Pizza Night

One of our favorite things to make is pizza on the grill. Bonus: it doesn't heat up the kitchen! My favorite toppings are fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato and basil. Alex loves pepperoni, cheese, bacon, cheese and pepperoni. I make the pizza dough from scratch because it is yummy, more pliable than frozen or any store bought I've tried and super easy with this recipe from Martha Stewart's, Everyday Food- July/August issue! 


Basic Grilled Pizza Dough
makes 1 pound dough or four 10-inch pizzas
Ingredients:
salt and pepper
1 tsp. sugar
1 packet (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for work surface (I tried using whole wheat flour here and did not come out as good as when I used regular flour)

1. Pour 1 cup warm water into a medium bowl; add sugar and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.Whisk in oil and 1 tsp salt into yeast mixture. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until liquid is incorporated (dough will appear dry). Turn out onto a floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together in an elastic ball. Transfer to an oiled medium bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; set in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes (I put the bowl in the oven (not on) to keep it away from drafts, it seems to work perfect). Punch dough down and place back in bowl, in a draft free palce for another 30 minutes.

3. Once dough has reached its final size, turn dough out onto floured surface. Divide into four equal pieces, or two (depending on the size of your grill). Roll out dough and brush one side with olive oil.

 While rolling out the dough, start grill and heat on medium. Take dough to grill and place oiled side down. Brush other side with olive oil.

Dough will start to bubble while it cooks, we just keep checking the bottom with a large metal spatula until it reaches  your desired crispiness :)

Once the dough is mostly cooked/crispy turn off the flame and top your pizza with sauce (see recipe below) and desired toppings. Close the lid and let the cheese melt.

If you desire bell peppers, mushrooms or things of that nature I would suggest sauteing them in a pan or grilling them separate to cook them through before adding to pizza. It takes about 5-7 minutes for the cheeses to melt and for the pizza to be ready to eat.


















Sauce- this is just a quick light tomato sauce, hope you try it an enjoy it!

For 4 10-inch pizzas I blend (in blender or food processor) 1 28 oz. can of diced or whole tomatoes with about 7-8 cloves of garlic, (I love garlic, so if your not a fan use less and just add more to taste) salt and pepper. I pour that into a saute pan with about 1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil and cook for about 20 minutes. I usually do this while the dough is rising. After it cooks I let it cool down and then ladle it onto the crusts after they are cooked on the grill.