It’s two of our greatest loves combined!
During the Coronavirus crisis it’s fair to say that we’ve found our salvation in food. Whether it’s been baking banana bread, cooking big roasts or simply daydreaming about ordering takeaway, food is always guaranteed to cheer us up.
And with summer now officially here (yes, we’re of the ‘it starts on May 1’ mindset) we’re looking forward to keeping the barbecue lit for the next couple of months.
If you fancy upping your barbecue game to new and even more delicious levels, we challenge you to try BBQ pizza. And, no, that doesn’t just mean pizza with barbecue sauce – it means using your outdoor grill to cook a pizza. We’re already drooling at the thoughts of the flavours that would produce…
Barbecuing pizza does require the use of some expert equipment, however: you’ll need to get yourself a barbecue stone from the likes of BBQ experts Weber. Below, they’ve shared a recipe for making pizza with tomato sauces from scratch, as well as instructions for barbecuing it to perfection…
Makes three 12-inch pizzas
INGREDIENTS
Tomato sauce:
400g tinned tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp oregano, dried
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper
Dough:
550g plain flour
1 tsp instant dried yeast
1 tsp, caster sugar
2 tsp, salt
350ml, warm water (43-46 degrees)
3 tbsp, extra virgin olive oil
Topping:
Plain flour for dusting
125ml of your homemade sauce
85-115g of fresh mozzarella, sliced
3-4 tbsp grated pecorino cheese
5/6 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Flavour bomb your pizza with combinations:
Mushrooms and garlic – 150g of chestnut / button mushrooms sautéed in advance with 2 finely chopped garlic cloves and 1 tsp of fresh rosemary.
Artichoke and olive – 50g of well drained and coarsely chopped artichoke hearts, 50g olives chopped and pitted, sprinkle with 1 tsp of oregano and pecorino
Gruyere and pesto – 4oz of grated Gruyere with 4 tablespoons of store-bought pesto into 10 small mounds on the pizza, sprinkle with pecorino
METHOD
The dough:
In a mixing bowl, whisk the warm water, yeast, sugar and oil and let stand until frothy. Stir in the flour and salt until a stiff dough forms. On a work surface, kneed the dough by hand for 5-8 minutes until it’s smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with film or towel. Leave in a warm place for 2 hours to rise.
Then cut dough into 3 parts, place on baking tray and leave to rise for 1 more hour.
Sauce and ingredients:
Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and voila, you now have marinara sauce!
Assembly:
Slice and dice your toppings so they’re ready in advance.
Prepare your gas / charcoal BBQ for indirect heat of 260 degrees. Place your pizza stone on the BBQ grates to heat up for at least 15 minutes with the lid closed.
Lightly flour your hands and start stretching your dough to 20-23cm in size. Pick up the dough at one edge with both hands, spacing your hands apart and rotate the dough in one direction, as if turning a wheel until you have a uniformly thin round. Position the dough on a floured board and stretch into place. Start spreading your homemade sauce and cover with desired ingredients leaving 1cm of the border uncovered.
At the BBQ:
Quickly slide off the pizza from the board onto the hot stone. Close the lid and cook for 7-9 minutes until pizza bottom is crispy, check the base after 5 minutes. If the pizza is browning quickly, use tongs to rotate 180 degrees.
Once done, remove from BBQ with tongs, back to a board, slice and serve hot!
