Grilled Thin Crust Pizza

Last night we had a wonderful day to sit outside and eat a grilled pizza. The weather cooperated and had our first patio dinner of the season........yay!!!!

The Nudge loves his pizza with a thin crust. It isn't easy to make a thin crust pizza on the grill without burning the bottom too much. After many tries and many pizzas I finally figured out the secret to grilling a thinner crust pizza.

Two things you have to remember....in the oven a yeasted crust will continue to rise unless you have a brick in there and you can set your oven to 500 degrees without the smoke detectors going off. The key is to pop that crust on the stone and immediately kill the yeast.

On a grill you need to treat that dough the same way you would in an oven.
That means careful placement of your coals and a two-way technique.

Place your coals in a pile in the middle of your grill. Once the dough is rolled out thin and placed on a cornmeal coated pizza peal, slide it directly over the coals. Once it gets some browning on the bottom (rotate for even cooking) remove and place browned side up.

Decorate the crust with whatever ingredients floats your boat, and remember to place the cheese on top.
Why?
The top will get the most heat and you need to melt that cheese as fast as possible or the crust, no matter where you place it will get crunchier as the time goes.

To "bake" a pizza on a coal grill, place the coals in either the configuration above or on either side.
Want to know why I set it up towards the back of the grill and not on the sides?

I actually have a good reason for that. Once you put the top on and open the holes, the heat is drawn up to the holes. Having all the coals in one spot and putting the holes on the lid at the other end will draw up more heat. If you split the coals in half it doesn't get as hot. I have tried it both ways and there is a difference.

Now if you are using a gas grill just shut off the sides or front & back burners and place the pizza over a non heated spot. I do know that a propane grill can be cranked up to 600 degrees so you don't have to coax the heat out of it like you would a coal grill.

Once the pizza is done, place it on a board, cut it into pieces and eat it right off the board. The only leaning you have to do is the peel, the board and the cutter.

You will never bake a pizza in your oven in the summer again.

(For a foolproof dough recipe, go here).