I know what you’re thinking – Annie. You’ve already shown us how to grill pizza on this blog. It was good, but mine fell through the grill grates. And kind of burned.
But hear me out. Grilled pizza tastes ah-mazing!!!! It gets this smoky flavor, and has this perfect texture that oven baked pizza just can’t compete with. I’ve been toying around with various techniques to try to make grilling pizza easier to do, and a little more fail-proof. Well friends, last night I stumbled upon the perfect technique.
You will need a few more things to accomplish this, but they are all relatively inexpensive, and make this meal doable any night of the week.
-pizza stone (we got this one as a wedding gift and it worked perfectly)
-pizza peel (you will need this, or something like this, to slide the pizza onto the stone. We have this one)
-a smoke box for your grill and wood chips (this is not completely necessary, but the smoke from the wood chips gives the cheese and toppings the best flavor)
I was so excited about doing this, that I had some friends over and we made a pizza party out of it. I sliced up a bunch of veggies for toppings and people created their own pizzas to share. It was such a blast trying everyone’s combinations. Each pizza took a little over 5 minutes to cook too, which was perfect. We made one, threw it on the grill, and got the next one started. It was like a little pizza production line. I think everyone loved it!!!
Before people came over I made a triple batch of my favorite pizza dough. (recipe at the bottom of this post)
Then I sliced up a bunch of toppings: tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, and zucchini.
I shredded my cheese.
Next, I got the grill prepped. I soaked a cup of the wood chips in water.
Then I put the pizza stone on the cold grill, and lit it.
I turned the heat on both sides to low. I waited 5 minutes. Then turned the heat a little hotter. Waited 5 minutes, turned it up a little more. Until the grill was on high. You need to raise the heat slowly so that the pizza stone heats slowly and doesn’t crack.
When the grill was on high, I put the soaked wood chips in the smoker box and put that next to the pizza stone.
Then I prepped my pizza.
I stretched out a chunk of dough and placed in on my pizza peel that was covered in corn meal. (Corn meal will help the pizza slide right off the peel onto the stone).
I spooned some sauce, cheese, and toppings on.
Then it was time to grill. The grill is ready when you drop a little water on the stone and it evaporates immediately.
Slide the pizza off the peel onto the stone and close the grill cover. (this one is actually a garlic cheese bread I also made)
Wait about 3-4 minutes and open the grill up. My pizza was baking a little unevenly so I used tongs to flip the pizza around. I covered it back up, and let it cook another 2-3 minutes until the bottom was crispy, toppings were cooked through, and the cheese was bubbly.
I slid the pizza off onto my large chopping block and let it sit 1-2 minutes, before slicing and serving.
Oh.my.word. SO TASTY!!!!
The crust was perfect, chewy on the inside, and crispy on the outside. The pizza stone actually draws moisture out of the crust so it has this perfect texture.
The Best Pizza Dough
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Keywords: bake bread entree
Ingredients (2 12 inch pizzas)
- 1 1/2 c bread flour
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 1 c all purpose flour
- 1 T honey
- 2 1/4 t active dry yeast
- 2 t sea salt
- 1 1/2 c water, 110 degrees F
- 2 T olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Instructions
Combine the flours, yeast and sea salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
While the mixer is running, add the water, honey, and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with a damp towel and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour.
Grilled pizza parties are the best! I’ll have to try out your dough recipe next time, I’ve never used bread flour, does that make a thicker dough? Looks like so much fun!
Hi Kristina! I am foreseeing many more pizza parties this summer. I actually stumbled upon the bread flour trick about a year ago. It changes the gluten content of the dough and helps create a crispier crust. All-purpose works alright, but I love the little “crunch” that I get with the bread flour addition. If you try it, let me know what you think!
We love grilling pizzas. So much better than doing it in an oven. Now you got me craving cheesey bread.
Mmmmmm cheesy bread! I had it ready when my friends came over and I think it really got the party started.