Pesto Pizza

Welcome to the Day 7 of Grill Week! If you missed them, here are the links to the other Grill Week recipes that we released:

Rosemary Chicken Kabobs
Bite-Size Burgers
Vegetarian Fajitas
Banana Boats
Garbage Plates
Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

It’s the final installment of Grill Week, and we’re ending it with an instant classic: Pesto Pizza! This recipe is another that comes from my mother-in-law. She made us one of these on a pre-made crust in the oven when she was here last year, and we loved it. So, for Grill Week, we decided to take it to the next level with a homemade crust, and making it on the grill. I absolutely love this crust recipe – I think it’s the best homemade one I've come across. We ended up making the dough and then splitting it in half, to make two individual pizzas (the individual pizzas were still big enough to leave us both with leftovers for lunch the next day) This was the first time I've had grilled pizza, and wow - I have no interest in going back to the baked kind! I love the smoky flavor that the grill gives the crust, and the grill grates give the bottom of the crust a perfect crispiness. We love this topped with pesto instead of regular pizza sauce, but either way, it’s bound to be delicious.

Adapted from these two recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package regular or pizza crust yeast
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup very warm water
• Pesto
• Mozzarella cheese
• Onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, or other preferred toppings

Instructions:

• Mix 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl.
• Add 3 tablespoons of oil and the warm water.

Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.

Stir in enough remaining flour until the dough is soft and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and knead for 5 to 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy.

Leave the dough in the bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough in half, in order to make two small pizzas.

Shape each pizza dough by flattening it with your hands on a slightly floured surface, using your fingers to stretch the dough out into a nice, round shape.

Preheat the grill to high heat, and spray with cooking spray.

Place the dough on the grill, cooking, covered, for 2 minutes.

Grill for 2-3 minutes, or until the dough begins to brown underneath, and the top starts bubbling up with air pockets.

Once the pizza dough has browned lightly on one side, remove from the grill, and flip the dough over so that the grilled side is now up.

Remove the pizza from the grill and spread the grilled surface of the pizza with pesto and top with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, or any of your favorite toppings.

Slide the topped pizza back onto the grill.

Cook, covered for another 3-5 minutes, or until the bottom begins to char and the cheese is bubbly.

Pull the pizza off the grate and enjoy!