Spelt Pizza on the Grill

Last weekend, I visited a friend who had never tried grilled pizza. It just so happened, that I needed to make some pizza for the Grain Mill Wagon Challenge so he was the lucky recipient of Margherita Spelt Pizza on the grill.

 

The dough for this pizza is made completely with Spelt flour. I used a mixture of all-purpose Spelt flour and whole grain spelt flour that I milled in my grain mill. I also added some herbs to give the dough a boost in flavor. I had tried this with the Pepperoni Braid I made a few months ago and it really made a difference.

For the toppings, I used fresh tomatoes and basil from my garden, and fresh mozzarella. I also added some pizza sauce and Italian herbs. It was a delightful combination and my friend really enjoyed it. In fact, he liked it so much that he graciously accepted the leftover pizza.

I used his gas grill which is a little bit different from mine but it was really easy to use. He got the grill going and then sat back and watched me do my thing. That was fine by me. When I’m in my zone, I’m all over the place preparing the dough, taking photos, dancing around and you get the picture. It was probably best that he stayed out of the way. 

I brought my pizza stone, but it didn’t fit on his grill (because I brought the round one instead of the rectangular one) so we decided to grill the pizza directly on the grates. This is actually the way you are supposed to do it, but it’s tricky if you don’t have a work space near the grill. He doesn’t so I placed the pizza on parchment paper and transferred it to the grill with my pizza peel. Now if you’re more proficient with a pizza peel than I am, you probably could transfer it directly from the peel to the grates without the parchment paper. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of that (the dough always sticks to the peel) so I grilled the pizza (on the parchment paper) on the grates for a few minutes, then I removed the parchment paper to get the nice grill marks.

If you want to learn more about this grilled pizza, check out my Making Pizza Margherita on the Grill post on the Grain Mill Wagon.  This was my final post in the challenge. I had a lot of fun.

 

 

Happy Grilling!

Cathy

Grilled Pizza Margherita

I’ve been on a grilling kick so I decided to continue the trend with this Pizza Margherita.  I was supposed to make Focaccia con Formaggio with the rest of the Ciabatta dough (like the other Mellow Bakers did), but I didn’t have any Ricotta Cheese.  Not to mention the fact that my 30+ tomato plants and basil plants have been calling for me to make something with them besides salsa and marinara. So I decided to make use of them and the dough in this pizza.  

I know you’ve been waiting to find out what I planned to do with the other two dough balls from my Grilled Herb Focaccia post so here you go.

 

Grilled Pizza Marguerite Recipe

Makes: 2 pizzas

Dough:

• 2 dough balls (1 pound each) from pizza dough of your choice. I used the rest of the Ciabatta dough from the Grilled Herb Focaccia.
• Extra-virgin olive oil (to spread on the dough before grilling)

 

Toppings:

• Sliced fresh tomatoes (I used heirloom tomatoes from my garden)
• Fresh basil
• Sliced Mozzarella Cheese
• Crushed tomatoes
• Dried thyme and oregano (or your choice of herbs)
• Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

Directions:

Take the dough balls out of the refrigerator and let them warm up to room temperature.  I spread the dough balls out on parchment paper, covered them with plastic wrap and let them rest on the counter while I prepared the grill.

 

I placed a pizza stone on the grates and turned the outside burners of my gas grill to high.  The I closed the lid to let it preheat to at least 450 degrees. The photo is a little fuzzy but you get the picture, right?  I had never used my baking stone on the grill before.  I think I thought it might crack, but then I decided if you could use the baking stone in a 500 degree oven, it should work on the grill, right?

 

I transferred the dough to the grate using a pizza peel. Then I par baked the dough for 5 minutes or so before adding the toppings.  I left the parchment paper on for the first few minutes but then I removed it so the bottom would finish baking.

I forgot to make slits in the dough so it puffed up like a balloon.  It was pretty funny.  I had to carefully make slits with a fork to deflate the dough.

 

I removed the pizza from the grill and added the toppings.  First, I spread it with crushed tomatoes and sprinkled it with thyme and oregano and salt and pepper.  Then I added the sliced mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and basil. 

