grilled margherita pizza
@bensbackyardbites

How to Make Perfectly Grilled Margherita Pizza

This isn’t your average grilled Margherita pizza.

Outdoor kitchens are all the rage right now! You’ve made pizza dough on the grill, now you can specialize and customize.

Ben Gilchrist is the resident pizza expert, and he shares all his tips for making the perfect grilled pizza. He also shares his recipe for how to grill up a Mistaken Margarita pizza.

For more recipes and ideas from Ben, you can follow him on Instagram at @BensBackyardBites.


 

Mistaken Margarita on the Grill

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Bunch/plant of basil
  • 150 ml Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 ice cube
  • 85-90g of low moisture mozzarella (Par-baked method) or fresh mozzarella for higher temp grills
  • 300 g Pizza dough ball
  • 80 g of your favorite pizza sauce or Passata

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Add pizza Stone to the Grill
  • Preheat Grill on high all burners for at least 30 Min.
    • Key is to get the pizza stone as hot as possible. If you can get a surface temp up above 700 then you are at a perfect temp for Neapolitan style pizza and will not have to par-bake your crust.
    • Most grills will heat the pizza stone to about 500 degrees, as such you will need to par bake your crust for about 4 minutes.

Dough

I make my own but the easiest way to get started is to go the premade route.

Store bought

  • Any store-bought premade dough will do. When I started making pizzas years ago, I used trader Joes premade dough and it works great.
  • 3 hours before you want to start cooking take your dough out of the fridge.
    • Weigh out your dough to about 300g (weight of each pizza) and form into a nice ball.
    • Place in a Tupperware container to proof for 3 hrs.

Pizza Sauce/Pasta

Once again, I make my own sauce, but you can use your favorite store-bought pizza sauce or for simplicity can you a jar of Passata which works great.

  • Add your sauce to a squeeze bottle.
    • The trick is to use a sauce that is smooth enough to come right out of a squeeze bottle when adding to the top of the pizza. That is why Passata works great.

Basil Oil

Using a bullet mixer combine the following ingredients

  • A full basil plant purchased from the grocery store or about 10g of leaves.
  • Take all the leaves off the plant and soak for 30 seconds in cold water.
  • Dry with a tea towel and add to the mixer
  • Measure out 150 ml of your favorite olive oil
  • I ice cube
  • Couple pinches of sea salt
  • Add to a squeeze bottle

Parbaked method on the grill (500-degree temp on stone)

  • Using Tipo 00 flour spread out your pizza dough starting in the middle and form into a round pizza shape working all the bubbles to the outside
  • Transfer your pizza dough to a wooden pizza peel that has been dusted with semolina flour
  • Slide your pizza crust onto the stone for 4 minutes
  • Remove the parbaked crust
  • Add your low moisture mozzarella
  • Lightly drizzle with olive oil
  • Add pizza back to the stone and cook until crust is crispy and cheese is melted (About 5 min)
  • Remove pizza from the grill
  • Set pizza on a cutting board
  • Using the pizza squeeze bottle design it to your style
  • Shake the basil oil bottle as oil will settle. Lightly dot the pizza with the oil.

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