Indie Ogden DIY: Grilled Pizza

When its hot outside, the last thing I want to do is heat up my oven. I look to my grill as a great way to get some respite from the kitchen, and recently I tried to explain to a friend how to make pizza on the grill. I generally get a look of confusion and/or disgust when I say grilled pizza, so being a visual person myself, I decided some pictures and an Indie Ogden DIY might help!

Step One: Assemble all of your ingredients and place them close to the grill. Heat your grill to a medium high heat. We are going to be working FAST here so everything needs to be close at hand.

Stretch out your pizza dough nice and thin on an oiled sheet of parchment paper. Does it have to be parchment? Yes. This is important, especially if you are trying this for the first time. You can find parchment paper at almost any grocery store in the area.  Your pizza crust will need to be “flipped” onto the grill, so the paper makes this easy on you. Wax paper will stick to your dough and catch on fire, Aluminum foil will get hot and burn you… don’t even try it.

Step Two: Your dough is stretched nice and thin on a well oiled sheet of parchment, right? Flip the sheet over on the grill; your dough should stick quickly to the grill and begin cooking, and your parchment should peel right off. Discard the parchment and get excited, here comes the fun part.

Step Three: Watch your crust bottom for burning, however cook well- you do not want to flip your crust before its ready or you will end up with an uncooked pizza. This bottom crust becomes the top, where your toppings will go. Rotate the crust if hot spots are uneven and one side is getting more browned than others. When your crust is good and crispy to your personal tastes, flip and IMMEDIATELY….

Step Four: Pile on the Toppings! We need to work fast here. Sauce, cheese, veggies, whatever you like: the key with grilled pizza is not to go overboard. Too much cheese will take a long time to melt, by which time you could have a charred pizza. When your toppings are on, close the lid to your grill and peek, rotate as needed for hot spots, and just marvel at the delicious magic.

Tip for getting off the grill: Your pizza should not stick, so the easiest way to get it off the grill is to slide a spatula under one corner and slide a baking sheet under.

Bonus tips: This is my favorite pizza crust recipe, but if you are not into making your own, Winco sells pre-made pizza crust dough (in the refrigerated cheese section) for around $2.00 that will make you two to three large pizzas.
These make fabulous “personal pizzas” and would be amazingly fun for a party, but watch little ones around the hot grill.

In about 10 minutes total you have a rocking, crispy doughy delicious meal, and you didn’t use your stove once!