Grilled Pizza

I’ve definitely had my fill of delivery pizza, after living in a dorm room and having it be a weekly (if not more often) occurrence. Something I used to think of as a special treat, I would now always rather have it homemade. It does require more effort, but if you make the dough and sauce ahead, you can assemble your pizzas and have them cooked in no time. The ultimate comfort food, it is made infinitely better when grilled on the barbecue. These take less than 10 minutes to cook and taste like they’ve come out of a wood oven – putting Pizza Pizza to shame. 

Makes 8 small pizzas

Ingredients:

Dough:
(The dough recipe I used is from a Food Network cooking magazine)
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:
(This will probably be too much for the pizzas, feel free to make a bit less or just freeze the leftovers)
One 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped basil
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
A pinch (each) of dried oregano and parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:
(This is what I used but feel free to choose anything you would like)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium ball of mozzarella, grated
1/2 cup olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
Arugula
Chili flakes
Salt
Grated parmesan (optional)

1. Fill a bowl with 1/2 cup warm water and mix in the yeast and sugar. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes or until bubbly on top2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Pour in the olive oil and yeast mixture and mix until well combined.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Oil the bottom of a bowl and place the dough in, covering with plastic. Let sit in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. 4. To make the sauce, heat some olive oil in a sauce pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, until softened, then add tomatoes, herbs and chilli flakes. Bring to a simmer, stirring often and breaking up tomatoes with the spoon, then season with salt and pepper
5. Divide the dough into 8 parts and roll out, as thinly as possible, on a floured surface. Place the crusts on a pizza sheet, or baking sheet. They are too thin to place on the barbecue when weighed down by toppings, they’ll go right through the slots of the grill (that’s where my first one went!)6. Spread crusts with sauce, cheese and any toppings you would like. 7. Grill, covered, on a preheated barbecue, at about 400-500 degrees until crust is browned and cheese is melted, about 7 – 8 minutes. 8. Take off the grill and top with arugula, salt, chilli flakes and grated parmesan. Enjoy!