We’re kicking off the first day of the Father’s Day special with pizza! And if you love that wood-fired taste, well then boy, you’re in for a treat. These individual-sized pizzas had my son in knots. He wants me to make them again for his birthday so that all his friends can have fun topping their own!
There’s no special dough recipe to making for grilled pizza. Any pizza dough will do, including a pizza dough ball from your supermarket fridge. I’ve been experimenting with a little bit of white wine in the dough, however, and it’s quite nice!
My dough recipe is below, but whatever your recipe, what you want to do is quarter the dough ball and roll out. Try to get it even and somewhat circular, but believe me, odds are it will not stay that way. Don’t stress it! The end result is delicious, regardless of its shape. 😉
I’m also going to interject two cents on yeast. “Instant” yeast can be added directly to the flour mixture without going through the initial activation in warm water and sugar that is required of regular active-dry yeast. You can, however, safely treat instant yeast the same way as active-dry. You can’t treat active-dry the way you treat instant yeast.
Personally, I think it’s worth having the “proof” that the yeast is alive and well at the beginning of your bread making process, rather than finding out after an hour and all my ingredients that my yeast is dead.
Pizza Dough (serves 4)
- 3/4 cup warm water (~115F)
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 +1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 + 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Mix the honey, white wine and warm water together. Stir in the yeast, and allow to proof for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the salt, 1 tbsp of olive oil, and gradually add the three cups of flour in half cup increments, mixing well. When you can no longer incorporate the flour by hand, turn out onto a cookie sheet and knead for 6-8 minutes, using the additional half cup of flour as required to keep it from sticking to your hands.
When the dough is smooth and firm, and no longer requires additional flour to have a velvety, non-stick texture, place the dough ball in a clean bowl lightly oiled with the other tablespoon of oil. Turn the ball to coat, cover with a towel, and let it rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for approximately 45 minutes, or until roughly doubled.
Approximate nutrition information (dough only, per 1 round): 470 calories, 85g carbs, 7g fat, 11g protein, 590g sodium, 8g sugar.
To Grill:
Preheat your grill, lid shut.
Cut the dough into halves, and then halve the pieces again, and roll out evenly with a rolling pin.
Pre-grill each piece until nice grill-lines form on both sides and the dough is about 75 percent cooked… (approximately 1 minute on the first side, thirty seconds on the other), keeping the lid shut except to flip with a spatula. If the dough sticks, gently dislodge it.
Transfer the dough rounds to a cookie sheet for topping, and return to the closed-lid grill for another 2-3 minutes, until toppings begin to melt.
Looking for some topping ideas? Pesto instead of marinara, topped with chicken, pancetta, arugula, goat cheese, and sundried tomatoes. Nutella topped with sliced banana. Make a cheeseless pizza, or a white one with Alfredo sauce!
