| By :
Dennis Weaver
Grill burgers, brats, steaks, chicken—and pizza! Pizzas are meant to be baked hot and quick—well suited for the heat of the grill. So it's easy to make perfect pizzas in no time. Pizzas make great summer food but no one wants to heat the oven up to 400 degrees in the summer. That's okay—fix it on the grill. Not only is it the slick way to bake pizzas in the summer, you'll really impress your friends and family—a backyard magician. You will need a grill with a cover. You can use gas or charcoal though the charcoal will impart a slightly smoked flavor to your pizza. It doesn't take long to bake a pizza—only eight or ten minutes if you are using a thin crust pizza without too many toppings. That's with a hot grill. If you can turn the heat down a bit, they'll take longer. Crusts tend to be crisper when baked longer. The trick to baking pizzas on the grill is to not burn the crust, the bottom, where the heat from the coals is concentrated. When we first started baking pizzas on the grill, we elevated the pizza onto the second shelf or used a couple old bricks to jack it up. Then we discovered that we could simply slide a cookie sheet under the pizza pan to insulate the pizza. There's no need to elevate the pizza; just set the pizza pan on a large sheet. If you like to use a pizza stone, you can do that on the grill. You can either use a peel and slip the pizza right on the stone or make the pizza in a pan and put the pan on the stone. We always make thin crust pizzas. We like the crispness of thin crusts. And they're quicker. You don't have to let the dough rise and you can load the toppings right on the unbaked dough. (In our test kitchen, we've timed Debbie—who makes pizzas a lot—at sixteen minutes from start to finish. Regular humans should be able to make a thin crust pizza, including mixing the dough, in twenty minutes.) Here's how to bake your pizza: 1. If you are using a baking stone, start the grill and place the baking stone on the top shelf of your grill. You will want the stone very hot so let it heat for 20 minutes or so before you add the pizza. 2. Mix the dough according to package or recipe directions just as if baking for the oven. 3. Shape the dough into a thin crust pizza, either on the counter if you are using a stone and peel, or in a pizza pan. 4. Spread a thin layer of marinara or white sauce on the dough. For a white sauce, consider dips, ranch dressing, or sour cream. 5. Spread the toppings over the sauce. Don't pile the goodies on the pizza too deep; they tend to insulate the crust from the essential top heat. 6. Place the pizza in the grill as explained above, either on a stone or in pan with a stone or another pan beneath. Set the timer—we set it for eight minutes—and then check for doneness by lifting the edge of the crust. If your grill doesn't bake evenly, and most don't, turn the stone or pan 180 degrees about half way through baking. 7. Once done, immediately remove the pizza from the grill, and if you are using a stone, from the stone. (If you don't remove the pizza from the stone, it will continue to bake.
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