 

Then I carefully returned the pizza to the grill using a pizza peel and grilled it just until the toppings were cooked and the cheese was melted.  We waited until it cooled just a bit before slicing and eating. We tried to be patient, but it’s really hard when a pizza is just sitting there waiting to be devoured.

 

This grilled pizza was really good.  I forgot to drizzle the dough with the olive oil. I think it would’ve helped the flavor and texture of the dough if I had done that before grilling it; however, my BF said it was great – awesome actually!

I liked the process and how easy it was to grill it.  It tasted good, particularly the tomatoes and the fresh basil. It’s fun to eat fresh from your garden.

 

Mellow Bakers was started by Paul at Yumarama. We’ve been baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.

 

Thanks for visiting the Bread Experience blog.  I hope you’ll join me again soon.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Grilled Pizza Margherita

Another one of the breads on the Mellow Bakers' menu this month is Pizza.  I love pizza and was really excited about trying this one.  I got the opportunity this past weekend when I was invited to a get together with some friends. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to make this pizza dough. It's really hot here these days so I decided to grill it instead of heating up their house.

I chose Pizza Margherita because of it's simplicity. It's basically just uncooked crushed tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. The original pizza was created by an Italian baker from Naples in honor of Queen Margherita.   The red, white, and green ingredients were his homage to the Italian flag.  We had it as an appetizer while the main course was being prepared.  The simple ingredients and the fast preparation worked out really well.

The Pizza Dough is made using the formula on page 273 of Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.


Making the Pizza Dough

I started the process by making a biga of bread flour, water and yeast.  I let the biga sit on the counter for about 15 1/2 hours.

After the biga had rested sufficiently, I mixed all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl (except the biga and the olive oil). You can use a mixer but I mixed it by hand using my danish dough whisk. 

Then, I added the biga in small chunks. Well, my biga was not that firm, it was more like little blobs than chunks.  This was probably because it was much hotter than 70 degrees in my house.

Drizzle the olive oil over the dough and continue mixing until the dough is supple.  I mixed this part with my hands.  The dough was squishy between my fingers.

 

After I had incorporated the olive oil, I transferred the dough to the counter and kneaded it for about 5 minutes.

Then placed the dough in an oiled bowl and covered it with plastic.

And let the dough ferment for a few hours.

I folded the dough after about an hour of bulk fermentation.

Then, I let the dough ferment for another hour at home and transported it in the bowl.  The dough actually fermented for close to 3 hours rather than 2 hours.

Once we got to our friends house, I divided the dough into two balls and let them rest on the counter for about 20 minutes.   I would normally use parchment paper in the oven on the baking stone, but since I was going to grill the pizza, I put the dough balls on greased aluminum foil instead.

Grilling the Pizza Margherita

At this point, I followed the instructions for the grilled Queen Margherita Pizza.  The recipe is from Pizza on the Grill by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup uncooked grits or polenta, for rolling the dough (I didn't need this since I used aluminum foil).
• 1 ball of prepared pizza dough, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup Crushed Tomato Sauce (recipe follows)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (or 1 cup grated)  I used packed mozzarella because that is what I had.
• 10 fresh basil leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  

   

Crushed Tomato Sauce:

• 1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes with or without basil, undrained.
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pour the crushed tomatoes into a small nonreactive metal or glass bowl.  Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Drain the excess liquid from the tomatoes and discard.

Directions for grilling the pizza:

Preheat a gas grill by setting all of the burners to high, then close the lid and leave on high for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat of all the burners to medium.

Roll out and shape the dough.  Drizzle or spread 1 tablespoon of oil on each side of the dough. I used my fingers to spread one of the dough balls into a shape that would fit the aluminum foil.  I probably should've spread it out a bit thinner, but there wasn't enough room to spread it out anymore.

Then I took it outside using my handy-dandy pizza peel.  I just love this peel!  It's very versatile and easy to use.  It keeps me from getting burned when making pizzas in the oven or on the grill and it folds for easy storage.

