Grilled Pizza Margherita With Fresh Summer Herbs
George Germon, who cooks with an open fire all the time at Al Forno, gives instructions for grilling a pizza. When preparing this pizza, feel free to invent your own topping combinations, but keep in mind that in this situation less is more. Use a judicious hand, and suppress the natural tendency to cover the entire surface with ingredients.
Serves 1 as a main course, or 2 to 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients
- Pizza Doug
- Active Dry Yeast - 1 envelope (2-1/2 teaspoons)
- Warm Water - 1 cup
- Sugar - pinch
- Kosher salt - 2-1/4 teaspoons
- Johnnycake Meal - 1/4 cup (alt. fine-ground White cornmeal)
- Whole-heat Flour - 3 tablespoons
- Virgin olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Unbleached White Flour - 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 cups
- 6 ounces pizza dough (above)
- Virgin olive oil - 1/4 cup
- Garlic - 1/2 teaspoon, minced, fresh
- Fresh Herbs - 1/2 cup, mixed, chopped (oregano, thyme, chives, and basil)
- Fontina - 1/2 cup, loosely packed, shredded
- Pecorino Romano - 2 tablespoons, freshly grated
- Garden Tomato Sauce - 1/3 cup (recipe follows)
- Garnish
- Fresh basil leaves
- Virgin olive oil
- Garden Tomato Sauce
- Virgin olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Garlic - 1 teaspoon, minced, fresh
- Italian Plum Tomatoes - 12 to 15, peeled, seeded, and chopped
- Kosher salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Instructions
To prepare the pizza dough: In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water with the sugar. After 5 minutes, stir in the salt, johnnycake meal, whole-wheat flour, and oil. Gradually add the white flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until a stiff dough has formed. Place the dough on a floured board and knead it for several minutes, adding only enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking. When the dough is smooth, transfer it to a bowl that has been brushed with olive oil. To prevent a skin from forming, brush the top of the dough with additional olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, away from drafts, until double in bulk, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down the dough and knead once more. Let the dough rise again for about 40 minutes. Punch down the dough. If it is sticky, knead in a bit more flour.
To prepare the tomato sauce: Heat the olive oil in a heavy saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, and saute until golden. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Add the salt. Set aside until ready to use. The sauce may be cooled to room temperature, covered, and refrigerated for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 2 weeks.
