Delish By Holly

All I can say is hooray…. The rain went away and it was a perfect evening to throw some homemade pizza’s on the bbq. Pizza is my son’s absolute favorite food and when I make homemade pizza he’s usually got dibs on about half of it, or 1 individual sized (see photo). My hubby was traveling today so I thought it would be fun to make pizza’s with the kids as our evening activity and because it’s so muggy today (I feel like I’m back in the midwest) what better place to cook them than on our bbq. It’s no fun to be in my kitchen with the oven on. Pizza is SOOOOO easy and it tastes much better than pretty much any pizza you can order in, or buy from the store. One side note though…. The best pizza in the world comes from Chicago (where I grew up) and I haven’t been able to compete at that level yet, but I will keep trying. I had some help with my pizza from a certain 4 year old so I had some shape issues transferring it from the pan to the grill. That’s why there are 2 photos.

If you have a bread machine make the pizza dough in it. I made a 2lb loaf of pizza dough which was as follows and took 1:40. A 2lb loaf will make 3 good sized pizzas or 6-8 individual size.

1 1/3 c room temp water

1 t. sugar or honey

2 t. salt

2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 c. Bread Flour (I like High Gluten flour)

2 1/4 t. Bread Machine Yeast

Holly’s Pizza Toppings:

1/4 lb sweet pork italian sausage (out of the casing), sauteed in a little EVOO

1/2 sweet yellow onion thinly sliced and sauteed until carmelized

12 slices of GOOD pepperoni

2-3 T Ricotta cheese

1/2 c. marinara (jarred is fine just use Newman’s or something else organic)

Dash of Salt and Pepper

As much Mozzarella cheese as you like.

Remove dough and cut in half or 1/4 depending on what size pizza you want. Form into whatever shape you want as long as it’s semi even in depth with the edges a little thicker to hold the toppings. Make sure you don’t tear the dough when shaping, that means it’s too thin. Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet to add remaining toppings. Spread with sauce, then meat, then spoon very small teaspoons of ricotta in mounds all over pizza. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little oregano depending on how well your sauce is seasoned. Top with Mozzarella and lastly add onions.

You want your BBQ to be at about 350-375 and to cook the pizza with the lid closed. The easiest thing is to leave the pizza on the cookie sheet and put right on the bbq rack for the first 5-10 minutes until the crust is crispy enough to move without making a mess. Then transfer (gently) the pizza to the rack on the grill and cook another 10 minutes or until the pizza is done.

On another note: The pizza I made for myself was probably equivalent to a large at a restaurant and all ingredients cost me about $7 to make this and I buy the best ingredients at my local market, so it’s not only better tasting but WAY better for your wallet too!

Hope you get a chance to try it. And if you have any revisions or new things you try that you like I’d love to hear about them. Now I’m pondering what kind of pizza would be good for breakfast!!! Hmmmm I might be onto something, and I’ll do anything to get my son to eat more!

Enjoy!