Get Your Grill On

I am obsessed with pizza — making it, eating it, blotting the grease off the top, figuring out which places use real and not canned mushrooms — but most importantly, finding a good place for take-out. You see, ever since I left the New York-New Jersey metro area and moved to Pennsylvania, finding a good thin-crust pizza has been like the quest for the Holy Grail. Pizza is often too greasy, doughy and thick, or some combination thereof. We briefly had a Maruca’s Pizza here, but it didn’t advertise sufficiently and was buried in a strip mall so regardless of the exodus of New Jerseyans who have moved to my part of the Keystone State, it closed.

In the past, I have sought to remedy this situation by making my own, using a pizza flour blend from the folks at King Arthur’s Baker’s Catalogue. It works well for indoor, oven-baked pizza. But now that it’s grilling season, here’s where things get really delicious: Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas, brought to you by Chicago pizza expert, Chef Craig W. Priebe, with Dianne Jacob. It’s garnered an endorsement from gourmet pizza guru Wolfgang Puck, a man who has elevated the humble pie into high culinary art. Oh, and in case you’ve never heard of them, piadinas are crispy Italian sandwiches.

The photographs and recipe descriptions will make you want to jump into action immediately, especially Priebe’s award-winning Gamberian pizza (shrimp, pesto and tomato), but the process requires planning. You can make the dough after work, but it takes two hours to rise and another hour in the refrigerator; otherwise, it’s too sticky to work with. I made it after work one day and then took it out two days later for grilling, which was another suggestion from the authors. They also advise you make both crusts (the recipe yields two pizzas) and freeze one if you’re not going to eat both, but my husband and I grilled both and polished off most of it for dinner. I can’t imagine a scenario in which you wouldn’t use both: they are delicious and thin, and you need two people to facilitate this process with ease.

The book is broken up into chapters that, among other things, focus on seafood, chicken, meat and vegetable toppings. I decided I wanted to keep things simple for the first venture, so I picked the Margheritan, with tomato, basil and cheese. The recipe requires several components, so please be patient. Note: For the sake of simplifying this recipe, I have included directions for kneading with a stand mixer and using a gas grill, which is what I did. Recipes are reprinted with permission from the book’s publisher, DK.

Basic Grilled Pizza Dough
3/4 cup warm water
1 packet active dry yeast (about 2-1/4 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. sugar
1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbsp. cornmeal (preferably white, plus more for the pan)
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 tsp. for the bowl.
Yield: Two 12-inch pizzas

1. Pour the warm water into a small bowl or measuring cup. (If the water is too hot, the yeast will due. If too cold, it will not activate.) Add the yeast and sugar and stir until the yeast dissolves into a smooth beige color. Let it stand on your counter for about five minutes to prove that the yeasted water is active. A thin layer of foam will appear at the top, indicating that the bath is good.

2. Kneading with a stand mixer: Add the flours, salt, and cornmeal to a 4 or 5 quart standing mixing bowl. Use the dough hook attachment on the lowest speed to mix the dry ingredients. Add the yeasted water and the 2 tbsp of olive oil. Mix on the lowest speed to allow the ingredients to come together. You may need to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Then move to medium-high speed and knead for two minutes. The batter should form a ball, unless it’s too wet or sticky. If so, add only enough flour to prevent it from sticking. The dough should come off the sides cleanly and form a ball.

3. Put the remaining 1/4 tsp. of olive oil in a medium bowl. The dough will be sticky, so flour your hands before picking it up, and place it in the bowl. Turn it over several times until it is coated in oil. This prevents a crust from forming on its surface as it rises.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft-free, warm place, 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (20-25 Celsius), for two hours, until it rises almost double in appearance.

5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight, or for one hour to firm it up. Since this dough is slightly sticky, chilling the dough makes it easier to roll out. Chilling it overnight gives the dough more flavor and texture. Dough will keep in the refrigerator for three days.

While the dough is chilling, it’s time to make the topping. For the Margheritan, you need the recipe for chunky tomato basil sauce, which comes together pretty quickly.

Chunky Basil Tomato Sauce
2 small cloves garlic
8 large fresh basil leaves
1-1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes (about three medium), cored and quartered
2 tbsp. tomato paste (or more)
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar.

1. Place the garlic and basil leaves in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and pulse briefly. Do not puree the tomatoes, as the sauce is meant to be chunky. Or chop all by hand.

2. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, pepper and sugar until mixed well. If the sauce looks watery, add more tomato paste until you see no more juice.

3. Refrigerate the sauce for an hour to accentuate the flavors.

Preparing the Grill
Follow the manufacturer’s directions to ignite the gas and light the burners. Adjust each burner to the medium-high setting. Close the grill cover and allow the grill to heat for about 10 minutes, or until the temperature reaches 400 Degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius).

Rolling Out the Dough
Treat your dough gently. Kneading it or shaping it into a ball could make it too stiff. Do not roll out your pizza until your grill is almost ready. If the dough sits around on a cookie sheet for just a few minutes, it could become sticky.