Grill the first side of the pizza until the bottom is well marked and nicely browned. 

Use tongs or a pizza peel to flip the pizza. If you grill directly on the grate, you'll get nice grate marks, but I used aluminum foil so I didn't get the grate marks.

Spread the entire surface with the sauce, sprinkle with the garlic, and top with the cheese.

I put all of the toppings on the pizza and started to grill it,

but then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to add the basil yet.  So I took the basil off and finished grilling the pizza until the cheese had melted and the crust was done.

Then I removed it from the grill, and garnished it with more basil and some salt and pepper.  Then you're supposed to slice and serve immediately.  That was not a problem...

because everyone was chomping at the bit to eat the pizza.  In fact, I didn't get anymore photos, but it sure was good!


Happy Baking!
Cathy


The Mellow Bakers group was started by Paul at Yumarama. We’re baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.

Grilled BBQ Pizza with Whole Wheat Olive Oil Dough: HBinFive

I saved the best for last. For the final bread of the March 1st bread braid, we were supposed to make Southwestern Focaccia with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese; however, I opted to make pizza instead.  Read on to find out why.

The Healthy Bread In Five Minutes’ book provides several dough options for making the Southwestern Focaccia.  One option is to use Mesquite Dough made with a mixture of Mesquite flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and corn masa. Well, when I found out about mesquite flour, that just put this Focaccia over the top for me.  I just couldn’t see making this bread with any other dough besides the Mesquite dough.  I haven’t found Mesquite Flour (yet) so I decided to wait and make the Focaccia when I do find it.  The recipe also calls for roasted corn so I thought it would be awesome to wait until I can get some fresh corn and roast it on the grill.  If I can wait that long, that is…

Some of the other bakers in the group decided to make pizza with the whole wheat dough. I thought that was a great idea! I decided to grill the pizza rather than baking it on a baking stone like I usually do because it was beautiful day in Atlanta yesterday and I just wanted to be outside.  Of course, by the time I got around to grilling it, it was a little bit nippy but still sunny.

I’ve also been wanting to try some of the recipes in my Pizza on the Grill Cookbook and I thought this dough would be perfect.  I even got to use my handy foldable pizza peel.  This is the main reason I got this particular pizza peel in the first place.  It has a longer handle and it’s metal (the peel not the handle) so I thought it would be good for all the grilled pizza I plan to make.  This is only the second time I’ve grilled pizza, but based on the results, I’ll be doing this more.

Grilled Barbeque Pizza with Whole Wheat and Olive Oil Dough

Recipe adapted from Pizza on the Grill by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer.
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Ingredients:

• 1 large boneless, skinless, chicken breast (about 12 ounces) or any sliced cooked chicken breast. I used grilled chicken tenders.
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup uncooked grits or polenta, for rolling the dough.
• 1 ball prepared pizza dough, at room temperature. I used Healthy Bread in Fives Minutes Whole Wheat with Olive Oil dough, but you can use any pizza dough.)
• 1/4 cup Barbeque sauce
• 1 cup grated smoked mozzarella.  (I just used regular mozzarella.)
• 1 cup grated Colby jack cheese.  (I opted not to use this cheese even though I had some.)
• 1/2 medium red onion, cut 1/8 inch thick and separate into rings.
• 1/2 bell pepper (any color), halved, seeded, and cut into very thin strips. (I used a red bell pepper.)
• BBQ rub or red pepper flakes. (We just added more BBQ sauce instead of using the rub.)
  

 

Directions:

If you’re not using leftover chicken, then you’ll want to grill the chicken before you make the pizza. 

Preheating the grill

For a gas grill, set all the burners to high.  Close the lid and leave on high for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat of all the burners to medium.

Brush the chicken breast (or tenders) with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place the chicken on the cooking grate directly over the heat and grill until no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes, turning once halfway through.  Set aside until just ready to use, then cut into 1/4-inch thick strips.

Shaping the Pizza

For this pizza, I made up another 1/2 batch of the 100% whole wheat and olive oil dough using Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour this time instead of freshly milled whole wheat flour. I let it ferment for a few hours, then refrigerated it overnight.

