BBQ Pizza…………WHAT took me so long????

BBQ Pizza

I had no idea a pizza cooked on the grill would be so incredibly…….well FAST…..but super delicious! I mean super delicious! If you have not had the chance to grill a pizza out in the open, well promise me this is the summer you change all that. With a tiny bit of planning, some home-made dough, a good thick tomato sauce and some basic toppings (or cosmic if you insist), you are in for a real treat. We are talking “get out the hammock” and find a good pillow kind of treat. Simple outdoor goodness. After an outdoor meal like this one it will be hard to go back to oven cooked pizza or even ordered out at your favorite pizza joint!  And can I tell you………. it was so much fun too! Who’d have thought it! ;-)

I just have one word of advice: Make two pizzas. You’re going to need it!

Here is the Pizza dough:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons filtered water

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (some to drizzle later)

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons instant dry milk powder

1 teaspoon brown sugar (thought I would try a tad bit of sugar and YES!)

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order it requires, and place on the dough/pasta cycle. This cycle lasts 90 minutes, so you can prepare your pizza toppings with plenty of time.

When dough is finished, place on lightly floured board and roll out the shape of your desired pizza.  Fire up the grill! On a very hot grill (generally 400˚) brush some olive oil on the grill before placing down the dough. You are going to cook the dough on one side for about 4-5 minutes.

Dough

The dough handles very well and should not be too thin so that it falls through the grate of your grill. I recommend not walking away from your grill and getting distracted. It cooks very fast. As you can see the results are really good. When you turn the dough over to place all of your toppings and sauce on it, I recommend you place the pizza on a board to assemble. Have all of your toppings ready to go by the grill because this is the super fast part! My instruction had me top the pizza ON the grill, but then your veggies don’t get enough time to cook as the dough quickly starts baking and will turn black before any meat or heavy cheese will get melted. So on the already cooked side of the dough, place your sauce and toppings on the pizza, slide back on the grill and cook for 5-6 minutes or until your desired done-ness!!

Honestly, I ate too many slices it was THAT good. The dough is the best crust you can imagine and that bbq outdoorsy cooking just melts in your mouth. It’s just the best. But I am staring to sound a little tad bit biased. You’ll forgive me.

Slice

So get out the sunblock, soak up the sun and enjoy some outdoors pizza. Good friends, good tunes and it is a bona-fide summer meal, even if it’s still only spring.

And while you’re out there, sing to your veggie garden! I hear it likes that a lot. ;-)

As they say, Bon Appétit!!