Directions: |
Directions:The Dough
Pour water into a medium-sized bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Add a pinch of flour and stir gently with fork until yeast has dissolved. Wait for it to bubble a bit to make sure it’s alive!
Add 1 cup of the flour and the salt. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
(Note: you can also do these steps through to the hand kneading using a heavy-duty mixer with dough hook if you prefer.)
Add a second cup of flour and mix well. Dough should begin to come away from sides of bowl and begin to form a sticky mass. It is now ready to be kneaded.
Measure out the third cup of flour. Lightly flour your hands and work surface. Transfer all the dough to the surface and begin to knead in the cup of flour a little bit at a time, only as much as it takes to keep from sticking to your hands.
Continue to knead until the dough no longer feels sticky – from five to 10 minutes. Test by pushing the heel of your hand into the dough for 10 seconds. If it no longer sticks, it is ready. If it sticks, add a bit of flour and knead and repeat until it is no longer sticky. Be careful not to over flour – you’ll end up with saltines instead of pizza!
Lightly oil a big bowl. Roll up the dough and place in bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes. Once it has doubled, punch down and knead again and replace in bowl. Let rise again and punch down, remove from bowl and lightly knead and shape into a ball, or cut into two balls for smaller pizzas.
The Most Important Part -- The Grilling
Prepare a charcoal fire and let the coals burn down to a medium/medium--low heat. If using a gas grill, set grill at medium medium-low. Use wood chip box to impart smoke.
Toss or roll out dough to a size that will fit comfortably on the grill surface. Coat one side of the pizza with olive oil and invert onto cookie sheet. Slide the dough – oil side down -- onto the hot grill. Work quickly, if necessary, stretching out corners to desired shape. (Watch your fingers!)
Dough should firm up immediately. When the dough is puffy and the bottom side is lightly browned, remove from grill and return to cookie sheet. Rub more olive oil onto uncooked surface and flip over on sheet.
Add sauce, cheese and your favorite toppings on the browned surface, covering evenly. Slide pizza back onto grill and close cover, allowing smoke to again permeate pizza. Let pizza remain on grill until toppings are melted and bottom is brown. Tip: If pizza starts to burn before cheese is melted, slide cookie sheet under pizza to protect.
When done, remove from grill using cookie sheet. Serve with plenty of adult beverages. A Peroni or even an “Uncle Mike Manhattan” are perfect accompaniments!
Buon Appetito! |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: This pizza, with its dough smoked and grilled over a charcoal fire, became a favorite “group activity” when Mike Ianzito vacationed with his cousins at the DiNardo’s summer house in Chatham. (I remember one night Cousin Paula's perplexed and amused expression when, in the kitchen at 1 am, she stumbled across "Cousin Mike" covered with flour, making dough, trusty glass of Absolut on the rocks by his side...)
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This recipe for Cousin Mike’s Grilled Pizza is from