Grilled Again Hawaiian Pizza

I used to be frightened of yeast.  I'm not quite sure why.  I vaguely recall my mother once mentioning that yeast can be...difficult.  Perhaps that is where my hesitancy with yeast stems from.  Perhaps I assumed that the reason why most people buy bread is because it is so hard to produce good results at home.

I made my first loaf of bread when I was 15 years old.  I am not sure what compelled me to put aside my fear of  yeast; but I remember that first awkward attempt at kneading.  Pulling the wet, sticky dough from the mixing bowl, bits of it stringing down from the pile in my hands.  PLOP, onto the "lightly floured" counter top.  This is it, I told my self, and dove in.  My hands pulled, pushed, and stretched the dough.  I slowly added flour, my hands covered in the gooey mess.  The more I kneaded, the stickier it seemed to get.  More flour--too dry, more kneading--too sticky.  This is never going to work.  Rocking, pulling, pushing, stretching.  More flour, more kneading.  Slowly to dough came together.  My hands still a mess, my hair covered in a light dusting of flour.  But there, on the counter, a not-so-perfect ball of dough, smooth and...roundish? 

 
I think everyone should try their hand at making bread.  There is something about working the dough that just feels so natural and basic.  For the few minutes you are spending with the dough there is nothing else in the world.  Just you and that yeasty mixture.

Or maybe it's just me...



If you do make your own dough...why not pizza dough!  My recipe is made with white whole wheat flour, which is pretty much my new obsession.  It produces doughs and batters very similar to all purpose flour but with whole grain benefits.  Amazing stuff!

The idea for this pizza came from the husband.  He wanted to have grilled pizzas for the 4th of July.  And since he doesn't often make good suggestions for what to have for dinner, I went with it.  It's Hawaiian Pizza with pineapple and ham that has already been grilled.  It's adds an extra boost of smoky goodness to this pizza.

If you've never had grilled pizzas I highly recommend them.  During the colder months we have pizza weekly in our house, but as you know I have a ban on using the oven at the moment, so we turn to the grill.  Grilled pizzas are fantastic and produce a result similar to your favorite wood fired pizza joint.

 
 Grilled Again Hawaiian Pizza  

a balancing the table original
makes 8 personal sized pizzas

Ingredients:
for the dough:
2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt (reduce to 1 tsp if using table salt)
2 tbs. olive oil
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour (more or less as needed)

for the bbq pizza sauce:
1 can tomato sauce
2 tbs. brown sugar
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 tbs. dijon mustard
1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (optional but recommended)
salt and pepper to taste.

for the pizza:
1 fresh pineapple, quartered, peeled and cored.
1 lb. of ham, in 1/4 inch slices
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
make the dough
1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix lightly.  Add white whole wheat flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough starts to form a ball.
2. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead in the remaining white whole wheat flour and the all purpose flour until it forms a soft dough and is only slightly sticky.  Put into an oiled bowl, turn to coat.  Cover with a dish towel and allow to rise until double, about an hour.
3. Punch down dough and from into 8 small balls, using extra flour to coat the balls.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
4. Roll dough out and shape into a circular crust, about 1/4-1/3 inch thick, using more flour as needed.

make the sauce:
1. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a low boil.  Simmer for 2 minutes.  Set aside.

make the pizza:
1. Heat the grill for indirect heat.
2. Grill pineapple for ~10 minutes, turning every few minutes until warmed through.  It should have some nice grill marks on it.
3.  Grill ham for 2-4 minutes per side.  Agian, it should look nicely grilled.
4.  Chop the ham and pineapple into small pieces.
5.  Put pizza dough on grill, 2-3 pieces of dough at a time.  Grill for 2-4 minutes or until nicely browned on the bottom, but not burnt.  (Be careful, this can go very quickly!)
6. Remove pizzas from grill.  Top the cooked side with sauce, cheese, pineapple and ham.
7. Return to grill.  Grill for another few minutes, with the lid down, until bottomed is browned and cheese is melted.
8. Enjoy


What the husband thinks: Since it was his idea I think it's pretty obvious that he loved it.  He believes there is very little in the world that is much better than grilled pizza.

What the kid ate: Pizza, minus the ham. The ham went on the floor.  He's a lot like his momma in that he's not a big meat eater.  I'll be honest and say that all he ate was pizza and watermelon.  In the flurry of making the pizzas I completely forgot about making a vegetable.  Oh well, it was a holiday.

What's your favorite thing to grill in the summer?