Mid-Michigan Dining

Who knew it was possible?  I got the idea after eating at Weber Grill (review here).  My girlfriend and I went to Chicago for date night one weekend and Weber Grill was recommended by my brother who was supposed go with us with his wife but then backed out at the last minute.  Everyone thought I was nuts ordering a pizza at a place like this, but the concept sounded so good, so I got a pepperoni pizza as an appetizer.  It was delicious.  A few months later, my girlfriend and I took my mom to a doctor in Chicago and since we were close to downtown, we took her to Weber Gril for lunch.  This time, we got the buffalo chicken pizza as an appetizer.  All three of us loved the smoky taste and I knew then, I had to try it on my own.

So, today, I started out with my homemade piza dough from a recipe I got from one of my friends moms.  She used to make homemade pizza for us every Friday and Saturday night.  It was definately the highlight of the weekend when I was in high school.  It’s a pretty simple, basic pizza dough recipe of yeast, water, salt, sugar, canola oil, and flour.  I’ve healthied it up a little bit by doing half AP flour and half wheat flour.  It changes the taste a little bit, but nothing bad.  I actually think it might taste better.  I let the dough rise over night then fired up the grill after running a few morning errands.

Charcoal is something else I get picky about when I grill.  I only use natural lump hardwood charcoal.  In this case, I’m using a brand called Cowboy Charcoal Co.  I know it’s minor, but I try to use as few chemicals as possible when cooking and briquettes are pressed together with chemicals.  Nothing terrible, but it just adds a slight taste.  NEVER. NEVER.  NEVER use lighter fluid.  Forgot about dangers of it.  Lighter fluid leaves a bad taste if it doesn’t burn all the way off and it almost never does.  Spend the $6 and get a chimney starter.  Usually, I use parafin wax to start my coals, but I didn’t have any.  The easiest, cleanest way to start the fire is by rolling up a paper towel and spraying cooking spray on it.  The coals will take about 20-25 minutes.  I actually got mine a little too hot today and the fire died pretty quickly after I got cooking.

Now it was time to cook the pizza.  After rolling the dough out and brushing on some garlic butter, the dough rounds when straight on to the grill grates.  I had considered using a cast iron skillet, but thought I’d try this.  It worked great.  The fire was hot enough the dough cooked really quickly.  Almost too quickly.  I was yelling back in the house to my girlfriend to bring the sauce and cheese.  After only a minute or two, I flipped the dough and started spooning on the sauce.  It didn’t take long at all.  By the time I was putting on the cheese, I was a little worried that I was taking too long and the pies were going to be burnt on the bottom.  At this point, I put the grill cover on for just a couple seconds to melt the cheese.  Less than five minutes after I put the raw dough on the grill, I was taking them off. 

So, how they’d stack up to Weber Grill’s?  Pretty darn close.  The crust had a nice smokey flavor.  The cheese was perfectly melted.  I add a few spices (oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes) to the sauce and that made for a spicy sauce.  This was much, much better than cooking them in an over and it was really quick.  It took longer for the coals to warm up.  I felt bad about wasting the fire so I grilled some burgers for dinner later tonight and I grilled some pineapple and peppers for my girlfriend to eat.  Don’t be intimadated by pizza on the grill.  It’s not as hard as you would think it would be.  If you don’t make your own down, just buy one of those pre-packaged ones.  All the flavor is coming from the fire and it’s totally worth the time and effort.