Grilled pizza help!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Captain Morgan

Chef Extraordinaire
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
14,162
Location
Myrtle Beach
got my first pizza stone, planning the first cook for Sunday.

got any advice? In particular, I need a good sauce recipe, or
do you prefer sliced or crushed tomatoes?

any toppings that work better on the grill?

thanks for any ideas.
 
Captain Morgan said:
got my first pizza stone, planning the first cook for Sunday.

got any advice? In particular, I need a good sauce recipe, or
do you prefer sliced or crushed tomatoes?

any toppings that work better on the grill?

thanks for any ideas.

I like Barilla spaghetti sauce. I brush olive oil on the exposed crust to make it crispy. I precook the sausage or pepperoni so it will be crisp.
 
We make a lot of pizzas on the grill. I usually take a small yellow onion and grate half of it and them sweat it with a minced garlic clove in a little olive oil in a sauce pan. Then I add a can of either tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and then simmer it with a little sugar, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper, etc. Basically, I just add a little of this, a little of that...tasting as I go and adjusting as needed. I don't measure and it turns out a little different every time....but always better than any store bought sauce.

Are you using a Weber kettle? Do you have a WSM? If so, here's how I do things...if you want to give it a try.

Take the charcoal ring from the WSM and put it on the charcoal grate of the kettle. Then put 1 layer of unlit around the outside of the ring. Dump a full chimney of lit on the unlit. Put a couple of fire bricks on the grill grate and put the stone on top of them (you want to raise the stone up some so it's closer to the top of the kettle and the radiant heat will cook the toppings faster and at the same rate as the crust). Let the stone preheat for at least a half an hour before putting the pizza on. 10-20 minutes later (depending on how hot things get) it's done!

Thought I had some pics of my setup but can't find them. Here's one from someone over at TVWBB.

pizza1.jpg
 
Bertolli makes a nice Arrabbiata spicy tomato & red pepper sauce that's pretty good. You can find it in the pasta isle with the other spaghetti sauces. Do the same as 3 Olives for the rest of the prep. Good luck Captain. Try a little apple wood on the fire, too. We really like the flavor it gives pizzas.

Just saw Don's post on this after posting mine. Go with Don's suggestion. Going to try that myself. :D
 
I would love to try some homemade Pizza, Do you have to have a stone? I've seen a recipe where you cook the crust on direct heat on the grill with no stone. Was like 3-4 min. then flip ad sauce cook another 3-4 min. then cover with lid on indirect about 5 min.
 
Don Cash said:
We make a lot of pizzas on the grill. I usually take a small yellow onion and grate half of it and them sweat it with a minced garlic clove in a little olive oil in a sauce pan. Then I add a can of either tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes and then simmer it with a little sugar, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper, etc. Basically, I just add a little of this, a little of that...tasting as I go and adjusting as needed. I don't measure and it turns out a little different every time....but always better than any store bought sauce.

Are you using a Weber kettle? Do you have a WSM? If so, here's how I do things...if you want to give it a try.

Take the charcoal ring from the WSM and put it on the charcoal grate of the kettle. Then put 1 layer of unlit around the outside of the ring. Dump a full chimney of lit on the unlit. Put a couple of fire bricks on the grill grate and put the stone on top of them (you want to raise the stone up some so it's closer to the top of the kettle and the radiant heat will cook the toppings faster and at the same rate as the crust). Let the stone preheat for at least a half an hour before putting the pizza on. 10-20 minutes later (depending on how hot things get) it's done!

Thought I had some pics of my setup but can't find them. Here's one from someone over at TVWBB.

pizza1.jpg

That's a hell of a great idea Don. Got to take that one for a test drive as soon as I get more unglazed tile. Concrete walks and tile don't mix. :( :oops:

PIgs
 
I tried many different methods with pizza's and failed at some and finally began and continued to have success, simply cooking them directly on the grate with no stone.
 
Now the real secret here is using homemade sauce. That's probably why Larry's have failed in the past! :LOL: You have to get the heat up towards the 500* mark. They will cook up in about 8 - 10 minutes if the stone is heated all the way up. Heat it slowly so it doesn't crack. One of my favorite toppings is potatoes, as crazy as it sounds, they are great!
 
I have to agree with everyone. Pre-heating the stone is key. Might even want to throw some lump in there with the briquettes to get a little extra heat. As far as sauce goes, whatever your preference is works the best. I use a 26 oz. can of crushed tomatoes with a tsp of oregano, a tsp of basil, 1/2 tsp of granulated garlic, 1/4 tsp of granulated onion, and salt and pepper to taste. I prefer not to cook my sauce though, because it gets cooked when the tomatoes are canned, and then again on your stovetop, and then once again when you cook the pizza. Seems to kinda turn into a thick ragu and looses a bit of it's brightness. But, like I said if that's your thing, have at it. Have fun, and good luck!
 
I tried last week to do grilled pizza with epic failure. My stone cracked and my pizza burned on the bottom. Im on vacation next week and am going to camp for 5 days. Will try to perfect it there. Good luck Cappy
 
john pen said:
I tried last week to do grilled pizza with epic failure. My stone cracked and my pizza burned on the bottom. Im on vacation next week and am going to camp for 5 days. Will try to perfect it there. Good luck Cappy


Sounds like you heated the stone too fast and too hot.
 
john pen said:
I tried last week to do grilled pizza with epic failure. My stone cracked and my pizza burned on the bottom. Im on vacation next week and am going to camp for 5 days. Will try to perfect it there. Good luck Cappy

I would call this epic failure. Frozen pizza thrown on, got busy, got there just a tad late. Good "carmelization" though. :roll:

img_236229_0_94724e899a58feec02221096e23e755a.jpg



I haven't had too good of luck, dough usually is too thick. My next try is going to be with a thin crust dough from Pizza Hut. I like crispy dough.

Will be watch'n this thread, some great ideas so far.
 
lol Al, today is my day...hope I do better.

It won't be Barilla...I don't favor spaghetti sauces on pizza.

I already got a stone made specifically for a 22, so I'm gonna be pissed if
I crack it. I think it's gonna be a KISS thing for the first attempt. I'll make
a quick sauce and use a store-bought dough. Pics to come later.
 
Captain Morgan said:
lol Al, today is my day...hope I do better.

It won't be Barilla...I don't favor spaghetti sauces on pizza.

I already got a stone made specifically for a 22, so I'm gonna be pissed if
I crack it. I think it's gonna be a KISS thing for the first attempt. I'll make
a quick sauce and use a store-bought dough. Pics to come later.


Call me if you need help. Just heat it slow.
 
Back
Top Bottom