Grilled Pizza Bread II

We floated this ‘recipe-technique’ in a few Imbiber’s Reports and thought is was worth writing about again because, well, it’s just so fun to make. 

Purchase pizza dough from your local grocery store.  Let the dough warm up and rise covered with a tea-towel.

In the meantime prepare ingredients for your pizza – remember that unlike oven-fired pizza, the ingredients won’t cook and the cheese will barely melt.

We like to use grilled veggies like eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, onions and red and yellow peppers.

Try something other than tomato sauce for the first layer, pesto, tapenade, red pepper spread or even just olive oil.

Use cheese sparingly and mix it up a bit.  Try chevre, pecorino, bocconcini or brie.  Prepare the cheese by slicing, grating or crumbling it.

Fresh herbs like basil and cilantro add a colour and aroma, and pine nuts can add a bit of texture to the pizza as well.

We sometimes add some pre-grilled sausage, prosciutto or thinly sliced salami.

Olives, anchovies and capers can add a little salty zip.

If you are feeding a crowd, make a number of different pizzas and have the ingredients on-hand beside the grill.  Your guests can choose their own toppings or you can create ‘Jazz’ pizza by reading the crowd and improvising.

Here’s a Sauvignon Blanc friendly grilled pizza idea.

Preheat your very clean barbecue grill to medium high.

Knead pizza dough until soft and pliable, adding a bit of extra flour if the dough is too wet.

Divide dough into two equal parts and put one aside (covered).  Gently stretch the dough into an oval no larger in size than half of the surface area of your grill.

Oil the grill and place the dough in the centre, close the lid and turn the temperature down to medium.  Bake for 3-5 minutes or until char marks are visible on the bottom and pizza has become hard enough for you to easily flip over.  Brush the top of the pizza with olive oil before flipping.

Turn off one side of your grill, flip the pizza and move it to that side.  Brush the pizza with more olive oil, spread a generous amount of pesto (I’m using a basil/cilantro based one on mine), add some sliced grilled red onion and some thinly sliced roasted red and yellow bell peppers.  Crumble chevre cheese on top and a bit of grated pecorino.

Close the lid and turn the lit burner’s heat up to medium high.  Let the pizza bake in the grill for another three to five minutes (you can move the pizza around to prevent one side from burning).

Pull a bit of dough off from the thickest edge of pizza to check to doneness.

Don’t be alarmed if your pizza cooked unevenly with some charred bits and some doughy parts, that’s part of the charm.

Keep experimenting and practicing you’ll be amazed at some of the things you will come up with – how’s nuttella and grilled strawberry sound?

Good grilling to all!