GRILLED PIZZA
As the weather gets hotter, most of us don't want to do a lot of cooking, so the barbecue becomes the centre of our food preparation. Everyone loves pizza and they make a great summer-time food, but no one want to heat the oven up hot to bake them during the summer. The answer is to bake them on your grill. It’s easy to bake pizza on your grill. Pizzas are baked quick and hot—perfect for the grill. It will not only make a great pizza, it will also impress your family and friends who have come to eat it.
First of all your barbecue will have to have some kind of cover, but you can use a charcoal or gas grill. A charcoal grill will give the pizza an extra smoked flavour. Because pizzas are a high heat fast bake, you turn the heat up all the way ahead of time and it will only take 8 to 10 min. to bake the pizza of your choice. You also can start the grill hot (400 degrees plus) and then turn it down to say 350 degrees F after you put the pizza on the grill.
 The key to pizzas on the grill is to not burn the bottom of the crust. Elevate your pizza to get it as far from the flames as possible or put something underneath to insulate the bottom of the pan. We suggest another cookie sheet or flat baking pan that will put a little space between the flames and the crust of the pizza. Pizza stones, by the way work great on the grill. You can make the pizza on a pan and put it right on the stone or slip the pizza onto the stone using a pizza peel. ( a large flat smooth paddle).
You can make thin or thick crust pizzas on the barbecue. We like the think crust ones as they are quicker to bake and turn out with a nice crisp crust. You don’t have to let the dough rise and you can load the toppings right on the unbaked dough. All in all it takes anywhere from 15 to 30 min. to make
Step by Step How to Grill your Pizza
- If you are using a baking stone, start the grill and place the baking stone on the top shelf of your grill. You will want the stone very hot so let it heat for 20 minutes or so before you add the pizza.
- Mix the dough in your Bosch Universal Plus using the same recipe directions just as if baking for the oven. Click here for our Whole Wheat Pizza dough recipe.
- Shape the dough into a thin crust pizza, either on the counter if you are using a stone and peel, or in a pizza pan.
- Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce (check below for our tomato pizza sauce recipe) or white sauce on the dough.
- For a white sauce, consider dips, ranch dressing, or sour cream.
- Spread the toppings over the sauce. Don’t pile the goodies on the pizza too deep; they tend to insulate the crust from the essential top heat. Check our our previous blog on healthy toppings.
- Place the pizza in the grill as explained above, either on a stone or in pan with a stone or another pan beneath. Set the timer—We usually let it bake for eight minutes—and then check for doneness by lifting the edge of the crust. If your grill doesn’t bake evenly, and most don’t, turn the stone or pan 180 degrees about half way through baking.
- Once done, immediately remove the pizza from the grill, and if you are using a stone, from the stone. (If you don’t remove the pizza the stone, it will continue to bake.
Tomato Sauce for Pizza or Pasta
2 to 3 cups peeled and seeded Roma tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon crushed, dried oregano or a tablespoon of fresh
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves or two teaspoons fresh
2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions - Chop the seeded tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Cook the tomatoes along with the seasonings and sugar for ten minutes or until it starts to thicken, stirring frequently. Add the olive oil. Let cool. |