1. Your refrigerated dough should have doubled in size. Punch it down gently to remove gas.

2. Lightly flour about a foot of space on a clean, dry countertop. (Note: I used my pastry board.) Flatten the dough with your hands to about 1-inch thickness. Cut in half with knife.

3. Put one piece of dough in the center of the floured space and sprinkle a little flour over the top. Using a rolling pin, make smooth strokes to roll out the dough starting from the center out to the edges.

4. Work around the diameter of the dough to form a circular crust with an even thickness. It is not necessary to maintain a perfect circle. Roll out the dough to about a 12-inch diameter, about 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkle the crust with a fine layer of flour. It will make the dough easier to handle and prevents stickiness.

5. Position two cookie sheets with no sides, or two pizza screens next to your dough. Sprinkle them generously with flour or cornmeal, so the dough will not stick. Pick up the dough with two hands and fold it gently in half.

6. Transfer the dough to a cookie sheet.

7. Unfold the dough onto the pan to make it flat.

8. Stretch out the dough to an approximate 12-inch diameter.

9. Repeat with second piece of dough on the second cookie sheet.

Grilling the Crust
1. When your grill is at the right temperature, hold the cookie sheet close to it and slide the dough onto the grill. If the dough folds in on itself, try to move the edges out quickly to form a flat crust (without burning yourself!). As long as the crust is about 12 x 12 inches, don’t worry if the shape is irregular. This is one of the best characteristics of grilled pizza: It is meant to look rustic and unrefined.

2. The dough should take about 3 minutes to cook. Watch for bubbles. The crust will be soft at first and tear easily, so try not to touch it. Soon it will set and firm up.

3. To check whether your crust is done, lift the underside. It should be an even light brown with brown grill marks. A charred crust adds to the flavor.

4. Pick up the crust from the middle, using tongs, and place it on your cookie sheet. Flip it over so the grilled side is face up. This browned side becomes the top of your pizza.

Putting It All Together

The Margheritan
1 grilled pizza crust
1 tbsp. herbed grill oil or extra virgin olive oil (Note: I used an herbed olive oil I had on hand.)
1 tbsp. grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup chunky tomato basil sauce
1 ball (8 ounces) fresh mozzarella
Garnish
2 tbsp. basil leaves

Brush the grilled side of the crust will 1 tbsp. of herbed olive oil. Dust with the Parmesan and sprinkle with the mozzarella. Drop spoonfuls of the chunky tomato basil sauce onto the pizza. Tear the fresh mozzarella into chunks and distribute across the pizza, filling in the holes between the sauce.

Grilling The Pizza
1. The grill should still be medium-hot from grilling the crust. Turn the fire down to about 75 percent of the highest heat.

2. Bring your pizza, on its cookie sheet or pizza screen, next to the grill. Slide long tongs onto the middle of the pizza and grip it firmly, then slide the pizza onto the grill, guiding it to the opposite side–the cooler side.

3. Preheat your oven’s broiler, if desired. Grill your pizza for 5-8 minutes. Check it after one minute but gently lifting up an edge of the crust with your tongs or spatula. If it is turning dark too quickly, your fire is too hot. Move the pizza around the grill to get away from the heat. I like to turn it twice during the grilling process to get an even doneness. After 3 to 4 minutes the pizza will begin to crisp and brown lightly on the bottom. When it’s done, the crust will be crispy. If the bottom has a few black spots, don’t freak out. You have not burned it. Some charring is natural, and this is a delicious part of the crust. Grip the pizza in the middle with your tongs and pull it onto your cookie sheet.

4. Optional: Broil the pizza, right on the cookie sheet, for 1-2 minutes, or until the top is sizzling hot. Don’t turn your back, or it may burn. (Note: I did not do this step.)

5. Slide the pizza onto a cutting board. Garnish with the basil leaves. Cut into squares or pie-shaped slices. Serve immediately.

Here’s where the official recipe instructions end, but I have a few observations to share. Once we topped the first pizza and returned it to the grill, we added the second crust to the right side of the grill, which we kept at the high heat. The whole process came together fairly quickly so it’s important to have your ingredients ready and prepared. Also, you can see by the photos that I didn’t use fresh mozzarella, mostly because I forgot to buy it. Because I didn’t want to deplete my new basil plantings in the yard, I skipped the garnish. I thought it was a bit tedious flipping from one section of the book to the next to read the various steps—it’s not necessarily organized in the manner in which you complete the tasks—but I imagine that now that we have done this once, the process will be easier and there will be less consultation. We also wound up with a slightly thicker crust because I was a bit timid about rolling it out really thin; I was afraid I would not be able to pick it up and work with it. The next time I won’t be; the crust puffed up a bit more than I expected, but it was delicious nonetheless. It’s too early to say whether we’ve reached the Holy Grail of pizza, but we’re pretty close.