Name: Margherita Pizza
Ingredients: COMMON INGREDIENTS; • 1 pizza dough ball; • ¼ cup olive oil; • 1½ tablespoons minced garlic; • 1 cup yellow corn meal; • 1-2 cups low moisture mozzarella cheese*; • Kosher salt and pepper to taste; *I like the flavor of fresh mozzarella but prefer the performance of the low moisture one. The problem with fresh mozzarella is the moisture. If you use fresh mozzarella without a few precautions, you will wind up with a soggy pizza. When I use fresh, I cut or shred it then let it dry out on a paper towel in the refrigerator for an hour or so.; MARGHERITA INGREDIENTS; • ¾ cup tomato sauce (from a jar - I use a simple marinara); • 1 cup fresh mozzarella; • Basil

Ingredients

COMMON INGREDIENTS

• 1 pizza dough ball
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1½ tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1-2 cups low moisture mozzarella cheese*
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
*I like the flavor of fresh mozzarella but prefer the performance of the low moisture one. The problem with fresh mozzarella is the moisture. If you use fresh mozzarella without a few precautions, you will wind up with a soggy pizza. When I use fresh, I cut or shred it then let it dry out on a paper towel in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

MARGHERITA INGREDIENTS

• ¾ cup tomato sauce (from a jar - I use a simple marinara)
• 1 cup fresh mozzarella
• Basil

Instructions

COMMON PROCESS

• Preheat your gas grill to as hot as you can get it.
• Roll out pizza dough until it is 3/8 of an inch thick. Though I have tried to hand stretch it and throw it the way they do at the pizza places in NY, I get the best results by starting by hand, stretching and pulling the dough to get it roughly shaped then finishing it with a rolling pin (or wine bottle).
• Cover your pizza peel (a.k.a. paddle) with a thin layer of corn meal. Place rolled out pizza dough on top.
• Place the raw dough on the grill, close the cover and let it cook for a few minutes. When the dough bubbles, check the bottom for doneness. You want it to be slightly charred. Slight char/grill marks are good. Burnt is bad.
• Take the half-cooked dough off the grill with your peel. Flip the dough so it is uncooked-side down. Spoon on a layer of olive oil and minced garlic, brushing it out to thinly coat the cooked side.
• Prepare each pizza with toppings of your choice (i.e. Margherita, Sausage and Mushroom, etc).
• Return pizza to the grill. Cook the bottom until it has good grill/char marks. Take it off the grill and place on a baking tin. (I usually make 3 or 4 pizzas on the grill an hour or so in advance and set them aside to cool.)
• As the guests begin to arrive, preheat the oven with a pizza stone to 450°.
• Finish the pizza in the oven to get them a crispy well done, 5-10 minutes.

Margherita Process

After you have taken the half-cooked dough off the grill and brushed on olive oil and garlic to thinly coat the cooked side:
Spoon on and spread a thin layer of tomato sauce.
Add a sprinkling (1 cup) of low moisture mozzarella and top with dots/slices of fresh mozzarella.
Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
After finishing to cook the pizza according to the common process, take it out of the oven and top with fresh basil.