I have been wanting to make grilled pizza all summer, and we finally gave it a shot last Friday. I had read a few recipes and even watched a video in preparation. I knew we'd have to work quickly, so I got all of our toppings ready ahead of time. The plan was to grill the dough on one side and then the other, then pull it off to top it, and finally pop it back on the grill just to warm the toppings and melt the cheese. Even though I turned the heat way down when we returned the pizza to the grill, the bottom still got a little too charred. Next time I think I would turn the grill off and place the pizza on foil to add a little insulation between it and the grill. While our pizza wasn't perfect, it was a very tasty first attempt.
Here's what we did: Jeff went out to heat the grill (all burners on high). And I stayed inside to prep all of our toppings. There was grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, red onion, and pesto for him and spinach, kalamata olives, orange cherry tomatoes, red onion, and feta for me.
I divided the dough in half, stretched each half, and placed the halves on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I crushed a couple of garlic cloves, put them in a small bowl, and poured some olive oil on top. Then I brushed the dough with the garlicky olive oil.
We put the dough on the blazing-hot grill (cleaned well and oiled). We were supposed to put it olive oil side down, but we messed up and left it olive oil side up. Luckily, the bottom still charred nicely and didn't stick.
Once we saw those nice char marks underneath, we flipped the dough and let the other side char. (Had we placed the dough on the oiled side originally, we would have brushed oil on the side that was facing up, so when we flipped the dough, there would be oil on that side too.)
Once we got nice char marks on the second side, we slid the crusts back onto the sheet pan and brought them inside to top them. We also turned the grill way down.
Jeff spread pesto all over his crust and then arranged his other toppings over it.
I didn't use any sort of sauce and just let the garlicky olive oil provide the base for my toppings, which I scattered on top.
We slid the pizzas back on the grill, covered them with foil to help the mozzarella melt, and closed the lid. When we went back out to check on them, my nose immediately informed me that they were overdone. We got them off the grill right away. Luckily, there was just a little charring on the bottom and the pizzas were still almost fully edible.
We cut them up and feasted on our creations. The crust was really crisp but also a little chewy, and the toppings had warmed just enough. Besides a little too much blackening, I was happy with the pizzas, and I'm excited to give grilled pizza another try, this time being much more cautious when we put the pizzas on the grill that final time.
Have you ever made grilled pizza?