Most of the articles I write are something that I have tried before, but every now and then I like to try something new. I had never tried grilled pizza before but decided to jump in and give it a shot. This time was a trial and error method to see what I could make and it helped me show you the best methods.
I decided that I wanted to make grilled pizza and apparently there are numerous ways to make dough, so I decided to try the 3 methods that I could find at a grocery store. I will go through the list and let you know which of these worked out the best.
I went to my local grocery store and found 3 different crust ideas. I used a premade Boboli crust, a Betty Crocker powder crust, and a Pillsbury premade rollout crust. Since I was having family over, I decided on making 3 different pizzas and I had enough dough left over to make a 4th. I like to call the 4th one the kitchen pizza (I will explain that one later.)
In order for these to work you have to decide on your ingredients and brown/carmelize whatever toppings you want beforehand. Even though you are cooking on a grill the pizza dough takes such little time to cook so the rest of the ingredients need to be cooked before you put together your pizza.
Before I get into details let me talk about the crust selection. The Boboli pizza crust that I used was a premade pizza crust that takes little time to heat up on the grill and is probably the easiest to make.
The second crust I used was a rollout raw dough that needs to be dusted in flour and put on a tray over wax paper.
The final crust I used was from Betty Crocker. This was a powder crust where you only had to add water and oil and you mixed it like you were making your own. After getting it mixed, you let it set 5 minutes before dusting in flour and then rolling out on wax paper.
The first pizza I decided to make was a bacon cheeseburger pizza. I browned hamburger, fried bacon (and broke into bits) and carmelized onions. I opened one of the Boboli crusts and brushed olive oil on one side of the crust. Take the crust and put it on the grill (oil side down) – this will help to brown one side of the crust. Once it is done to what you like (about 3-4 minutes) pull the crust off and take it inside.
Once you have it inside, add your pizza sauce (make sure it is light, too much and your pizza will be soggy) Add the burger, onions, bacon, and then top with cheese. Take that pizza and put it back on the grill until the cheese has melted. This process will take a little longer, somewhere around 5-7 minutes. Once the cheese is melted the pizza is done.
The second pizza I decided to do was a simple Italian type pizza. I bought pre-made italian sausage and sliced it thin. Before I started the pizza I sauteed diced green peppers and onions. For this pizza, I also used the premade Boboli pizza shells.
For this one I added a light sauce, sausage, green peppers, onion, and mozzarella cheese. I took it back out to the grill and set it back on the grill. Again, keep an eye on what is happening because it will only take about 3-5 minutes and the dough will be done and the cheese will be melted. Closing the lid of the grill will help the cheese melt.
The next pizza (my personal favorite) was a BBQ chicken pizza. Since this was my first experiment, I boiled chicken and then diced it. As a side note, I think I will grill the chicken next time and then add it to the pizza for just a little more flavor. Smoked chicken that has been pulled would be amazing. For this pizza I used the powdered dough and made it per the package instuctions. Once the dough is rolled out lightly coat one side of the dough with oil. Take that out to the grill and throw it on with the oil side down. Once this hits the grill it will only take about 2 minutes before the crust has browned and you are able to remove it. Remove it from the grill and take it inside. Lightly apply some flour on the wax paper and lay the crust finished side up. You are going to put the toppings on the side that you have already cooked. This takes the same 2-4 minutes to brown before you can take it off. This happens very fast so do not walk away from the grill.
Once I had one side done, I took the crust in and flipped it over. I added a light bbq sauce, diced chicken and some lightly sauteed red onion. I added cheese and then gave it a run over of some bbq sauce. Put it back on the grill with the lid closed and give it 3-5 minutes for the cheese to melt and the crust to finish. If the crust finishes first, move it to a cooler side of the grill and allow the cheese to finish.
The last pizza that I didn’t talk about was the kitchen pizza. The crust for the kitchen pizza was rollout dough from Pillsbury. To roll this out, take some wax paper and coat it lightly in flour. Rollout the pizza dough and strecth it so that it is fairly then. Remember that with a dough you are making that you are never going to get a completely round pizza, you will get something that looks more like a square. This is the kind that you add every ingredient but the kitchen sink. With the final pizza, I had some leftover ingredients from the other pizzas, so I make this a type of supreme. It was a great tasting pizza, but it didn’t follow a traditional type recipe.
During this whole process I found that the crust that comes in a powder and is mixed yourself to be the best tasting. The premade and rollout crusts are nice, but they come at a cost. The Boboli premade are about $4 a crust (but you are paying for the convenience) and the rollout was about $3. The make your own dough was less than a dollar.
Remember, drinking adult beverages during this whole time is highly encouraged. If I missed anything or you have any questions, you can always find me at www.facebook.com/cbque or on twitter @cbque
