Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Grilled Pizza



I've been reading about pizza a lot these days. I flew back from Spain into JFK and took the Vamoose bus which takes me back to the fam in Bethesda. I was looking for a quick bite to eat before I boarded the bus for my four hour ride down the New Jersey Turnpike. I dashed into this small pizza place near Penn Station and ordered a piece of veggie pizza. I've got to say, all those rumors about New York Pizza are true. Now, I swear by Cheeseboard pizza in Berkeley and am a huge fan of the California Gourmet style, but New York pizza is outta control good! So after my new discovery, I've had pizza on the mind. The crust is key, I don't have to tell you that, so my sis and I decided to take it to the grill and see what we got. It turns out we got something REALLY tasty. It was so good that we made it for lunch and dinner today. So here is the recipe and how we did it. The beauty of pizza is that you can add whatever you want on top, so we went to town.

Dough:
1 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp sugar

Toppings:

any combo of cheeses
delicious veggies
mushrooms
tomatoes
whatever your heart desires

In a mixing bowl or food processor with dough blade combine flours, salt, sugar and yeast. Add olive oil to measuring cup of water. Pour water slowly into dry ingredients while stirring or while food processor is on. Stir until dough forms and it comes away from the sides of the bowl. If it doesn't, add more flour or water accordingly. Flatten the dough ball a little on the bottom of the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap closely over the dough. Let is sit for 2 hours (or overnight). When it has doubled in size, punch it, remove it from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and form four small balls. Flatten into 5 in diameter disks, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then flatten into desired thickness for the pizza. Heat up the grill (we have a gas grill so we cooked it at 450 degrees F). Make sure the disks are floured enough so they can slide off the surface and onto the grill (we used a small cutting board). Slide the dough onto the grill, close the grill, and cook for about 3 minutes checking to see if brown grill marks are forming. Remove from grill and turn over. Brush the grilled side with garlic olive oil (olive oil and garlic powder for those of us less sophisticated). Then put on any toppings you chose. I suggest: first layer of sliced tomatoes, second layer combo of cheese (i used fontina, gruyere, and goat cheese), next grilled onions, mushrooms, spinach, and sun dried tomatoes). Then cover and cook for about 2 more minutes, until cheese has melted. It's best to use tongs to maneuver the pizzas. Take off the grill and enjoy!

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