OK, I've tweeted a few times recently about grilled pizza, and have had some questions from people about my methods, so I thought I would blog it. Unfortunately, my most recent pizza attempt didn't turn out as well as I wanted due to a rather bland crust recipe, but I can still share my basic methods with you all!
With any pizza, step 1 is the crust. This past time I tried a spelt crust, and I won't share the recipe since I really didn't enjoy it. I often do whole wheat, and I generally like spelt, so I was surprised this was such a failure. Part of the issue seemed to be texture--perhaps because spelt gluten is different from wheat gluten? I personally think the best grilled pizza has a thin crust, and you need to have a dough that's elastic enough to stretch thinly.
So, find your favourite crust recipe (or use a refrigerated or frozen dough if you have a good source). Or if you're in a hurry, you can "cheat" and use pita or naan bread as your base! If you are using dough, I recommend making personal sized pizzas, so divide your dough into small balls and roll/stretch it as thin as possible.
Preheat your BBQ to get it HOT. With pizza, I always start with all my burners on high and then turn them down once I get it going. Think about proper Italian wood oven pizzas--those ovens are scorching hot, and that's what you want here!
In the meantime, get together your toppings. In celebration of spring, I was using asparagus, mushrooms, basil, and prosciutto, plus some tomato sauce and mozzarella. You should pick whatever you like, of course! You want to have all your toppings ready to go, because you're going to need to work quickly here.
When the grill is hot, make sure it's clean and oiled (hint: dip a paper towel in some oil and use tongs to run it across the grate). Quickly place your stretched out dough on the grill. Some people cook both sides of their dough on the BBQ, but I don't--so as soon as the dough goes on, you should get going on your toppings (I wait and put them on once the dough goes on, because it's too hard to move the laden dough. I have succeeded with this before, but not every time!).
Quickly spread your sauce (if you're using once) and add any toppings you're using. Turn the heat down slightly, and close the lid on the BBQ (a closed BBQ functions like an oven, so you can use it for all kinds of cooking!).
If your crust is really thin, it will cook in a matter of minutes, which is what you want. If you find that the bottom of the crust is burning before the top is cooked, or before the cheese is melted, turn your heat way down. Keep careful watch, and in about 5 minutes you'll probably have perfectly done pizzas! It's so quick & easy you'll want to try it with lots of combinations.
And in related news, with the start of summer weather, I have my veggie garden mostly planted:
And look at this:
Take yesterday, in MAY--strawberries! What a warm spring it's been. I decided they needed another day or two, but I'm keeping a close watch so I can hopefully get them before the birds do.
I also have a lot of stuff growing in containers, including some salad greens:
(And if you're saying wow, look at that close-up shot--that's thanks to my new Pentax K-x camera! A very exciting weekend purchase. Really loving it right now!)
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