Bruce Tretter discovers the ease and fun of making a fresh-grilled pizza with Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust and shares his favorite recipe—all in pictures.
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Pizza on the grill? You bet! Here are five family pleasing reasons to try it using Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust followed by easy to follow step-by-step picture book directions.
1. Is it fun? Yes! – especially on a laser-hot summer evening when anything beats cooking inside. And the recipes are simple and family-friendly, so everyone can help.
2. Does it taste good? While the pizza you see in the picture above was baking on the grill, my 14-year-old daughter said, “Wow, that looks great!” When she took a bite of the pizza on her plate, she lit up with a terrifically big smile and “Dad, this pizza is awesome!”.
3. Recipe vs. technique: What you see here isn’t as much about recipe as it is about technique. But, hey, this is America, the home of innovation. You can’t show how to make a pizza—even just to demonstrate technique—without ingredients. So, why not mix it up a bit and have some fun with a good dose of freedom of choice. (If you’re screaming “YEAH!” right now, you should be.)
4. Making it your own: There are two options shown her, but this is about you. What you see here is intended only to inspire you to put together toppings that suit your taste. Visit Pillsbury’s website for even more recipes. Easy!
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Preparation Time: 10-25 minutes, depending on toppings
Cooking Time: 10-20 minutes, depending on grill heat.
Base Grilled Pizza Ingredients
1 Tube Pillsbury Artisan Pizza Crust (classic or whole wheat)
2 Ripe Tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
Splash of Vinegar (Balsamic Vinegar shown here)
Shot of Olive Oil
2 Big Handfuls Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Cooking Spray
Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
Preparation, in pictures
1. Rinse the tomatoes, remove the cores and cut the tomatoes into thin slices.
2. Put the tomato slices in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 – 1 tablespoon garlic powder, a shot of olive oil, a splash of vinegar, 2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese, and stir with a big spoon.
3. If you’re not using any other pizza topping, skip to step 4. Otherwise, prepare your favorite topping or use the picture directions below to make your choice or a combination of the following easy-to-make toppings to taste: teriyaki, tuna melt, Mediterranean, and/or turkey & Swiss cheese.
4. Warm the grill to MEDIUM heat (if you’re using a charcoal grill, only use about as many coals as shown below to allow the pizza crust to bake evenly and prevent burning).
5. While the grill warms, spread waxed paper or aluminum foil on a large baking pan, and spray the waxed paper or foil with a light coat of cooking spray.
Open the Pillsbury pizza crust tube, remove the dough, and unfold it (I used and show both the Pillsbury Artisan Classic and Whole Wheat Pizza Crusts below).
Spread the dough evenly on the waxed paper or foil covered baking sheet, (patch any holes – no problem: they happen – as shown in the insert picture on the right directly below), and spray the top of the dough with a light, even coat of cooking spray.
6. When the grill is hot enough to cook, give the grill grate a quick cleaning scrape with a grill brush.
Then quickly flip the pizza dough from the baking pan onto the grill (TIP: aim for the middle of the grill as shown with the arrow – you’ll see why further below) and remove the waxed paper or aluminum foil. TIP 2: I’d recommend not leaving the grill while the dough cooks. The dough only takes 4-6 minutes to brown on the bottom.
TIP Follow-Up: The first time I tried this, I shot wide and ended up wrapping one of the grill grate handles with dough. No problem. I just left it alone and let it cook where it was until the dough was ready to turn bottom-side up.
7. Cook the dough over an uncovered grill for about 4-6 minutes until the dough top starts to darken as shown in the picture on the left and the dough bottom starts to brown as shown in the picture of the turned up corner of dough on the right.
8. When the dough bottom has browned, carefully use a wide bladed grill spatula to loosen the dough from the grill, and then quickly turn the dough over browned-side up – and…
…only cook for 2-3 minutes until the bottom sets (just starts to get firm) but does not start to brown as shown here.
9. Use the spatula and baking pan as shown to guide and carefully lift the partially cooked pizza crust off the grill.
10. Top the pizza crust with tomato and cheese and your favorite toppings, or another combination, such as pictured below.
11. Carefully slide the pizza back on the grill, cover with the top and cook for another 5-10 minutes, depending on grill heat, until…
…the pizza crust bottom starts to brown as shown here.
Then, again, carefully use the spatula and baking pan to remove the freshly grilled pizza off the grill grate.
12. Use the spatula (or a knife) to cut the pizza and serve as is or with a shake of crushed red pepper.
With summer here, Pillsbury knows you and your family want to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. So at your next BBQ, why not grill pizza for a family fun night. Go to http://www.pillsbury.com/Cooking-Occasions/Occasions/Outdoor-Eating/How-to-Grill-Pizza.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by General Mills via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills.