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!