Grilled Cheese ... Pizza

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I love the kind of pizza they make in the Boston area. It is similar to New York-style pizza. It is generally a thin crust, but not like Pizza Hut's thin crust. This kind of pizza is cooked in a very hot oven, it could be as hot as 800-900 degrees in a brick oven. (I saw something on the Food Network about a New York pizzeria that has an oven fueled by coal that gets up to 2,000 degrees.)

Because the oven is so hot, the pizza cooks quickly, and there is a char on the crust. I like this kind of pizza crust. I am not fond of the conveyor-belt ovens that most of the chain restaurants use. I spoke with an owner of a small, regional pizza chain, and he preferred the conveyor-belt ovens because they provide a consistent temperature and do not have to recover from the frequent opening and closing of the oven door.

Thanks to Peter Reinhart, author of "American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza," I discovered a way to get the charred crust, even if my home oven can only reach a temperature of 550 degrees. The solution? Grill it.

I had never heard of grilled pizza until I read the Reinhart book. I've tried it a few times, and I have good results. Have purchased (and built) a new grill a couple of days ago, I am making sure I get my money's worth. In the three days we have had it, we've used it four times: 1) Hamburgers on Friday night; 2) hamburgers on Saturday night; 3) bratwurst for lunch on Sunday (and also cooked some country ribs, using indirect heat) and 4) grilled pizza for dinner Sunday night.

Here is a dough recipe I have used in the past:

Dough:

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1-1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp Kosher salt

1 Tbps olive oil

I put everything in the bowl except the water, and then I added 1 cup of water. It needed a little more, so I added some. I actually stirred everything with a wooden spoon until the dough formed, and I next kneaded it for a couple of minutes. I did not work the dough a lot. I formed it into a ball and placed it back into the bowl and covered it with a tea towel. After about an hour I punched it down and reformed it into a ball. Covered and waited until I was ready to cook dinner.

If you want to check out a Reinhart dough recipe, click here. You can also try America's Test Kitchen's version of a New York-style pizza here. I followed America's Test Kitchen's decision to go with cold water instead of warm and allow the dough to rise over a few days, but I do not measure the flour and water. I've been making dough long enough that I can go by feel.

When you grill pizza, it is important to use a small, thin crust because it will cook quickly. Look at the photos above, and you will see the crust chars easily. I am not well-versed in grilling pizza because I like cheese pizzas. I will give you a run-down of how I make my grilled pizza and offer some suggestions if you decide to try it.

From the above batch of dough (after it was allowed to rise and ferment in a resealable, zipper-style plastic bag over three days), I divided into four equal portions, rolled them out on a floured surface and covered them with plastic wrap. The dough balls rose for about an hour.

I rolled each ball out to make a think crust; sprayed a wire, mesh screen used for vegetables with olive oil; and placed the crust on the screen. The crust is then cooked over a high heat on the grill for a couple of minutes. Once the bottom half of the crust is done, take it off and add sauce and toppings.

If you use a sauce (as opposed to sliced, diced or crushed tomatoes), use very little sauce. The pizza cooks too quickly, so a lot of sauce will minimize the melting of the cheese. I have firsthand knowledge of this. Another mistake I made was to use sliced cheese instead of shredded cheese. It took longer for it to melt.

Now, here is the portion of the blog where I offer suggestions. Use sauce sparingly. Use shredded cheese and less than you normally would on a regular pizza cooked in the oven. I was going to use pepperoni, but ultimately decided against it because of how quickly the pizza cooks. If you use toppings, try sauteeing them first, so you are putting on cooked toppings instead of ones that need to cook.

My grilled, cheese pizzas turned out pretty good, but they could have been a little better. I did enjoy the charred crust, though. Try grilling pizza, you'll like it. (And to learn more, check out Reinhart's book.)