill with a peel, if you have one (flip it over with tongs). Drizzle the pizza with 1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil.
5. Put your toppings on.
6. Gently slide the pizza back onto the grill. It will be done in 3 to 4 minutes. If the crust begins to get too done before your cheese (if any) is melted, you can control the cooking somewhat by rotating the pizza so that alternating sections are exposed to the hot coals.

You can use any pizza dough recipe you like. I’ve even used frozen bread dough that I’ve thawed and rolled out. I prefer the frozen whole wheat. Here’s a sample pizza dough recipe:

Pizza Dough

Makes enough for 4 12″ pizzas

1 envelope active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
Pinch of sugar
2 1/4 tsp. coarse (kosher) salt
3 Tbsp. whole wheat or rye flour
Olive oil
2½ to 3 cups unbleached flour

1. Pour the the yeast into a bowl with the water and sugar and prove it for about five minutes.
2. Stir in the salt, whole wheat or rye flour, and a tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Gradually stir in 2 cups of flour.
4. Turn the dough out onto a board and knead in more flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic. Or do it in a food processor.
5. Grease the dough with olive oil, put it into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for roughly two hours until it’s doubled in volume.
6. Punch it down and let it rise again for 45 minutes.
7. Punch it down once more and gather it into a ball.
8. You’re ready to rumble.

When using this method you need to use toppings that are already cooked and only need a little warming and/or melting. Here are some suggested combinations for four 12″ pizzas:

Grilled portobello and eggplant slices with fontina, parmesan, and gorgonzola cheeses (2 cups fontina, 3/4 cup parmesan, ½ cup crumbled gorgonzola)

Tomato, fresh basil, prosciutto (24 slices), 2 cups fontina cheese

Cooked broccoli, cooked sweet Italian sausage, 2 cups Romano cheese

Use your imagination and tell me how it comes out!