Friday, June 17, 2011

Grilled Pizza with our favorite Semolina Pizza Dough


Summer vacation... we've been waiting for weeks, literally counting down the days while eagerly awaiting it's arrival.  A time of leisurely mornings, no schedules and ultimately comments of "I'm bored... what should I do?"  Well, Mommy to the rescue!

With her family out of town, Liv's friend Celeste spent a few days with us as we began this year's summer school holiday.  Looking for a project, I set the girls to work making pizza dough, then topping and grilling their creations.  Our favorite Semolina Dough is a cinch when tossed into the bread machine on the dough cycle, but can just as easily be done in a stand mixer, or... even by hand.  Having a full day planned, we tossed our ingredients into the bread machine this time and the dough was ready when we were.

For years I've been "baking" our pizzas on our outside grill. Heating the grill to medium hot, the pizza dough is tossed directly onto the clean and oiled grates for a quick cook.  The heat is then turned down to low as the dough is removed, flipped over to the grilled side up and placed on a semolina dusted rimless cookie sheet (though someday I'm going to have a real Pizza Peel!) to be topped with your favorite toppings.

Once topped, a simple flick of the wrist will slide your dressed pizza back onto the grill for the final cooking.  My grill runs fairly hot, so I turn off the side where the pizza is cooking while keeping the other side at medium high, though for a crispier crust (my preference!) I leave the heat on for a minute or two before turning that side off.  5-8 minutes later you have an ideal, slightly crispy, cheesy and "oh so yummy" pizza ready for slicing.  The girls did a great job with the pies which were topped with cheese and pepperoni and settling themselves down onto beach towels in the sun summer vacation was here.




Semolina Pizza Dough
Printer Friendly Recipe

2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
3/4 cup semolina flour
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning (optional)

Place all ingredients into your bread machine as directed.  When dough is ready pre-heat grill to medium high heat.  Remove dough from machine and divide into 3 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out on a lightly floured surface to desired thickness.

Place rolled dough directly onto clean and oiled grill grates.  Grill for 1 1/2 minutes or until dough easily lifts from the grates.  Turn heat to low and place grilled side up on a semolina dusted pizza peel (or rimless cookie sheet).  Top pizza as desired then gently slide pizza back onto the grill.  Either keep heat on low or turn heat off entirely depending on how hot your grill runs.  Cover and grill for 5-10 minutes, checking every so often to make sure bottom is not burning.  Pizza is done when the cheese is melted and the crust is cooked through - cooking time will depend on how thick your crust is.  For thick crust be sure to turn the direct heat off as the thicker crust requires a longer cooking time and may burn before it's cooked through.  To check for doneness I usually peek under to check for a lightly browned crust and give the crust a quick tap.

Remove from grill using your handy pizza peel (or cookie sheet!) and allow to rest for a few minutes before slicing.

Note:  Liv likes to brush the outer rim of her crust lightly with garlic olive oil and sprinkle with salt or garlic salt.  And much as I hate to admit it... my family has not liked any pizza sauce I have made myself preferring the handy Boboli packets over any of my hard worked creations!


42 comments:

  1. this pizza looks fabulous
    it is always nice to put pizza on the grill :)

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  2. I have been craving homemade pizza lately too! I don't grill mine, but I would love to try it and your pizza dough sounds intriguing. What a way to kick off summer vacation! :D

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  3. What a gorgeous photo of Liv and her friend - they look so relaxed and happy to be on holiday. Well deserved. And what better way to spend the holidays making this most fabulous pizza? Great idea with semolina in the base. Thanks for giving me ideas with my girls - it's their turn soon, just a couple of weeks to go!

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  4. OMG i looove your doggy!! I have the same one, he's a precious pearl!!! And your pizza looks sooo good!

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  5. Grilled pizza sounds like the perfect way to cook pizza without turning on your oven and occupy Liv and her friend. Great idea! Your pic of the girls and your pooch is adorable.

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  6. I love grilled pizza, such a special summer treat! Yours looks delicious and the girls look gorgeous in that photo!

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  7. Your pizza crust is just gorgeous. I keep meaning to try grilled pizza but have yet to do it. Now I have no excuses!

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  8. That pizza dough looks so fluffy and chewy and wonderful! I love grilled pizza! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. WOW, this is the most gorgeous pizza! I wish we had a gas grill...as I have a feeling my hubby would burn these to a crisp on our charcoal grill. And for years, no brownie could ever compete with the frosted variety in a red box...LOL, I made it my mission to convert them to homemade!

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  10. I love grilled pizza. What a great little project for the girls to do - I remember the excitement of summer vacation when I was their age too - nothing could be better =)

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  11. What a fun way to spend time in the summer :) I've never grilled a pizza before, but it looks great! I love semolina flour in so many things... I'm sure it's fabulous in the pizza base! The pictures are beautiful - especially the one with the girls - they're gorgeous :) Thanks for sharing, Kim!

