What’s on the Grill #135

Truly Grilled Pizza!  Now regular readers of this blog will know I am no stranger to making pizzas on the grill.  I use the term “truly grilled” because I grilled the dough directly on the grates, something I usually don’t do.  This was really a choice out of desperation since my pizza stone broke several weeks ago, and I have yet to replace it.  So, tonight’s pie was pure grill: no stone, no screen, no paper…just Mr. Pizza and Mr. Weber.

I made my dough the usual way (In my opinion, still a work in progress).  For the toppings I went traditional, with the exception of adding some breakfast sausage I ground on Sunday.  (Sausage Making Note: I will grind and stuff soon.  I have the casings, but have neglected to buy the stuffer Andrew pointed out.  Soon…soon!).

I took my dough ball and cut it in half, which resulted in two 8 inch pies.  I wanted smaller pies so I could better manage them over the grill. 

I preheated the grill to direct medium and oiled both sides of the dough.  With the dough “untopped”, I placed the first side down on the grates.  After about 3 minutes, I flipped the dough and added the toppings on the fly while the second side cooked.  I suppose I could have waited until I initially grilled both sides to top them, but I was hungry and I like the feeling of skin sluffing off my wrists while they dangle over the hot grill.

By the time the pizzas were topped and my wrists were red, I slide the pies to the middle and went to indirect high.  Cook for about 10 more minutes, or until your desired level of “doneness”.

The results were good.  Grilling the pizzas this way produces a much more crisper crust, which is altogether not surprising.  I still like my stone, but in a pinch a “truly grilled pizza” works just as well.  So, if you own a grill and you like pizzas, you have no excuses for NOT being able to make “truly grilled pizzas”. 

Next up?  Grilled calzones and an experiment with smoke…