Homemade Pizza on the Grill

I don't know about the mainland, but here in Puerto Rico summer is definitely here.  It has been ridiculously hot this past week.  I can't bring myself to do much of anything unless it involves going somewhere that actually has air conditioning.  Right about now, I would really love central air.  Maybe I'm just doing my part to slow global warming or something.  Yeah, that didn't have the desired effect of making me feel better.  In this heat, I just don't care as much about the planet.  ;-)

Wedding photos at the Muny in Forest Park. 

Monday was my two year wedding anniversary with S. We didn't get a plan together soon enough to do anything last weekend, but we did find some awesome goodies at the farmers market on Sunday.  We had baby spinach, pounds and pounds of lovely tomatoes, leftover red onion from a pasta salad last week and some kalamata olives from the same salad.  Of course we had lots of other goodies from the farmers market, but these are the things that are actually relevant to this post.

I love this one with the bubbles.

S. was craving pizza again (imagine that) so we decided that we should make homemade pizza.  Since that is sort of a fun, multiple-person-friendly cooking activity, we decided that it would be a good anniversary dinner.  Little did we know, Monday was going to be the start of an epic heat wave.  After S came home from work, we went to go get coconut water to try to cool down and re-hydrate.  It helped until we ran out of coconut water.  We talked about how miserable it was going to be to turn on the oven and make pizza, but with all the talk about pizza, we were both really craving some.  Not to mention, I had spent most of my afternoon simmering pizza sauce on the stove.

Anniversary Coconuts!

Suddenly, I had an idea.  I wondered if you could grill pizza.  I figured it was a long shot, but totally worth it if it worked.  Well, as it turns out, grilled pizza is phenomenal!  I started out by searching the interwebs for success stories and some tips and tricks.  In my research I found that the general consensus was that you have to cook the dough on one side first and then flip it over and top the pizza while it is on the grill.  Otherwise the dough may not cook all the way through.  This made for a less than perfect looking pizza, but the taste definitely made up for the aesthetic aspect.

The grilling process is pretty intense, because it all happens very fast.  As a result, I don't have any pictures except of the finished product.  It really is sort of a two person process.  Here I am going to share my recipe for pizza sauce and the pizza dough recipe we use.  If you have a favorite pizza dough and sauce that you would rather use, feel free to adapt.

Maybe not the most symmetrical pizza of all time, but it was the best homemade pizza I've ever helped make.

From Scratch Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

2 pounds of good heirloom tomatoes

1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon sugar (preferably organic cane sugar)

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon parsley

2 teaspoons basil (or substitute fresh if you have it)

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic powder.

Instructions:

1. Put the tomatoes in a blender and blend on high until you have a nice liquid consistency.  There will be small chunks left.  That is okay.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil on medium and saute the onion until it is soft, but not brown.  

3. Add the garlic and saute another minute.  

4. Add the tomatoes, sugar, and spices and turn heat to the lowest setting.  

5. Let tomatoes cook on very low heat until all the water has absorbed or until the sauce reaches the desired thickness, about 3 hours.  

Important note:  The idea is for the sauce not to even bubble.  You really do want to do this on the lowest possible heat setting.  If it bubbles too much, it burns.  

Makes enough sauce for approximately two 12 inch pizzas.  

From Scratch Pizza Dough 

adapted from Wolfgang Puck's Pizza, Pasta, and More

Ingredients:

1 tbsp honey

1/4 cup warm water, plus 3/4 cup water 

1 package of active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for spraying

Instructions:
1. Dissolve honey in 1/4 cup water, then add yeast and let activate for 10 minutes.
2. Mix dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, white flour, salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
3. Add the yeast-honey mixture, 3/4 cup water, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the dry ingredients and mix.
4. Mix until it forms a ball, then kneed by hand in the bowl for about two minutes until thoroughly combined.
5. Spray the top with olive oil, cover with a towel, and let rise for one hour until it has doubled in size.
6. Pound down the dough after an hour and divide into two equal portions.
7. Roll out dough on a floured surface to your desired thickness.

Makes enough dough for approximately two 12 inch pizzas.

How to Grill Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza Crust

Pizza Sauce

Desired toppings such as spinach, onion, and olives.

Note: If you use meat as a topping, you may need to cook it first, depending on what it is.  (I'm the wrong person to ask about that, though, so use common sense and safe cooking practices, please.)

Cheese

Olive oil spray (we use a Misto)

Instructions:
1. Heat grill.
2. Spray the top of the dough generously with olive oil.
3. Place dough on grill oil side down for 3 minutes, rotating if necessary.
4. Spray the top of the dough with olive oil and flip.
5. Quickly add sauce, cheese, and toppings to pizza and close lid.
6. Cook for about 5 minutes or until crust is browned to your liking.

Enjoy your summertime grilled pizza!  Have you ever grilled pizza or anything else out of the ordinary?  Do you have any summer cooking tips for keeping the kitchen cool?

~Donna