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  12. I've never had grilled pizza, but it looks so tasty! We still use a charcoal grill so I'm a little leery about getting too fancy with my antiquated grill. Buzzed :)

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  13. i have always wanted to try grilling a pizza! And I've been looking for a good pizza dough recipe! I have to give this a try! I will let you know how it goes! Great photo of Liv, she is such a cutie!!!

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  14. I've had homemade pizza on my mind for a few weeks but I don't have little helpers like you do, LOL! Your grilled pizzas look so inviting and it seems like you do just fine without a pizza peel. :-)

    Have a great weekend, Kim!

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  15. sounds absolutely divine..love ur gorgeous presentation..
    chanced upon your space while blog hopping..wonderful blog you have..excellent clicks..
    Am your happy follower now..:)
    do stop by mine sometime..
    Tasty Appetite

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  16. yum!!
    I must try your dough recipe, thanks for sharing!
    for what its worth, I got my pizza peel at Linen's and Things for $10.

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  17. Boboli is really good... just sayin'! ;-))

    The pizza looks fantastic... I love pepperoni pizza!

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  18. Oh my does your pizza look so good! I've been wanting to try grilled pizza for a long time. I think it's about time I did after seeing how amazing your pizza looks. :)

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  19. What a fun project for the girls, Kim! I love the semolina in the dough and the fact that it raised very thick. I love thick pizza! Have a great Sunday.

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  20. I warped a few cutting boards before finally investing in a pizza peel for all the pizza we were grilling :) This looks amazing! That dough was the perfect summer project.

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  21. Pizza is my favorite food! The dough recipe looks great. Can't wait to try it.

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  22. My husband and I were just talking about grilling pizzas! I think this might be fate...we'll be trying this soon for sure! Happy Summer!

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  23. Ive been waiting for a fun use for the Semonila flour ive been hanging on too, And to grill a pizza, perfect dinner after a long day. Thanks for the inspiration

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  24. Great looking pizza! Thanks for sharing your recipe for the semolina pizza dough. I am looking forward to trying it out in my bread machine. I think everyone here will love that they can top the pizza the way they like it.

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  25. What a yummy dough recipe. That pizza looks so good, I love grilled pizzas too. The crust just becomes amazing on the grill.

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  26. Just what we were looking for! We are going to celebrate summer next weekend with grilled pizza.

    Jason

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  27. That pizza looks so good. I have always been too chicken to try to grill pizza.

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  28. I need a grill!! lol Truly fantastic recipe! Thanks for sharing Kim! And as always your pictures are beautiful!

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  29. What a beautiful and yummy pizza!! I have never thought of grilling pizzas in the outside grill! This is great. I'm sure the pizza crust is perfectly cooked there. Making a pizza is a great project for bored kids and a mom who had listened enough of "what's next?" from kids...

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  30. Delicious. I'm going to have to try using the grill to make pizza...looks like an awesome idea.

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  31. I will grill pizza this summer! It is on my list of must do's! This pizza looks amazing. And Liv's way with the crust sounds delicious!

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  32. Holy crap these look amazing!!

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  33. I still haven't tried grilling a pizza yet, but it's on my must-do list for this summer. At least we finally have some summer weather. 95 today!

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  34. I have never made a samolina crust but it looks really inviting...bookmarking to try soon..
    The picture of Liv looks amazing

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  35. We had grilled pizza for dinner tonight! Yummy! :) Pics are gorgeous :)

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  36. I have been wanting to try my hand at grilled pizza for some time now! This one looks great! And again...I love Liv's idea! I would totally sprinkle garlic salt and probably a little parmesan cheese on my crust. I think I'm going to come live with you guys. I mean, buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and grilled pizza for dinner...I'm SO in!

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  37. I love homemade pizza and my best sauce to date is a simple combination of store bought ketchup and bbq sauce.

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  38. Hi!! This looks delicious, I just wanted to know how you would prepare the dough by hand, how long would it rest etc.?
    I look forward to your response!!
    Charlotte

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  39. Charlotte, you can absolutely prepare the dough by hand!! I personally have never done one actually "by hand", kneading on the counter, but I do frequently let my stand mixer do the work.
    As for resting, I put my dough into an oiled bowl, turn it once, then cover with a clean/dry dish cloth and place it in a warm area. (place a mug of hot water in the microwave and place your covered bowl in the middle... makes a perfect "warm" spot!). I usually let it rise a little over an hour, or until an indention stays in the dough when pushed lightly.
    Then you can proceed as above from there!
    I hope that helps! Let us know if you try the dough and what you think about it!

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  40. Thank you so much for your swift response!!!
    I look forward to trying the dough and will definitely come back to give you my feedback!!
    Have a great day,
    Charlotte

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  41. Enjoy, Charlotte! And happy Weekend!

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