Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Grilled Pizza

Move Over Caveman!! Momma's working the Grill tonight!

You know it's so funny how I rule the kitchen in our house and my husband is the Grill Master.
Even when I touch the grill I get a bit nervous and I always have this secret thought in the back of my head. 

I know... your thinking... What secret thought?!

I'll share it with you but you have to promise to keep this under your hat.
My secret thought is a bit scary and comical for me but I have it flash before my eyes every time I fire that BBQ up,
and here goes...
 It always ends in a very strong crispy visual of me standing there holding the tongs with singed hair, no eyebrows and soot kissed skin. 
haha I know it's kinda funny to actually type it, it may be funny to be reading it, but whatever the case that's the secret thought.
And let's keep this between us okay...because in our house if anyone spots or discovers a weakness they use it.
ie pranks, practical jokes, and party humor.

Now back to the grilling experience...
All though I'm cautious and uneasy in front of the grill, on the other hand my husband always seems so relaxed and confident in front of the pit.
Which leads me to believe there's a strong neolithic connection between modern man and his grill. 
Men are just drawn to cooking over an open flame.
I'm guessing here, but I believe it makes them feel like they are 
STRONG BRUTES
when they control fire. lol

My guy thinks our grill is a flaming parking lot for big hunks of meat. 
I think otherwise. 

Which is why I decided to slip out to the grill while the hubby was out and try my hand at grilled pizza.
YES that's right
GRILLED PIZZA.
And guess what??
 If you love crispy crust like I do, you've got to try this!
Plus, this helps to keep your kitchen cool during the hot summer months.

Check out what I learned... from flame ignition to pizza slicing.



Grilling really is a fine art. It takes some practice.





After eating my hubby's grilled foods then trying my hand at it I've learned the grill is not like my stove or oven. There are no short cuts and you need to be patient.
Yes. Patience Grasshopper. Patience.




It's easy to burn food on a grill.
So cooking slow and on low is the best rule of thumb especially for newbies like myself.
Learn from my mistake.
I tried firing my pizza on Medium heat and that was WAY to HOT and my first try ended in...
how do I say this...
Blackened Pizza Crust.
{And just so you know. I NEVER burn anything.}
I like to refer to food with a darker color than normal as BLACKENED. haha

Here is how I grilled this lovely pizza pie.

First, I used the pizza crust recipe I posted a while back with a free modifications.
Here's the recipe I use now for my families favorite pizza crust.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is what you'll need:
tablespoon dry yeast
23; cup brown rice flour
½ cup white rice flour
tablespoons powdered milk {I use Carnation Powdered Milk}
 (Dairy alternative, 2 T tapioca flour or sweet rice flour in place of 2 T dry milk powder or non-dairy) or tablespoons non-dairy powdered coffee creamer (Dairy alternative, 2 T tapioca flour or sweet rice flour in place of 2 T dry milk powder or non-dairy)
teaspoons xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
teaspoon unflavored gelatin
23; cup water (110 degrees F)
½ teaspoon sugar or ½ teaspoon honey or ½ teaspoon agave syrup
teaspoon olive oil
teaspoon cider vinegar


Directions:


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In medium bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend all ingredients on low speed.


Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.


(If mixer bounces around bowl, dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) Dough will resemble soft bread dough.


Put mixture on lightly greased 12-inch pizza pan or 11 x 7-inch pan (for deep dish version).


Liberally drizzle olive oil onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to drizzle with oil to prevent sticking to hands (you can use rice flour for this instead of oil if you wish)


Make edges slightly thicker to hold toppings.


Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes.


Remove from oven.


{Before I put the toppings on I remove the pizza from pan/foil which ever one your using}


Spread pizza crust with your favorite sauce and toppings.


 For a crispier crust place directly onto oven rack. You can cook longer depending on how crispy you like your crust. :)
  1. Bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I oiled a piece of tin foil with Olive Oil and rolled out my pizza crust on top of it.
I placed the pizza crust, without the toppings, on the grill and closed the lid.
Checking it often.
{Because I'm totally not a pro. YET!}

 When the crust looked a tad brown I removed it and and pulled it from the foil.  Only because I didn't want to pull it off the foil after I had all the toppings on it.

Then I placed the sauce and toppings atop it and placed it back on the grill to melt the cheeses and toast the crust a little more.

After a few minutes Wha La!  Grilled Pizza!!!

The crust was nice and crispy and I had fun playing with this new way of cooking.


Just a note... I plucked
Fresh Oregano from my herb garden for this pizza which always makes the flavor amazing. :)

Want to start your own Organic Herb Garden??
It's simple and easy to do and saves so much money.
Check out this wonderful site, Seeds Now, for more information.
Look how cool their kits are.


 Hope to hear you are grilling pizza soon!!


  


3 comments:

  1. The pizza looks so good! I can't wait to try your pizza crust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This particular crust I made two tiny changes to my original crust recipe. I ran out of Tapioca Flour and substituted it with White Rice Flour and I didn't add the Italian Spices to the dough. It turned out fantastic!!!

      Let me know how you like! :)

      Delete
  2. When is your cookbook coming out??

    ReplyDelete