Grilled Pizza

I have to admit that I am pretty "normal/traditional" when it comes to pizza as far as toppings go. K likes sausage and pepperoni. Sausage, black olives and mushrooms is one of my favorites, or the house "special" (less onions). Same for B -- the "special" is good.

On our recent trip to Cannon Beach, we decided to drive south to Manzanita and stop at Marzanos Pizza. We had a very delish half and half of Roasted Vegetable (Garlic-Herb Olive Oil sauce, Roasted Vegetables [Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Zucchini, Garlic, Red Onions], covered with Mozzarella, and topped with Herbs) and Smoked Prosciutto Ham (Garlic-Herb Olive Oil sauce, Mozzarella, Smoked Prosciutto Ham, Roasted Red Onions, Red Potato, Montegrappa Cheese [aged, sweet, nutty Italian Cheese], and topped with Herbs). These aren't toppings I would normally order (roasted potatoes on a pizza???), but it was very delicious, yummy and tasty!

Once again I forgot to take a photo BEFORE it was half devoured.

Earlier this year we came across this book: Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas by Craig W. Prieve with Dianne Jacob. It was winter-ish, and our outdoor grill wasn't working, but we really wanted to get started on learning this "Grilled Pizza" thing. We decided to just set the pancake griddle on the gas burner and try that (one method described in the book). We also have a pannini press, and tried that as well.

Besides great photos in the book, the recipes have been turning out really well. And grilling pizza is a lot of fun. Now that our outdoor grill is back in commission, we have moved dinner prep outside (and no, the dough doesn't fall through the grill grate!)

We caught a recent episode of "Good Eats" with Alton Brown on the Food Network. He gave a dough recipe that is a little different from the book (above). His recipe:

Alton’s Pizza Dough

16 oz. All-Purpose Flour
1 envelope Rapid Rise Yeast
1 TBSP salt
10 oz warm water (105 degrees)
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP Malted Barley Syrup

Add all ingredients to mixing bowl. Mix on low until blended 1.5 minutes. With a dough hook, mix on medium speed for 15 minutes. Oil a large bowl, and place the dough ball in the bowl for one hour. Punch down, form into three balls (9.5 oz each) and let rise 45 minutes.

(We hunted high and low for Malted Barley Syrup [which looks like molasses], and found it at Central Market in Mill Creek. It says to store it in the frig, but you'll have to warm it up a bit the next time you use it as it got really, really thick and hard.)

On a recent Sunday afternoon, we had two couples over for grilled pizza -- P & B Style. We spent the morning doing food prep (mise en place -- obviously I watch WAY too much Food Network!). By the time the guests had arrived, the pizza dough was all ready to go, all the veggies and assorted toppings were standing by, and it was time to GRILL PIZZA.

Here is the dough rising (earlier in the day). Two kinds -- the left bowl is Alton's recipe, and the right bowl is the one from above said book (with a little wheat flour thrown in).


Second rise:



B grilled all the veggies. Here a red pepper, corn and zucchini get roasted for the Grilled Corn Salad. This salad is so delicious with the serrano chili, cilantro, feta, lime and cumin. YUM!




In an effort to recreate the yummy pizza from Marzanos, we roasted our own little red potatoes. B is prepping them for roasting (on the grill), along with the onions.


After letting your dough rise, work with small balls and roll out the dough. For the life of me, I can't get the whole "throw it up in the air" thing to work, so I use a rolling pin and my hands to work the dough into a nice amoeba shape. Try to get the dough as thin as possible.

Place the rolled out dough on some kind of transport sheet -- you have to carry it to the grill on something. If you are using a cookie sheet, put some cornmeal or flour down between the sheet and your dough, or use a wooden cutting board or pizza peel.

Oil the top side of the dough. (There is a great herbed garlic olive oil recipe in the book I mentioned above). We stored ours in a squirt bottle the first time, but that isn't great as the garlic is pretty chunky and clogs up the squirt top. A simple jar would be best. You don't want to contaminate the oil by redipping your brush back into your big jar, so pour a bit into a little dish, and brush from there. Then you can save leftover oil in the frig til the next pizza night. (It will harden in the frig -- just warm it up a little in the microwave or set it in a bowl of warm water so you can spread the oil again.)

Once the top side of the dough is oiled, very quickly flip the dough onto the grill grate. You want to go fast so the dough lands flat on the grate. If you hesitate, the dough could slide around or fold over on itself. Don't be bashful.



You will cook the first side for a couple of minutes, until there are nice grill marks and it looks done. If you like your crust very crisp, then experiment and cook it a bit longer. Then flip the dough, and oil the second side (which is now the top side). Now you can place all your toppings on the cooked side.



When we had our party, we made a number of pizzas. To make things go along more smoothly, once the crust had cooked on side one, and the dough was flipped, oiled, and cooked on side two, we didn't add the toppings there. We brought the "now cooked on both sides" crust back into the kitchen on a cookie sheet, added all the toppings there, then put the whole thing under the broiler in the oven for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese, and warm the whole pizza up. That way the grill could continue cooking more crusts.

Asparagus, brie and pine nut pizza.

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

For dessert, I made simple shortbread cookies to go with the gelato (prior post).



Dinner anyone?