Farmer's Market Week 2, May 22 - Grilled Pizza

Lonesome Mill is one of the new vendors at the Greenway Station market and they have a lovely selection of milled grains. The pancake mix is incredible - not even I can screw them up! They also have a cornmeal-rye pancake that is great with pork instead of cornbread (although they have cornbread mix, too). I saw a package of whole wheat bread flour that I had to have. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I knew I needed it.

I have a recipe I found on Jamie Oliver's website for pizza crust and I've been making pizza on the grill ever since. It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. And if you don't have access to a grill or the weather is too miserable you can cook the crust on the stove top in a skillet.

I looked at crust recipe and I looked at the whole wheat bread flour and decided to give it a try.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust for the Grill
(adapted from Jamie Oliver)

• 2 lbs whole wheat bread flour - about 6-7 cups (can be combined with white bread flour if you discover you're a little short of the whole wheat - oops!) 
  2 T wheat gluten, optional, but good for getting a crust that stretches nicely
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 T instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 - 3 1/2 c lukewarm water
  
  
  
  
  Put the flour, gluten, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. In a bowl, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes. Add the yeast mixture a little bit at a time until a dough forms. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough, add water if the mixture seems dry and crumbly, add a tablespoon of flour if the dough seems too sticky.
  
  Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
  
  Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in plastic wrap , in the fridge (or freezer) until required. If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas. The recipe says 6-8 pizzas, I got 16 individual-sized rounds.
  
  Timing-wise, it's a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don't roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it's better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge. However, if you want to get them rolled out so there's one less thing to do when your guests are round, simply roll the dough out into rough circles, about 0.5cm thick, and place them on slightly larger pieces of olive-oil-rubbed and flour-dusted tinfoil. You can then stack the pizzas, cover them with clingfilm, and pop them into the fridge. 
  
  
  Heat a grill on highest heat or a skillet on high until smoking. Place a dough round on the oiled surface and flip after about 45 seconds. Cook for another 45-60 seconds, then remove from the heat. Add toppings of your choice and return to the grill until the cheese melts. I have found that keeping the red sauce to the side instead of trying to cook the pizza with the sauce on makes for a crispier crust. I tend not to put too many toppings on so the pizza doesn't fall apart while it's cooking.