While scanning Twitter the other day, I came across a tweet by Smitten Kitchen about a "Shaved Asparagus Pizza". Having just purchased 2lbs of fresh asparagus at the market that morning, and wanting to try out my pizza stone on our Weber grill, I decided to take the Smitten Kitchen recipe and use it as guideline.
First, I made a quick and easy pizza dough in my mixer and let it rise (see recipe below). Next came the building of the fire. Using a charcoal grill always requires some planning ahead and some carefully honed fire making skills! FYI....my fire making skills are outstanding! As my grill started to heat up, I put my stone on the grill and allowed it come up to temperature. This gave me a chance to prep the rest of my ingredients. A little shaved parmigiano-reggiano, mozzarella, some beautiful local asparagus from Caribou Island, basil from Riverview Herbs and a few crumbled sausages from Sweet Williams (grilled in advance) rounded out our 'za toppings for the night.
After I rolled out my dough, I placed it on the white hot stone. I let it cook for 2 minutes then flipped it over and gave it another minute on the other side. Once this was done, I liberally drizzled my half cooked dough with extra virgin olive oil and then layered on the rest of the toppings. I returned the dressed pizza back to the stone, placed the cover on the grill and let 'er cook for another 4-5 minutes.
The result was nothing less than incredible. It was one of the best pizzas that I've ever had! No joke! The crust was tender and crunchy, the toppings were warmed through, yet retained their freshness and the whole pizza had a delightful smokiness from the charcoal. I suggest that if you own a pizza stone, throw it on the grill this summer and experiment with some different toppings - both savory and sweet. I cannot wait to to try this again!
Basic Pizza Dough
- 3 ¼ C. AP flour
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 1Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 ¼ C. warm water
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
Place the dry ingredients in a stand up mixer with the hook attachment. Add wet ingredients and mix until the dough comes away from the sides and is elastic and smooth (about 5 minutes). Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place to rise for 1 hour. Once the dough has had a chance to rise, roll it out to any size or shape that you desire.
