Grilled Pizza

There is no better way to make pizza at home. Conventional ovens just don't get hot enough to make really good crust, so the grill is a great solution. This is not a quick meal, so save it for a weekend. However, my kids think this is the best pizza ever and would likely eat it every night if I was willing to make it.

This makes enough for one pizza. I usually double it so we can have left-overs and if I'm feeding two families, I'll make three pizzas. Also, many recipes have you do everything on the grill. We're using an old Weber gas grill and it just doesn't get hot enough inside to make the cheese get really melty. So, I always throw the pizza under the broiler for 2 minutes to finish it.

The first two toppings (garlic oil and tomatoes) should be made while the crust is rising or before you even start.

CRUST:

2 Tbs. olive oil

2/3 cup water

1 Tbs. whole wheat flour (if you don't have whole wheat, substitute an additional tablespoon of bread flour)

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. instant yeast

2 cups bread flour (it's worth getting "Bread Flour".  All Purpose doesn't work nearly as well.)

1. Place all ingredients in the bowl of a mixer. Put on a dough hook and combine and then knead for 6-7 minutes on lowest speed.
2. Pull out the dough hook and remove the bowl from the mixer. Leave dough in the bowl and cover with plastic. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2-2 hours. (You can adjust the amount of time the dough rises by changing the amount of yeast -- if it's a warm day and I make the crust 6 hours ahead of time, I'll only use 1/4 tsp. yeast, or if I only have an hour, I'll add 2-3 tsp. and put the dough somewhere really warm.)
3. Preheat gas grill on high.
4. Punch down dough and remove from bowl. If it feels like a lot to handle, divide into two or three crusts. Take one piece of dough, gently form a disk and then stretch it, using your hands, until it's a nice round shape and fairly thin across. Don't worry if some sections are thicker than others or if it's not perfectly round... many of my pizzas are quite oddly shaped.
5. Place dough directly on grill and reduce heat to medium-low. I know this sounds crazy, but I promise that the dough will not fall through the cracks. 
6. Until you've done this a few times, you'll need to keep a close eye on the crust so that it doesn't burn. I usually let mine grill for 3-4 minutes, until there are dark brown grill marks on the bottom of the crust. Adjust heat and time according to how quickly your crust cooks.
7. Remove crust from grill and place on a counter or board dusted with corn meal. (If I'm doing this for company, I'll usually make the crusts up to this point and then do the final assembly and grilling just before we're ready to eat. The half-grilled crusts are fine on the counter for an hour or two.)

TOPPINGS

Garlic oil (this should be made ahead of time):

1/3 cup olive oil

4 medium garlic cloves crushed 

1. Cook over medium heat until garlic starts to brown
   
2. Set aside to cool

3/4 lb tomatoes (about two medium-large tomatoes) cored, seeded and cut into a 1/2 inch dice

1/4 tsp. salt

1.  Combine tomatoes and salt in a bowl and then place in a sieve 
   
2. Let drain for an hour or two

1/2 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 lb. grated mozzarella

Optional toppings: pepperoni, spinach, feta cheese, sauteed mushroom, carmalized onions, greek olives, sausage, ham, pineapple, etc.

Assembling the Pizza:

1. Preheat broiler and place rack in the middle-top position.
2. Flip the crust over so that the grill side is up.
3. Brush grilled crust with garlic oil.
4. Sprinkle tomatoes over crust. Then top with cheese and any other toppings that sound good.
5. Slide back onto the grill with the un-grilled side facing down. Grill for 3-4 minutes, until dark brown grill marks appear.
6. Remove from grill and place on rack under the broiler for 2 minutes. (If the toppings look piping hot when you remove your pizza from the grill, you may not need to use a broiler.)

Serve immediately! If you have left-overs, they're better warmed up in the oven than a microwave... microwaves will make the crust really limp.