When I was ready to make the pizza the next day, I shaped the dough into two balls and let them rest on the counter while I was grilling the chicken.

Then, I shaped the pizza by stretching it out with my hands, pressing it out from the center against the work surface. You’re supposed to make a 12-inch, organically shaped piece of dough – round, square, or rectangular – 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; however, I made it in the shape to fit my pizza peel to make it easier to handle – or so I hoped. Then I brushed both sides of the dough generously with oil. I was really getting into the whole process so I forgot to take a picture of this part. 

Grilling the Pizza

The instructions say to pick up the dough by the two corners closet to you and in one motion, lay it down flat on the cooking grate from back to front (as you would set a tablecloth down on a table). This was a little bit tricky.  I used the pizza peel to transfer the dough to the grill and then placed it as carefully as I could. Since I needed three hands for this already, I didn’t get a photo.  

Close the lid and grill for 3 minutes (no peeking!), then check the crust and, if necessary, continue grilling a few more minutes until the bottom is well marked and nicely browned.>



Use tongs to transfer the crust from the grill to a peel or rimless baking sheet.  Close the lid of the grill.  Flip the crust to reveal the grilled side.



Then, brush the entire surface with the BBQ sauce.  For the first pizza, I used some BBQ sauce I got in San Antonio the last time I was there on business. I didn’t have quite enough for two pizzas so I used some hickory smoked BBQ sauce as well.  My sons and I decided it tastes better with the Hickory or other smoked flavor.  I used that on the second pizza and the flavors worked together much better.
Top with the chicken and sprinkle with the cheeses. Arrange the onion rings and all of the bell pepper over the cheese.



Switch the grill to indirect heat by turning off the center burner(s) if you have a three- or four-burner grill.  For a two-burner grill, turn off one burner.  I have a three-burner grill so I turned off the center burner. 
Set the pizza back on the grate over indirect heat (the unlit section) and grill, with the lid down, until the bottom is well browned and the cheese is melted, 7 to 10 minutes.



Remove from the grill, sprinkle with the BBQ rub, and season with salt and pepper.



We added extra BBQ sauce instead of the rub and pepper flakes.  Although I’m sure my sons would’ve loved the pepper flakes, I kind of forgot.



Slice and serve immediately.  Not that I needed any urging to do that.



I thought this pizza tasted wonderful, particularly since it had a whole wheat crust. My oldest son just shook his head up and down when he took a bite – that’s a good thing!  When I told him it was 100% whole wheat, he said, “I don’t taste it!”  Another good thing.

My youngest son ate dinner at a friend’s house so he didn’t try it until later.  When I asked him how he liked it, he said “it was awesome!”  It was then I told him that the crust was 100% whole wheat.  He was very surprised and had a pleasant smile on his face. He told me it’s the best pizza I’ve made yet and “it’s grilled”. Something about guys and grills I guess.

I baked the other pizza on the pizza stone in the oven to compare and there was a big difference.  The flavor of the whole wheat was definitely stronger.  The baked version was really good, but the grilled pizza just blended all the flavors together much better.




There were a couple of things I liked better about the baked version, however.  For one, I added more BBQ sauce and used only the hickory-smoked which gave it a big flavor burst. I also put all the toppings (chicken, onions, and peppers) under the cheese.  It definitely had a better flavor.

My sons and I loved this pizza. I don’t know that it’s the best pizza I’ve made, but I do think we have a winner here.  Hey!  When you can get your 20-year old and 17-year old sons to eat something that is good for them, it’s definitely a good thing.  I’ll be making this one again.

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  Check out Michelle's blog to see what everyone else baked for the March 1st bread braid.




About the HBinFive Baking Group
The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the  Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the new HBinFive baking group, check out Michelle's blog.





Happy Baking!
Cathy

Here are some additional bread-making resources:

• Pizza Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Bread Cookbooks
• Bread Making
• Baking Supplies
• Bread Flour
• Bread Mixes

You might enjoy some of the other breads that have been featured in the bread making blog.