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Looking for tips on grilling homemeade pizza

post #1 of 9
6/26/11 at 3:24pm
Thread Starter 
I'm wanting to get any tips on grilling homemade pizza on a gas grill. I've watched a video on allrecipes but I think experience is the best teacher. I've tried it twice, once with great results and once with a disastrous outcome. Please help!
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post #2 of 9
6/26/11 at 5:55pm

I have made 100's of grilled pizzas for catering jobs, Thin dough, light sauce and toppings.

 

I brush the dough with oilve oil that has been infused with garlic and rosemary, flip that to the hot side of the grill, mark it, brush the up side, flip it, slide over to the cold side of the grill, sauce, cheese, toppings and close it up so the grill acts as an oven.

 

Never made them on a gas grill, I used a 5' mesquite grill like this one.

 

 

grillcoGC100-K.jpg

Mesquite burns much hotter than your gas grill will and makes a very hot oven out of this grill.

I would guess around 700º, giving better results than on a gas grill.

I would say just play around with it and have fun.

 

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post #3 of 9
6/27/11 at 1:20am

 

As far as pizza making is concerned, grilling is definitely a more advanced technique.  You definitely will not get away with making a grill pizaa without a peel, since you actually need to flip the dough.  Make small pizzas at first until you get comfortable.  Try this dough recipe.

Disolve 2 1/4 tsp Active dry yeast into 3/4 c warm water.

Add 1/4c of flower, and allow to rise for 30 min

Then incorporate up to 1 3/4 c more flower

Allow to rise 2 hours and punch it down, and up to 40 minutes more

 

The main concept is this. This pizza will be very thin, even if it took just as long as normal ny hand-tossed pizza, since youre flipping this the toppings wont have nearly enough time to cook ontop. So most of your toppings WILL need to be precooked.  Always oil yoru grill Keep the cover on. And remember, the second side of what you're grilling will always cook faster than the first. And just as your oven needs to be at it's highest setting when making pizza, your grill should be hot as hell.

 

If you want good ideas for toppings, go through your cook books and look at elaborate salads, and those will almost always be amazing grilled pizza tops. Some of the elaborate side dishes work amazingly too. For example, a few from my cook books:

 

Roasted Fennel, Blood oranges, and Red Onion

Blue Cheese and Jam

Smoked Salmon, Red Onion, Creme Fraiche.

Asparagus, and Leek

Grill Pineapple and Poblano salad.

Confit and wild mushroom

 

Though there's nothing wrong with ol reliable tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Just recommend you grill that pepperoni first, and put the tomato sauce on hot. Not room-temperature or cold like you normally would.

 
 
Confused... were two threads opened for this topic? O_o
 
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post #4 of 9
6/27/11 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the help. I am basically doing what you are telling me. I will try your dough recipe and see if I like it better than mine. I have only tried very basic ingredients. None that require prior cooking such as canadian bacon, pepperoni & pinneaple and also just using a red pizza sauce. We have found that smaller pizzas work better. My husband thinks we need to use a stone but everything I've read says to put the dough right on the grill. Yes I posted it twice. I'm an idiot! I stumbled across this forum quite by accident and was thrilled to find it as my hubby and I are avid cooks. I'm not on to how to postand did it from my Android. Sorry.
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post #5 of 9
6/28/11 at 12:14am
You don't need that stone, but with the stone you will not have to flip. But you do bring up an excellen point. A wood grill with a stone on it used as an oven is the closest thing most home cooks will get to a woodfire stone oven. You're talking a pie that will make 99% of the pros jealous.
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post #6 of 9
6/28/11 at 8:47am
Thread Starter 

So I wonder what temp the stone can take before cracking?  Maybe they are designed to take a lot of heat.  I may have to just give it a try.  I love to try different cooking styles.  We watched a cooking show last night where the owner makes his own woodfire cooked pizzas right down to making his own mozzerella cheese.  The pizzas sound out of this world at this place...right in San Antonio, TX.  My husband said he was ready to go to San Antone right then!

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post #7 of 9
6/30/11 at 1:54am

The pizzeria i worked with in NY made their own mozz. It's a technique that takes some practice but at the end of the day it's not that advanced of a technique.  Fresh mozz isn't always the best choice though.  It has a nice milky flavor, it isn't greasy at all really, it can be brined and/marinaded for extra flavor, but sometimes you just want shredded low-moisture cheese. Just make sure it's decent quality stuff. Also, the fresh mozz you buy at most delis and the grocery stores just don't live up. I had the hand-made stuff, and can never go back.

 

I will definitely recommend it for your grilled pizza, though.  Unlike shredded cheese, if fresh mozz is not completely melted it's still very pleasant to eat. 

 

The stone in my oven sits right on the oven floor, getting in excess of 500 degrees, maybe closer to 1000.  Will it eventually crack? maybe... but don't waste your money on expensive pizza stone. quarry tile is cheap and works just as well as long as it isn't glazed or contain lead. If it has either of those it is toxic to cook on. if it cracks, oh well it coasted you $5 at the most.

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post #8 of 9
6/30/11 at 7:42am
Thread Starter 

I'll have to try the quarry stone.  How will I know that it doesn't contain lead though?  I don't believe half of the sales people I talk to anymore.  They don't seem to be trained or know what they're talking about.  Do you place your quarry stone right in your oven in your house or do you mean in your outside grill.  I made a small 8 inch pizza on my gas grill last night.  One thing that seems to make a difference with the crust was refrigerating it and then taking it out the next day, letting it come to room temperature and then forming a crust.  I also only turned on one side of the grill so it didn't get quite as hot maybe.  Anyway it was pure heaven coming off the grill.  I used olive oil on the crust and then topped it with a little marinara sauce, some pepperoni and a little mozzerella.  Thanks for your story of the hand-made mozzerella.  Interesting.  Where do you suggest getting good mozzerella if not hand-made?

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post #9 of 9
6/30/11 at 7:19pm

well quarry is made of clay.  And because of that it's not very porous and that's why it shouldn't crack. and being clay, I don't see any benefit as lead being an additive. Just be very clear. Food WILL be cooked on this, and if there is lead someone is going to get hurt or killed.

 

As far as good mozzarella goes, I honestly cant recommend a brand. I get mine from this deli/bakery i used to work for. They great it very coarsely for me from very large blocks. Keep that in mind. Shredded from the block is usually better. Shredded cheese tends to be even more processed than the blocks, and will have a higher oil content. So yes, they will melt better, but nothing is worse than cheese that's waaay too greasy. go to a pizzeria/deli, try their pizza. if you like it, ask if they'll just sell you cheese by the pound. if it's a deli, why wouldn't they?

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