Pizza Today - August 2017 - 36

marks and that awesome char
beforehand. Then after the
dough cooled off, he spread
cheese and toppings and
cooked it in a wood fired oven
using the dome method for
only top heat. I now follow this
method using my conveyor
oven to produce the same delicious results. I still can't mimic
the grilling pros in Rhode
Island, so I make simple grilled
pizzas like the Lebanese cheese
pizza with vegetables (Jibneh
wa khodra) made with small
vegetable dices and local feta
and grilled Middle Eastern
bread (manoushe) brushed with
the Middle Eastern za'atar,
olive oil, salt and sesame.
Modern grilled pizza
in the United States is

purported to have its inception in Rhode
Island, where a handful of intrepid pizza
makers have turned it into an art form. But
the concept of grilling bread goes much
farther. Thanks to Christopher Columbus,
we have accounts of a Caribbean tribe
called the Tiano - who perfected the art
of disgustingly delicious grilled pizza called
zamia. After grating the stems of the toxic
zamia plant, they formed the pulp into
balls and left them in the hot sun for three
days until they attracted worms and turned
putrid and black. These nasty balls were
then grilled over the fire. Columbus said if
the balls were not perfectly fermented and
topped with worms, "the eaters will die."
This finesse at grilling the perfect zamia
pizza is extreme, but even though you've
been making pizza for years, you can still
get tripped up at this grilling art if you don't
watch yourself.
As with any piece of restaurant
equipment, check with your local health

and fire department on what and where you
can grill. Many barbeque places have the
smoker outside of their kitchen in a certified
safe area. Always have a fire extinguisher
within reach and never leave food on a grill
unattended.

* Indoor and outdoor charcoal
grills: These give the dough the most
3 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / A U G U S T 2 0 1 7

the best, most expedient option for

flavor, but the actual grates vary from thin
wires to thick tubes. This will directly affect
the charred grill marks on the dough. Forget
making the perfect round grilled pizza if
you want them thin, fast and charred.
* Fireplace grills: These are designed
for camping or for fireplaces and are
especially designed for wood burning. These
are also called Tuscan grills and are great
for catering with some aromatic wood like
sassafras or oak. The pizzas taste incredible.
Just remember, there are cheap knockoffs
out there.
* Cast iron skillet grills: These are
easy to regulate on a gas oven range, especially with top heat, but tend to be smaller
in diameter than you could realistically sell a
six- to eight-inch pizza for. There are larger
ones out here, but most have a high side
that super-heats the cornicione, sometimes
making a visually undesirable crust.
* Open-faced grills and panini
grills: There are a wide assortment of these

out there that are perfect for making the
grill marks you desire. Panini grills and the
clamshell grills do make great marks. But
as a pizza professional, you probably need
larger ones in the 1500 btu range and NSF
certified. Panini grills do not offer the top
heat for that final cheese melt.

When it comes to dough, your
proprietary pizza dough is probably

your operation if you are contemplating making grilled pizza. I've
experimented with both my regular
small, nine-ounce pizza dough at
65-percent hydration and my thincrust weighing in at eight-ounces at
50- to 55-percent hydration. Several
factors compete here including the
following.
* Thin to win: If you are selling
this right off the grill, nothing tastes
better than a thin, cracker-like Rhode
Island-style pizza. I've found that a
well-oiled, elastic but less-hydrated
thin-crust dough that doesn't "pop"
into large, unmanageable bubbles is
dynamic in taste and texture. This
bubble problem can be elevated with
docking, but I've had more consistent
crunch with less leavening from yeast
and less water in the mix. Bubbles
burn faster than the rest of the pizza
on the grill and then make the pies hard to
sell because black bubbles turn into pizza
holes.
* Thick as a brick: If you are pregrilling or selling larger grilled pizzas or
flatbreads like za'atar manoushe, you can
achieve a larger revenue stream from each
pizza by making a thicker crust up to
½-inch (which will hold up to time, pizza
box steam and an additional blast from
above to melt the cheese).
* It's in the oil: Oiling the dough
before the grill is a must. I used to oil the
tines of the grill first, but this burns the
brush or paper towel and is inherently dangerous. Since this time, I've experimented
with different oils like avocado oil, sesame
oil, walnut oil and the best by far - extra
virgin olive oil. I use the Rhode Island
method of stretching the dough on an
upturned sheet pan with copious amounts
of oil then transferring quickly to the grill.
The attributes of the deep char
flavor of a grilled pizza are complemented by a wide array of flavors.

Cheeses like Asiago, Manchego, aged
cheddar, Parmigiano and bleus like Stilton,
gorgonzola and Roquefort are a delight
and pack more of a punch with crunch.
Drier mozzarella cut small or thin is better
than wet mozzarella. I've found, just like
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