How To: Grilled Pizza

Adam and I have a new obsession. No, but really. And it involves the grill, surprise, surprise.

It could just be pent up not-being-able-to-grill frustration from the past three years. But that is neither here nor there, and I'm not going to be the one to speculate on that.

Grilled Pizza.

Oh, I'm sure you've heard of it, or maybe even tried it at a restaurant. It's one of those new-fangled fads going around. For a good reason.

Of course it's super tasty, because let's face it, what pizza isn't? But it's also super easy to make. Especially when you use already-made dough. No, not the pre-packaged nasty stuff hanging out in the bakery area -- refrigerated pizza dough. The kind you get at Trader Joe's for a whopping $0.99. Um, can't really beat that.

So how do we go about making our own delectable grilled pizza at home?

First things first. You have to decide what kind of pizza you want. Sure you can go with the good ol' stand-bys of cheese, or pepperoni, or mushroom... but you might as well pick up the phone and order it from your local delivery guy if you're going to go that route. Start thinking, and get creative!

We decided to go simple with this one, and use up leftovers we had hanging out in the fridge: basil, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, garlic, Romano cheese, Mozzarella cheese, and my personal favorite -- goat cheese.

After you get your ingredients figured out, let your dough rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before working with it. While that's coming to temperature, get that grill going. You can use a chimney to start you off, but you don't have to. The end goal is to have the grill nice and hot (or go for medium-high if you have a gas grill).

Meanwhile, prep those ingredients! Keep in mind that your ingredients need to be "eating-ready" before they go on the pizza. Basically -- the grill isn't going to cook the ingredients, so they need to be cooked (if needed) beforehand. For our choice of ingredients, this involved giving the mushrooms and garlic a little sauteing over medium heat for about 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms were tender and just starting to release liquid. Make sure to grate any cheese and slice any herbs or veggies as well.

Once the grill is nice and hot and ready to go, it's time to play with the dough.

Item's you'll need:
Parchment paper
Lots of olive oil
Flour
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Pizza Dough
Pizza pan/peel (or Christmas cookie plate, don't judge)

Lay out a large sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour. Place your dough on the parchment paper and start rolling out with a lightly floured rolling pin. It doesn't really matter if the pizza is a perfect circle or not, as long as the dough is a nice uniform 1/4" by the time you're done.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil across the dough, then brush out so the entire side is covered in oil. Carefully flip dough onto an oiled cookie plate pizza pan. Brush the other side of the dough with another 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Now comes the fun part. Get everything ready to go outside by your grill.

If you've oiled your plate and dough well enough, you should be able to slide the dough right off the plate onto your clean grill rack. If not, you can always flip it on to the grill as well.

Grill for 90 seconds - 2 minutes, or until nice brown marks are left.

Using a spatulas and tongs, remove the dough back to the re-oiled pizza pan, doughy side down.

Brush a coat of olive oil over the top of the dough (or add your sauce), then top away. Even if your next best table is a couple of stacked patio chairs. Doesn't matter, it will still taste amazing in the end -- promise.

Slide your pizza back onto the grill, cover, and cook for another 1:30-2 minutes, or until dark brown marks appear on the bottom of the dough. Transfer back onto pizza pan, slice, and serve!

Just trust me on this one. Once you start making your own pizza, you'll never go back. Especially when you remember that Pizza Hut doesn't make Pierogie pizza, or Spicy Vodka Sauce with Banana Peppers and Hot Italian Sausage pizza, or... you get the idea.

This may quite possibly be a weekly event for us. No lie. It really is that good.