This recipe for personal sized grilled pizza includes fresh tomatoes and basil, melty cheese and a great grill taste! A perfect summer supper.
Last weekend I set my Facebook status to read “once more to the lake” (thank you, E.B.White!) and we packed up the car for one of my favorite traditions: Labor Day weekend with our dear friends at their beautiful Connecticut lake house.
We’ve been coming out for this weekend ever since they bought this peaceful place, and over the years we have amassed quite a few traditions that we revisit faithfully every year. We always kick off by going to the Goshen State Fair, where we traditionally watch the log chopping contest, check out the prize cows and chickens and sheep, and the teenager goes on the Avalanche ride and climbs the rock wall.
I would have taken pictures but my hands were totally full of deep-fried food.
Then we are back to the lake house for our weekend of traditions. We traditionally hang out in and around their pool, which is always full of fun pool toys.
We traditionally reach a point late on Saturday where the women start singing along with the stereo at the top of their lungs into wooden spoon “microphones.” (This year we performed “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, otherwise known as the theme song for “Glee.”)
This is the point at which the men suddenly feel the need to flee the house and build a campfire outside. Which works out beautifully because we traditionally all eat many, many s’mores.
And even though one would think we wouldn’t be hungry for the rest of the weekend after eating our way through the State Fair, we do have one more beloved tradition and that is The Making Of The Grilled Pizzas.
This recipe for personal sized grilled pizza includes fresh tomatoes and basil, melty cheese and a great grill taste! A perfect summer supper.These are nifty personal size pizzas that involve making a simple thin crust dough which is cooked on the grill, then topped with fresh chopped tomatoes, a mix of fontina and parmesan cheese and topped with fresh chopped basil. We make one pizza per person, and so have a little assembly line going, because while these pizzas are pretty easy to make, they go fast at the end.
But once they are done, and we are once again gathered around the table…well, let’s just say life doesn’t get any better.
Grilled Pizza
Yield: 4 1x
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This recipe for personal sized grilled pizza includes fresh tomatoes and basil, melty cheese and a great grill taste! A perfect summer supper.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup water (8 ounces), room temperature
- 2 cups bread flour (11 ounces), plus more for work surface
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
Topping
- 5–6 large tomatoes, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces fontina cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
- 1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese , finely grated (about 3/4 cup)
- 1 recipe Spicy Garlic Oil (see recipe below)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- Salt
Spicy Garlic Oil
- 4–6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (4 tsp)
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
CRUST
- Combine oil and water in liquid measuring cup. In food processor fitted with plastic dough blade or metal blade, process bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, slowly add liquid through feed tube and continue to process until the dough form a sticky ball. (If dough ball does not form, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time and process until dough ball forms.)
- Spray a medium bowl lightly with nonstick cooking spray or rub lightly with oil. Transfer dough to bowl and press it down down to flatten it a little, the cover it tightly with plastic wrap and set it rise until is is about doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- When dough has doubled, take it out and press down gently to deflate it. Put it on a silicone baking mat or other smooth surface and cut it into 4 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball, dust it with flour, cover them with plastic wrap and let them sit for another 15 minutes or so.
TOPPING
- Meanwhile, toss tomatoes and salt in a colander and drain them for 30 minutes.
- Combine cheeses in a bowl and set aside.
- Make the spicy garlic oil: Cook the garlic, pepper flakes and olive oil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic begins to sizzle, 2-3 minutes and transfer to a heat-safe measuring cup.
LET’S MAKE PIZZA!
- Gently smoosh the dough pieces into roundish shapes that are about about 1/2 inch thick and 5 to 6 inches in diameter. (They do NOT have to be perfect – just do your best!) Scatter some flour on your rolling surface and use a rolling pin to flatten them out further to about 1/8-inch thickness and 9 to 10 inches in diameter, dusting with additional flour as needed to prevent sticking.
- Dust surface of rolled dough with flour and set aside. Repeat with remaining dough, stacking sheets of rolled dough on top of each other with parchment or wax paper in between each dough round and covering stack with plastic wrap and set aside until grill is ready.
- Light all the grill burners and turn grill to medium high until things are nice and hot. Carefully each slide dough round the grill and cook (with grill lid down) until tops are covered with bubbles (pierce larger bubbles with paring knife) and bottoms are grill marked and charred in spots, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer crusts to cutting board browned sides up. Brush the brown sides of the crusts crusts generously with the spicy garlic oil, top each with one quarter of the cheese mixture and one quarter of the tomatoes.
- Return pizzas to grill, cover grill the grill and cook until bottoms are well browned and cheese is melty.
- Transfer pizzas to cutting board, sprinkle with basil, cut into wedges and serve!
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Hi there! I’m Kate, and I’m a recipe writer, food photographer and devoted bacon lover. I started Framed Cooks in 2009, and my mission is to create and share family-friendly recipes that make cooking both easy and fun…yes, I said FUN! My kitchen is my happy place, and I want yours to be that place too. Let’s cook together!
I love grilled pizza! That is one of my favorite summertime treats. Sometimes we make them at the picnic table and have a variety of ingredients out and everyone can make one to order. It is definitely a fun way to have fresh pizza without heating up the kitchen :)
This pizza looks fantastic. I'm going to visit Italia, so I will try real pizzA!