Pizza on the grill

Yup! You can make almost anything on the grill, including pizza (and clams, who knew?) I’ve seen lots of grilled pizza recipes online and was anxious to give one a try. We had some friends over on memorial day weekend, so I whipped up a bunch of mini pizzas to serve for appetizers. I started with a basic pizza dough recipe like the one below:

Pizza Dough

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 pinch white sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

In a bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, and mix in sugar. Proof for ten minutes, or until frothy. Mix in the salt, olive oil, and flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down, and knead in garlic and basil. Set aside to rise for 1 more hour, or until doubled again.

Then I separated the dough into 6 portions and rolled each one out until thin. I rubbed some oil on the grill grates then threw the dough on! It was so sunny that day, I couldn’t get a good photo. I busted out our giant, blue, beach umbrella so that I could shade the grill enough to show you guys what was going on

These turned out great! My friends make fun of me because I’m not really much of a pizza person (I know, right?) but if I am going to eat pizza, I prefer thin crust and no sauce. I didn’t want to alienate any of my guests, so I made 3 cold pizza options, and 3 hot pizza options. For the hot ones, I just topped the grilled crusts and heated them under the broiler. I would have heated the toppings on the grill, but The Hubs had already taken over with his ribs, so I had to come up with a plan B.

1 with traditional sauce, prosciutto, and mozzarella

1 with traditional sauce, prosciutto, tomatoes and mozzarella

1 with no sauce, tomatoes and basil

2 with goat cheese, strawberries, arugula and balsamic vinegar

1 with goat cheese, prosciutto and basil

Hopefully there was something for everyone to enjoy!. As the summer months get hotter, and you want to turn on the oven less and less frequently, don’t count out having pizza for dinner! I highly recommend trying pizza on the grill, and don’t shy away from great summer ingredients like strawberries! Get creative!