Fun & Easy Grilled Pizza!

All Summer I have been telling Michael I wanted to try making grilled pizzas on his barbecue.  Each time I mentioned he gave me one of those ‘you want to do what?’ kind of looks.  Clearly he has no imagination. :)

We got off to a bit of a slow start on the grilling this year, but I have made an effort to come up with grill friendly meals at least once per weekend for the last few weeks and when I whipped up a batch of Pioneer Woman pizza dough for myself last week I knew that half of the recipe was destined to make a trip over to the man’s grill.

Two balls of dough = two pizzas.  His and hers to share!

I decided on one ‘normal’ pizza: tomato sauce, salami, sautéed mushrooms, garlic and onions, fresh oregano, mozzarella, parmesan and fresh tomatoes added on at the end.

And one ‘fancy’ pizza: brushed with olive oil, and topped with grilled peaches, prosciutto, herbed goat cheese, parmesan and fresh basil and a balsamic drizzle to finish. 

I took some tips from Janetha on how to actually cook these babies. 

- Get the BBQ up nice and hot…around 500 degrees.  Lay your dough right on the grill and cook until the top side starts to bubble.  Flip over, add your toppings to the already grilled side and continue cooking until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.

My tips for you…

- Have all of your toppings totally ready to rock before you even think about putting your dough on the grill.  It takes mere minutes for that first side to cook and you'll have no time for dilly-dallying once you flip it.

(We pre-grilled and sliced our peaches, pre-sautéed the mushrooms and onions, had the grated cheese ready, and laid everything we needed out on a tray beside the barbecue.)

- Either turn the flame off, or remove your dough from the grill while you add your toppings.  Turn it back on when you are ready to finish cooking.  This gives you the chance to actually get your cheese melted before your crust gets too toasted.

I rolled the dough maybe a scant too thin, but my favourite kind of crust is thin crust so it worked out perfectly for me.  More like a crispy flatbread.  You could totally make a bigger ball of dough and roll it thicker for a nice, chewy, doughier crust though.  In fact, we discussed doing that next time.

What surprised me was how much fun we had doing these!  It took a bit of organization to get the ingredients prepared, but once the dough hit the grill we just worked together at a mad dash and had the final products banged out in no time.

So much faster than baking pizza in the oven, and so much more fun.  I’d be inclined to make pizza like this any time.  Even in the rainy days of Winter.