Here are four videos. Instead of thinking about grilled pizza as a recipe, think of it as a technique. Watch these and then see my comments at the end.
This has a good view of the pizza done on the first side. The person then overloads it. You want your grilled pizza to be lightly dressed, not heavily laden.
Dressing the pizza while it is still on the grill can cost you your arm hair. I always remove the dough to dress it, but again this is a good look at the half cooked pizza dough.
He also dresses it on the grill, otherwise excellent video.
Excellent technique. Weak recipe, with too much topping.
I used to make my own dough. If you do, try to really increase the oil content. It helps the dough release from the grill. That said, I have started using frozen dough. I get mine at Safeway, but surely it is widely available. One of the videos (number 3, I think) mentions this, too.
Here's what I do. I let the dough rise, then punch it down. I divide the dough which is intended for one really big pizza into three balls. I roll each into a nice ball and let them sit a few minutes to rest. You may just want to divide into two and make larger pizzas, but the small ones are easy to handle and fit my gas grill nicely. A round Weber kettle can easily take a larger pizza.
You probably want a pizza peel. I have eight (approx) 14" squares of thin luan plywood that I had cut for me at Home Depot. I sanded them lightly and use them as pizza peels. They work perfectly and we have been using them for years.
Roll out the dough to the size you want. Thickness is the important thing, not size or shape. You want the dough thin - 1/8 to 3/16 inch, no more. I use a tapered rolling pin, but use whatever works for you. Put the rolled out dough on your well floured peel(s). I usually make up all six pizza rounds before grilling anything.
For a charcoal grill, you want a medium fire banked to one side. For a gas grill, you want a medium-hot fire.
Take a deep breath and place the dough right on the grill. Now leave it alone. Don't touch it. Don't adjust it. Don't fuss with it.
After about a minute and a half to two minutes, lift one edge with some tongs. Be gentle. You want to see the start of grill marks and some browning. Sometimes the first pizza of the night gets marks fast due to clean and hot grates. As you cook more pizzas, the marks take longer to come up.
If the dough feels as if it has released from the grates, give it a three quarter turn and let it keep cooking. If it feels a little stuck, loosen it gently with a long spatula. Even better is a metal pizza peel (under 20 bux at a restaurant supply store).
If the dough blisters, smack them with your spatula. DO NOT puncture them with your finger. They are full of steam WILL scald you.
When the dough is light golden on the bottom and feels "structurally" strong enough to keep its shape, remove it from the grill and flip it over. Put it back onto the peel cooked side up and dress it on the *cooked* side.
Here's what we do. Lightly brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with raw garlic that is very finely chopped. Drop some small walnut sized chunks of fresh (not dried/rubbery) mozzarella. If the mozzarella is packed in that cloudy water, that's what you want. We use very, very thinly sliced fresh tomatoes if they're sweet. If not, we use a raw sauce based on canned tomatoes (recipe below) Dress lightly with whatever sauce you want. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and chopped herbs. We use parsley, basil, and oregano.
You can quit now or add more toppings. We have done grilled onions, grilled peppers, porcini mushrooms, grilled portabellos, and similar items. Try not to overdo it. This is absolutely a case where less is more. Try to stay with just one topping at a time. Also make sure your toppings are cooked and at least at room temperature. They will simply not cook when on the pizza. Getting them hot is all you can hope for.
Place the dressed pizza back on the grill. Rotate it as you did the first side. Check with tongs to see that it isn't burning on the bottom. When the cheese melts, its done. Use tongs to drag it off the grill and back to the peel. While it is cooking, I cover the pizza with a disposable aluminum lasagna pan to sort of cover the pizza and hold in the heat. It does help. Also cover your grill. That helps, too.
Let it sit for a minute or three then cut it and enjoy!
Here is our raw sauce recipe.
We use canned San Marzano tomatoes. Take two 28 oz cans and drain off the thinnest liquid. Use a potato masher and mash the tomatoes. Doing this in the can is easiest. Dump the can into a strainer over a bowl and let the tomatoes drain. When all drained and more or less on the dry side, put the tomatoes in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, and parsley. Mix and allow to stand for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Again, be sure the tomatoes are quite dry. Any excess water in them will make the pizzas soggy. That is also why we put oil on the pizza before the sauce. It waterproofs it.
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