While living in New York City, my husband and I were fined a decent sum by our building for grilling out on our fire escape. What can we say? We were desperate! When we moved back to Minnesota, we began grilling every meal we could, especially things from our garden or the local Plymouth farmers market. Grilled pizza is now a family favorite, and, being a food stylist, I’m given plenty of room for artistic experimentation.
The dough is key for any pizza. My favorite is a Napoletana pizza crust recipe from Peter Reinhart’s book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The recipe might seem involved at first, but it yields six crusts, which can be frozen until needed, and the texture and flavor are worth the effort.
After you have your crust, it’s time to procure your other ingredients, meaning the pizza’s toppings. My pizza ingredients come mostly from three places: food leftover from photo shoots, my garden, or the farmers market. Last year Plymouth started its first farmers market, and a friend and I tried to go together every week. What’s great about grilled pizza (or pizza in general) is that you can experiment with whatever you have or whatever is in season. Consider using up miscellaneous groceries, eating more vegetables and eating locally when prepping your ingredient list.
I rarely use meat on my pizza, as I’ve discovered the oils and juices it lets off tend to make the finished product a bit soggy for my taste. What follows is my favorite pizza recipe, considered a “white pizza,” because in place of red sauce I use a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella cheeses.
White Sauce Veggie Pizza
Ingredients
Amounts vary depending on personal preference and size of pie
Whole milk ricotta cheese
Garlic
Oregano
Olive oil
Mozzarella
Pizza crust
Broccoli florets
Thin-sliced red onion
Fresh basil
Other seasonal veggies*
White Sauce: Mix whole milk ricotta cheese with a touch of garlic, oregano and olive oil. Make just enough to provide a thin coat over your pizza crust. Then place thin slices of fresh mozzarella over the top of the ricotta.
Toppings: Place your toppings (sans basil) evenly across top of cheese and sauce. I like the broccoli a little crunchy, but if you prefer it soft, give the florets a quick blanche before adding them to the pizza crust. Add the fresh basil just after the pizza comes off the grill; the residual heat will wilt the basil into the pizza.
*Additional Toppings: Depending on the season, consider asparagus, corn, thin potato slices, root vegetables in the fall (squash, zucchini), arugula, figs, the list is endless!
Grilling:
First, be sure to have everything (oil and brush, sauce, toppings, pizza peal/baking sheet) ready before placing the dough on the grill. Once the dough starts cooking everything goes pretty quick.
We use a gas grill, which I find helps immensely in controlling the temperature. I like to have my grill at about 400–450 degrees, but depending on the thickness of your crust this can vary. With grilling pizzas, the lid is your friend in controlling the temperature. The best thing to do is to just keep checking the crust until it is deeply golden brown. If you find your crust is sticking to the grill, add a little more heat.
Just before placing your crust on the grill, brush one side with olive oil. Place the oiled side down on the grill, and then quickly brush the other side with olive oil.
Next, quickly spread a thin layer of sauce over the crust (white sauce, or whatever you like best) and sprinkle on your toppings. Less is more.
Once the crust is brown and the toppings are cooked, slide the pizza off with a pizza peal or baking sheet. Let the pizza cool a few minutes before cutting and serving.
Note: If placing the pizza directly on the grill doesn’t work for you, you can also use a pizza stone. Preheat the stone on the grill, then lightly it with cornmeal. Place your pre-stretched pizza crust on the stone and, depending on how crunchy or soft you like your crust, you can precook your pizza briefly on the grill before topping.
Napoletana Pizza Crust Dough
Makes six 6-oz.pizza crusts
The dough is key for any pizza. My favorite is a Napoletana pizza crust recipe from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. The recipe may seem involved at first, but it yields 6 crusts, which can be frozen until needed. The texture and flavor are worth the effort.
4½ cups (20.25 oz.) unbleached high-gluten, bread or all-purpose flour, chilled
1¾ tsp. (0.44 oz.) salt
1 tsp. (0.11 oz.) instant yeast
¼ cup (2 oz.) olive oil
1¾ cups (14 oz.) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting
1. Stir together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a four-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment). Do this for 5 to 7 minutes or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn’t come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.
2. Sprinkle flour on the counter, and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil. Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into six equal pieces. You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it. Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece, and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan. Mist the dough generously with spray oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to three days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to three months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)
4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter, and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about ½ inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, carefully stretch the pizza crust to your desired thickness and width. I prefer thin, crunchy crusts, but experiment with what you like.
Anna Joyce lives with her husband Daniel on a small hobby farm in Plymouth. She works as a freelance food stylist in the metro area, working primarily in commercial photography and some television. Contact Anna via email.
