Grilled Pizza

I got lucky and found pizza pans for the grill on clearance. I have loved using them and now wish that I had bought more! Grilled pizza has a crisp crust and wonderful flavor! If you don't have pizza pans specially designed for the grill, you can do what my friend Kim does (disclaimer: I have not tried doing it this way, but she swears by it) . . . Turn grill to a low-medium heat. Place dough directly on the grill for 45-60 seconds on each side (until dough is stiff enough to place back on grill with toppings). Take dough off grill. Use spoon to depress middle of dough to create recessed area for sauce and toppings. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Place pizza on grill's warming rack to cook for an additional 7-10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

GRILLED PIZZA (using pizza grill pans)

Ingredients

• 1 batch of pizza dough. (Recipe here. You can get four thin 12-inch pizza crusts from this recipe) Note: You can buy fresh, ready-made pizza dough at Trader Joe's, too, if you don't want to make your own.
• Pizza sauce (Recipe here.) 
• Cheese (our family likes a mix of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese)
• Pizza toppings (mushrooms, onions, peppers, ham, bacon, artichokes, pepperoni, sausage, etc.)

Directions

Preheat a grill, keeping the center burner on medium-low to low heat (for our gas grill, I find that the very lowest heat setting works best for the center burner; I keep the two side burners at medium to medium-high heat). I put my pizzas in to cook when the temp is 500-degrees (with the lid down). I keep the lid on the grill down while it preheats and also while the pizzas cook.

Lightly brush a steel grill pizza pan with olive oil.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pizza dough into a 12-inch round and transfer to the prepared pizza pan. Spread the sauce evenly on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border uncovered. Sprinkle with cheese and top with desired toppings.

Place the pizza pan in the center of the grill and cover the grill with the grill lid. Bake until the crust is crisp and well browned and the cheese is melted, 5 to 6 minutes (I have found that it takes less than a minute to go from perfectly crisp to burnt, so monitor it to avoid a charred mess). I cook the pizza (with the grill lid down) for 4 minutes and then rotate the pan 180-degrees and cook for 3 more minutes. At that point, it's usually ready, but sometimes it takes another minute. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board and cut into slices. Serve immediately.

Quick & Easy Pizza From Scratch

Our family has been making pizza pretty much once a week for 10+ years now. In that time, I've dabbled with many a recipe---trying homemade Chicago-style or the like---but in all that time, my fail-safe, go-to recipe has remained the same and it is the first recipe I ever tried. Mostly because it's fast. That, and I've got it memorized by now. The necessary ingredients are pantry staples at my house.

Most of the time, I'll make one or two pizzas that the whole family shares, but every now and again, we'll let everyone make their own personal-size pizza by dividing the dough into 5 rounds instead of 1 or 2.

I generally make the super-easy and quick no-cook pizza sauce, but when I don't, our family really likes the Classico Traditional Pizza Sauce you can buy in a 14-oz. jar at the grocery store.

I have tried using pizza stones, but actually prefer a light-colored, non-stick metal pizza pan. I own 2 pans as I usually make 2 pizzas at a time.

PIZZA DOUGH

[Makes 1 thick-crust large, 2 thin-crust larges, 4 thin-crust mediums, or 6 thin-crust individual pizzas]

Recipe halves easily.

1-1/2 cups warm water (about 105 degrees)

1 envelope (2-1/4 teaspoons) rapid-rise dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose flour, but crust is crispier with bread flour; I actually prefer all-purpose)

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Set oven to 200 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn oven off. (You'll be putting your dough in there to rise; the warmth helps it rise faster so you can get away with only a 40-minute rise time).

2. Meanwhile, pour water into work bowl of large food processor. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over water and pulse twice. Add oil, 1 cup of flour, and salt, and process until combined. Add remaining flour and process until mixture forms cohesive mass. Dough should be soft and just a bit tacky. (If it is very sticky, add 2 tablespoons flour and pulse briefly. If it is stiff and tight, add 1 tablespoon water and pulse briefly.) Process another 30 seconds.

3. Dough will be a bit tacky, so use rubber spatula to turn out dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand with a few strokes to form smooth, round ball.

4. Put dough into deep, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in warm oven (that has been turned off). Let rise for 40 minutes or until doubled. Remove from oven, punch dough down, and turn out onto lightly floured work surface. Divide and shape as desired. [Note: the dough stretches further as you work with it. Letting it rest for a few minutes in between rolling it out will allow you to stretch it further.]

5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle pizza pan with light dusting of cornmeal (this keeps the pizza from sticking to the pan). Carefully lift dough round and transfer it to pizza pan. Crimp edges (you know, like you would for a pie).

6. Cook pizza dough (without toppings or sauce) in 500 degree oven for about 3-5 minutes.

7. Remove pizza from oven. Ladle on the sauce (leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges to make it easier to eat later).

8. Sprinkle with cheese and add toppings of choice.

9. Put back in 500 degree oven for about 12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

NO-COOK TOMATO SAUCE FOR PIZZA

[Makes about 3 cups, or a little more then you'll need for 2 large pizzas. It freezes well in a Ziploc freezer bag, should you have extra.]

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, minced

salt and ground black pepper

Combine tomatoes, oil, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste in medium bowl. Set aside at room temperature for up to several hours. (Sauce may be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days).

[Note: After I put the dough in the oven to rise, I toss all the ingredients for the sauce in my food processor. I process the sauce and then let it sit there while the dough rises in the oven.]

For a printable version of the recipe, go here.