Grilled Pizza Dough

We made pizza on the grill tonight for the first time, and it was sooooo good.  It's a bit hard to get the hang of, because once the dough goes on the grill then everything moves really really fast and you have to be ready with the sauce and toppings and oil and whatnot in a well-choreographed little dance, BUT it is pretty easy once you master it and totally worth one or two screw-ups to get right.  I modified Alton Brown's dough recipe a little and came up with this, which was so so so good.  (If I do say so myself)

Grilled Pizza Dough


Nouns-
16 ounces all purpose flour
1 ounce gluten flour
10 ounces warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing on the dough later
1 tbsp molasses

Verbs-
Add the flour and yeast to the bowl of your mixer.  Using the dough hook attachment, mix the flour and yeast, then add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.  Then, turn the mixer up to medium speed and knead for fifteen minutes.  If your dough is too stringy or sticky, add a little more gluten flour and knead a few more minutes.  If you can pinch off a piece of dough and stretch it thin between your fingers until it becomes translucent, then it's ready.

Scoop the dough out of the mixer and put it a bowl coated with olive oil, turning the dough a few times to coat it.  Let it sit, covered, at room temperature for about an hour, or until doubled in size.  Then, cut the dough into three equal pieces.  Take each piece and pat it into a ball.  Alton Brown says to form a disc, then roll into a ball and then roll it around on the counter for a while until it forms a "round".  I'm not really sure what all that's about, but I did roll mine around on the counter for a bit before patting them into a rounds and putting on a tray and covering them with a tea towel for another forty-five minutes.  That seemed to go pretty well.  Or, if you are not using the dough right away, then put wrap your dough ball sin plastic wrap and stash them n the fridge for use for up to a week.  Be sure to give them time to come to room temp after you take them back out, though.

If you are using the dough right away, now is a good time to start your grill or get your charcoal going.  It is lame to have the dough all ready and no fire.  If you have fire, then take one of your dough balls and roll it out to about 14 inches in diameter, turning and stretching the dough between each roll.  Then, put the rolled-out dough on a lightly floured pizza peel or if you are fancy like me, the back of a cookie sheet.  Oil the top side of the dough really well with olive oil.  Oil your grill really well, too, with a clean kitchen rag covered in olive oil and held safely with grill tongs, and not with some undeniably macho but unfortunately burn-y hands-on method. Then flip the dough, oils-side down onto the grill.  On a hot grill, it will be only a minute or two before the dough is ready to be flipped.  In that minute or two, you need to oil the top side of the dough, again, carefully and using a basting brush held in your grill tongs, and not using your hands.  When you flip the dough, be speedy on the spot with your sauce, toppings and cheese of choice.  Then, close the lid on your grill for another minute or two, which should be enough to melt the cheese.  (Note- if your toppings need more than that long to cook, precook them a bit, then put them on)

After a minute or two, your pizza should be ready, and you should be very very happy, because your pizza is going to be delicious.