Directions
Grilled Pizza Margarita
Details
- Prep Time:
30 min - Cook Time:
15 min - Ready Time:
45 min
Servings
Ingredients
- Homemade pizza dough or get a ball from your local pizzeria
- Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
- Fresh basil
Homemade pizza dough:
- 4 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
Benny’s Red Sauce:
- 5 vine ripe tomatoes skinned and seeded or one large can of skinless tomatoes
- 2 cups good extra virgin olive oil
- 12 whole garlic clove
- 2 cups of fresh basil
- Tablespoon butter
- Crushed red peppers
- Kosher salt
Directions
To prepare homemade pizza dough:
Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment). If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand.
Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough.
The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn’t come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky. Set the dough aside someplace warm (by the oven)and let rise for an hour of so with a wet towel over the bowl.
Let’s make the infused oil.
Put 2 cups of olive oil in a pot and add the garlic, crushed red peppers and the fresh basil.
Now let this steep for 45 min at a low heat. You will start to smell the flavors combining and you are basically making an olive oil tea.
Strain into a jar and you now have amazing garlic basil olive oil which will be good for many dishes.
Ok with that aside take your tomatoes put them in a pot with a little olive oil and kosher salt and using a potato masher crush them as much as you can. The salt will help break them down. Now start to simmer the tomatoes and add about 1/3 cup of that infused olive oil to it and incorporate it well, let simmer for 20 min and check for seasoning.
METHOD:
Now take your pizza dough and push it out to make a rustic looking shape making sure you have it thin enough roll it out if you want put I use an 12 step rule I push it out 12 times and whatever shape it ends up at is what it will be now on a hot grill or BBQ lay it down and keep an eye on it.
Check after a few min to see how brown the bottom is and when it’s a nice golden with a little char flip it over and do the same to the other side. The first side will always look better and I usually use that as the bottom and the other side for the toppings.
Ok when it’s don’t take it off the grill and get ready to assemble by pre heating your oven to 450 degrees. Now take a small ladle of the red sauce and spread a thin layer around the crust. Make sure to get a nice thin even coat you don’t need much so do less then add if needed. Too much sauce makes it soggy and really is not what this is all about. Now take some fresh basil and lay it around and put on top of that thin slices of the fresh Mozzarella.
I added some crushed red peppers on the and a drizzle of olive oil. Now into a 450 degree oven for about 7 min or until the cheese is melted nicely. Take out and let rest for 5 min before serving it and cutting it…….that’s it!
You would think something so simple could be said with few words but you realize that to make something simple special it’s going to take some love care and technique!
Mama Mia!!
Benny
NOTE: if you want to do it in the oven spread your dough out on a pizza pan, add the sauce, basil and mozzarella and bake at 450 until edges are starting to char and the cheese is bubbling.
Step by step in photos here >>
About Benny
Passion for healthy amazing food. I am on crusade to get kids eat better and people in general learning how to cook for themselves. If I here that McDonald’s is cheaper than eating homemade I will prove anyone wrong.
