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Gluten-Free Ratio Rally: Grilled Pizza

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Historically, I have not been shy about professing my love of pizza here on the blog. Over the years we’ve posted a number of recipes. Most recently we developed our San Marzano deep dish pizza recipe. Before that, there was a recipe for spicy buffalo chicken pizza. There was a dual recipe for Sicilian and thin crust pizzas before that, in a post I titled, “The Pizzaholic.” And there was a margherita pizza and others before that.

When this month’s Gluten-Free Ratio Rally decided to tackle pizza, I was pretty excited. As usual with the Ratio Rally, Kelli and I wanted to challenge ourselves with a pizza we’d not attempted before. We almost immediately settled on our goal: a grilled pizza, cooked over an open flame.

Now, I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag here, and I don’t want to overly pat ourselves on the back, but oh my gosh. This pizza is good. No, this pizza is great. Kelli declared it possibly the best pizza we’ve ever made. And we tend to have a pretty high opinion of our pizzas, so this is saying something. The delicious char and unmistakeable grilled-ness on the slightly crunchy yet chewy crust. The fresh vegetables. The balance of sauce and not too much cheese.

But, you don’t have to take our word for it. Try the recipe and see for yourself! And while you’re at it, head on over to Karen R.’s blog, Cooking Gluten-Free. She’s hosting this month’s ratio rally, and you’ll find links to lots of other tasty gluten-free pizzas there!

As for the ratio of the recipe itself, the participating bloggers began with a starting ratio of 5:3 flour:water. The more we work with gluten-free doughs, the more we like those doughs to be pretty wet. With the case of something like a pizza dough, we like for it to be right on the edge between workable by hand and too wet/sticky. The result, for this pizza, was a ratio of 1:1. We used flour and water in equal quantities by weight.

Regardless, the end result is what matters, and this time around, the result was divine, and I don’t mind saying so.

Grilled Pizza
Makes 1 pizza, Serves 2-4

Ingredients

For the dough
175g warm water (3/4 cup)
1 tbsp honey (or sugar)
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
175g Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend (about 1 1/3 cups plus 1 heaping tbsp)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt

For the pizza
250-275g crushed San Marzano tomatoes (about 2/3 of a 14.5-ounce can)
110g shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz)
1/4 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/4 green bell pepper, sliced thin
1/4 red onion, sliced thin
Dried oregano
Dried basil

Steps


To make the crust
1. Preheat your oven to 500 deg F.
2. Combine the water, honey/sugar, and yeast in a bowl and let stand until the yeast is well activated, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the olive oil. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the liquids and mix to form a dough that is soft but not sticky to the touch. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil into the bowl and roll the dough ball to evenly coat.
4. Drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil onto a cookie sheet and press the pizza dough into a thin crust shape, approximately 15″ x 7.5″, or whatever will fit comfortably on your grill. Let rise 10 minutes.
5. Par-bake the crust in your pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your grill to 500 deg F, then decrease the flame. (How much you decrease the flame will depend on your grill – you want to get good grill marks and char on the bottom of your pizza, but don’t want to burn the crust before you melt the cheese and cook the toppings.)
6. Use a spatula to separate the pizza crust from the cookie sheet, and transfer to a pizza paddle, if desired.

To make the pizza

7. Spread the tomatoes/sauce on the par-baked crust, then add the shredded cheese, then the sliced vegetables, and finally a light sprinkling of the dried herbs.
8. Finish the pizza on the hot grill, baking for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the toppings are cooked.

Enjoy!

This recipe is: gluten-free, egg-free, peanut-free, tree-nut-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, soy-free.


This recipe is easily made dairy-free with the use of dairy-free cheese. This recipe is refined-sugar-free as long as you don’t use sugar to activate the yeast.

– Pete

Comments

  1. I want to eat this right now. I only had time to make pizza once this month, so I know what I am having for dinner!

    Looks amazing! And it was great to meet you this weekend in Dallas!

  4. Oh this looks absolutely incredible. And being the second grilled pizza I’ve seen for the rally, I’m with Karen in thinking I need to overcome my fear of doing these myself and go ahead and try it. I love to eat them, just never have done it myself. Thanks for the inspiration!

  5. I had planned fish for dinner but I am pretty sure that will not happen. Our new big green egg is going to have its pizza initiation tonight! I can’t wait!

    I was also really excited to see your reference to Karen Robertson. Her cookbook was my first GF bible. With the amazing GF progress we’ve made, it is still one of the best out there. I met Karen when I was diagnosed and because of her culinary talents, ate well from day one as a result. We are lucky to have her gifts here in Seattle.

  10. That is one stunning pizza, Pete! Anyone who sees the photo and lives nearby will certainly be showing up with some gluten-free beer hoping that will be enough for you to share your pizza with them. 😉

    Shirley

  11. hehe, yay for grilled pizza!! Yours looks amazing, and I am kinda wishing we were neighbors so we could have a grilled pizza partay. The San Marzano tomatoes truly are the best for a great sauce and I will definitely have to try your recipe.

  12. Hi MaryFran… Thanks for your compliments! Great to meet you in Dallas as well! Keep in touch!

    Hi Laura… Ha! I’ve been known to finish a pizza such as this all by myself, so I suppose serves 1 might be appropriate. =)

    Hi Karen… Thanks again for hosting this month!

    Hi Caneel… Enjoy!

    Hi Michele… My father in law has a big Green Egg, and he loves it! We’re honored for the pizza to initiate your new one!

    Hi Jenn… Thanks!

    Hi Gretchen… Ditto.

    Hi Tara… There are worse cravings to have! =)

    Hi Morri… Thanks! We try our best! =)

    Hi Shirley… We’d be happy to host a grilled pizza party! How long would it take you to drive north to the Hudson Valley? =)

    Hi Charissa… Yay for grilled pizza indeed!

    Thanks all, Pete

  13. hi Pete – making this now…on step 3. How much olive oil? Am I not seeing an amount somewhere? Going to guess…. 2 TBS and will report later how it turns out 🙂

  14. Agh! I errantly omitted the olive oil from the ingredients. Corrected now. 1 tbsp should be the amount, though 2 tbsp will prob work fine. Sorry about that!

    Cheers, Pete

  15. Just wanted to say thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve been trying since last December to make a gf pizza crust that tastes great and is not gummy. I nearly cried after eating this last night. My whole family gave it a thumbs up. WELL DONE!

  17. Hi Carissa… Thank you so much for your comment. That is why we do this blog and share these recipes.

    Brooke… Get a grill! And not just for this recipe. We couldn’t live without a grill (OK, technically we could, but you know what I mean…). I think I’ve cooked our dinner on the grill 4 out of the last 5 nights!

    Cheers, Pete

  18. We used to do a Sunday Pizza Night until I was diagnosed. Your pizza dough recipes have been super helpful. We cook on a pizza stone on the grill at 600 to make it crispy. We’ve made
    1. Cheese
    2. Pepparoni
    3. Brushed BBQ Sauce (GF of course) with grilled chicken or shrimp, red onion, gouda and cilantro
    4. Olive Oil, Garlic with sliced red meat with carmelized onions and mozzerella mixed with some gouda
    5. Our Xmas pizza which is dollops of red sauce and pesto, tomato slices and broccolli
    6. If there is ever too much dough, some chocolate with marshmellows for dessert. Have to watch it to make sure it doesn’t burn.
    For the kids, I let them make their own and brush the crust with egg white was with food coloring.

    Hope people like the ideas.