Mama Makes Pizza on the Grill

My dad is the main chef in my family. He'll roast a chicken, toss a carbonara, and braise a pork chop. My mom has her own prize dishes: killer pot roast, sinful sopaipillas, perfect posole and her famous pizza on the grill.


So I welcome my guest blogger -- Rachel!

My mom makes pizza the true Italian way -- very little cheese and exotic toppings such as porcini mushrooms, kalamata olives and anchovies.


Here's her recipe for pizza dough. It's enough for two 10-inch pizzas.


A good pizza dough doesn’t need a lot of yeast, but it should rise for at least three hours (or four or five).  If you don’t have that much time, double the yeast and find a very warm spot to let it rise (I used to put warm water in a sink and put the bowl with the dough into it).

1 cup water
1 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. olive oil
3 cups bread flour (not all-purpose)

Or for more dough:


12 oz. water
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 + T. olive oil
4 cups flour.

I don’t measure the yeast, salt or olive oil exactly, it works with more or less.  I put the water in the bowl of my KitchenAid, dissolve the yeast, and then add everything else and let the machine do the kneading with the dough hook.

Oh, one more thing:  up until last week, I always made one ball of dough and divided it into individual balls after rising, before rolling out.  Last week, I divided it into separate balls to rise.  When it came to rolling out the pizzas, the individually risen balls handled much more easily than in the past.


When the pizza dough is done rising, fire up your grill to hot hot hot. Roll out your dough one at a time. Roll it pretty thin -- thinner than normal American pizza dough. Coat one side with semolina flour or yellow corn meal. This will keep the dough from sticking to the pizza paddle or cookie sheet. Place your rolled out dough on the pizza paddle or a cookie sheet that doesn't have sides. Turn down the heat to your grill just a bit. Transfer the dough semolina-side up to the grill. After about a minute, check to see there are good grill marks and then remove from grill. Cover the grill again and heat it to very hot again. Now your grill will act as a super-hot oven.


Set dough on a pizza board or some kind of tray that you can easily slip the pizza off of (semolina side down). Brush with olive oil. Spread on some marinara or pesto sauce. Add toppings such as:


Fontina, parmesan, fresh mozzerella cheese
Kalamata olives
Mushrooms
Italian sausage, already sliced and cooked
Fresh basil or oregano
Roasted garlic


Try not to go overboard with toppings because this might make the pizza too heavy for the grill to support. Gently slide the pizza back onto the grill and cover the grill for several minutes, until the cheese is all melted and everything looks delicious.


Repeat with the other balls of dough.


Enjoy!!

Thanks mom! It's one of my favorite home dishes.