I have kind of been a little absent around here lately and I would apologize but I have a really really good excuse. I am studying for a little thing called the Bar Exam. While only a small fraction of you have probably ever taken said exam, I am sure everyone reading this has had a friend/relative/enemy/acquaintance complain about it at one time or another.
I heard all the complaints, the warnings about how difficult it would be. Foolishly, I thought to myself, it can’t be that hard, I am going to have so much free time once school is out. I found through my law school experience that people tend to over exaggerate the difficulty of the process and I thought studying for the Bar Exam would be similar. I seriously thought that studying for the Bar would take maybe four hours per day and I would have the rest of my days free to do whatever I wanted. And I was seriously wrong.
Studying for the Bar is a lot of work. Like seriously, a ton. But I did not write this post to complain about studying, only to inform you that I might be MIA for the foreseeable future. And also to inform you about the magic that is grilled pizza.
If you have not tried grilled pizza yet, consider this a public service announcement. After all, it is seriously so good that I took a break from doing 15,085,399 practice multiple choice questions just to tell you about it. Because it is that good! The taste tester’s very most favorite food is pizza and I have been trying for the better part of a year to master a homemade, not-too-unhealthy version, to no avail. You see, we both prefer super thin, crispy crust and that is almost impossible to achieve at home.
I have read online that the reason that it is so hard to replicate restaurant pizza at home is because no at-home oven can come close to getting as hot as a pizza oven. The only way to come close is to buy a pricy pizza stone (or some cheaper tiles) and heat them in the oven for the better part of an hour before placing the pizza in the oven. But you know what apparatus you have that can heat to well over 500 degrees without any fancy equipment? A grill. The other bonus is that you can place the crust right on the rack (as they often do in restaurants) without having to worry about their cleanliness as you would your oven racks. So seriously, the grill is the secret to seriously awesome, at-home pizza.
I plan on making this over and over this summer. Can you imagine if someone invited you over for a BBQ and you are expecting hot dogs, burgers, etc. and instead they had pizza?!? I would be ecstatic. Or, you could spoil the fun in advance and invite everyone for a pizza party, asking everyone to bring their favorite topping. Then your guests can build their own pizza according to their liking and all you have to provide is the crust, sauce, and cheese. Talk about cheap entertaining.
A few tips:
- Make sure you read the instructions completely before beginning. It is absolutely essential for the texture of the crust that you grill it before you assemble the pizza.
- For thin crust pizza, less is more. Less sauce, less toppings, less cheese. This preserves the crunch. I think I used too much cheese in these photos.
- Light your grill well before you plan to bake. It is essential that it is HOT! I lit mine at least 30 minutes before I even attempted to put the pizza on.
- Keep the pizzas small. Not only will it make for a fun BBQ if everyone can personalize their pizza, it will also make the crust much easier to get on and off the grill. Remember there is nothing under the pizza to support its weight.
- I only tried this with thin crust pizza so I have no idea how it would work with a thicker crust. If you try it this way, please let me know how it turns out.
- 1½ c. all purpose flour
- 1½ c. whole wheat flour
- 1½ t. active dry yeast
- 1 c. lukewarm water
- 2 T. olive oil, plus more for brushing
- Sauce, cheese, desired toppings.
- Stir dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and olive oil, stir until combined into a ball. You may need to use your hands.
- Line countertop with wax or parchment paper and lightly flour. Turn your dough ball and any crumbs out onto the floured surface. Knead into a ball until everything is combined.
- Knead for 1-2 minutes, then lightly brush bowl with olive oil. Place dough ball in bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- Turn risen dough ball back onto floured surface and press the air out of the ball with your hands. Form back into a ball and place back into oiled bowl. Let rise for 20 more minutes.
- At this point, the dough is ready to be turned into pizza! You can either prepare it now or refrigerate it until ready to use. If you choose to refrigerate the dough, make sure to let it come back to room temperature before ready to use.
- About thirty minutes before you are ready to grill, light the grill. You want it to get very hot before you put the pizza on. The grill I was using had thermometer and it registered about 525 degrees when I put the pizza on.
- When you are ready to bake, divide the dough ball in half. If you want to make personal sized pizzas, divide the halves in half again, so that you have four balls.
- Inside the house, before going out to grill, roll each ball out as flat and thin as possible. They should be very thin, probably about ⅛ in. You may want to start by flattening it by hand, then moving to a rolling pin to get them extra thin. When you are finished, place the flattened dough onto a flat cooke sheet (preferably without sides) as this will make it easier to get on and off the grill. Brush one side of the dough with olive oil.
- Take the flattened dough to the grill and place, oiled side down, onto the grill. Close the grill and grill for 2-3 minutes or until the dough is stiffened and slightly charred on the bottom. Remove from grill.
- The "bottom" or grilled side of the dough will now become the top of your pizza. Place the dough, grilled side UP on the cookie sheet. Assemble pizza with sauce, cheese, and desired toppings. Place pizzas, topping side up (duh!) back onto the grill and grill to desired doneness. Mine took about 10 minutes, but I went heavy on the cheese. The bottom crust should be crisp but not burnt.
- To serve: remove from grill back onto flat cookie sheet. This will probably be the hardest part. I suggest kind of nudging it off the grill with a spatula and catching it with the cookie sheet. Please remember that both the grill and pizza will be hot. Let rest 5-10 minutes before cutting. Slice, serve, and watch your guests be amazed.