We have taken all pizza making outdoors.
We eat it once a week (at least), but slightly less when the weather is warm and I don't feel like getting smoked out of the kitchen. The Good People over at Artisan Bread in Five have spent some time going over grilling various and sundry bread things on the blog, and I finally got serious about taking their advice.
The first time we tried I used our pizza stone on the grates and preheated for what I felt was a reasonable amount of time. Turns out, it was a reasonable time in Hades and the thrown dough, while perfect on top, was about as black as it could get-- charred right through and not in a nice way. Turns out, you CAN get that stone too hot. I readjusted the flame temp to low on our gas grill and tried again with better results-- though still not totally happy with the cheese melt factor to bits of char on the crust ratio.
Turns out, I was missing the point completely. Forget the stone. Forget throwing. With the flame on medium, all I needed to do was roll the dough out a little bit, brush it with a little oil, and lay the oiled side down right on the grates. After about a minute I flip it, top it, and close the lid to get the toppings cooking. The dough ends up being pillowy and chewy with the right amount of char, the cheese melts as god intended and it's fast. Fast, like 5 minutes fast.
Our favourite way to top it at the moment is with a little pre-made salsa and fresh mozz:
- Chopped tomato, peach (if you have it), jalapeno, maybe some scallion or corn, and basil
- then add Salt, Pepper and Lime Juice
- Let sit for an hour or so and you're ready to go.
(Hannah! Susan is going for the bacon. Check it.)
The Artisan Bread in Five book is still in heavy rotation at our house (the challah especially), but I usually use this basic recipe for quick dough (it's ready to go in about and hour and a half). It's okay in the oven, but really fantastic on the grill. Which is why we've had it three times this week and I'm going to have a hard time making pizza in the winter time without going outside to do it.