When the grill master becomes a pizzaiolo
7.6.2019
Translation: machine translated
Pizza and barbecuing: Two things that always work. The combination of both can only make the whole thing better, right?
After grilled fondue, it's now pizza's turn. Crispy base, intense tomato sauce, melt-in-the-mouth mozzarella and a few basil leaves. That's how I imagine a good margherita should be. And that's exactly how it should be, at least according to Weber. To test this, I get myself a MasterTouch, a pizza stone and a pizza peel.
And then it's time to make the dough. I got a recipe from Weber for this. For fear of my colleague Simon, who has an opinion on everything edible, I also ask for his favourite recipe. This comes from Marcella Hazan. The two recipes are as follows:
Weber
350 ml cold water
100 ml beer
50 ml oil
15 g fresh yeast (min. 5 g dry yeast)
2 tsp coarse salt
150 g durum wheat flour
500 g Italian flour (type 00)
Marcella Hazan
1 ½ tsp dry yeast
¼ lukewarm water
375 g unbleached flour
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tbsp salt
The preparation also differs slightly. With Weber, the entire amount is poured together at once, whereas with Hazan this is done gradually. Once the dough ball has been kneaded, the Weber variant is left to rest in the fridge and the Hazan variant in a warm place. Both doughs rise and look good.
A slight setback
When I fire up the barbecue, I encounter my first problems. The charcoal is rubbish, nothing works. It's far too small and narrow and slips through the bottom grate. I have to get new ones as quickly as possible, because my work colleagues' stomachs are rumbling. It works well with the new charcoal, but I'm behind schedule. My colleague and barbecue expert Steve Meierhofer arrives just in time and hands me a blower gun. The coals heat up in no time and I make up for time I thought I'd lost forever.
Once the coals are glowing properly, I place the pizza stone on the grill. It has to heat up properly for 15 minutes with the lid closed before the first pizza can be placed on it. I bring the MasterTouch up to just under 250 degrees Celsius. "You can hardly get any higher than that with normal charcoal. With coco (charcoal made from coconut fibres), the grill gets significantly hotter," Steve explains to me.
Call me Pizzaiola
The dough balls are shaped and topped à la minute on the pizza peel. I make a classic margherita with tomato sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil. I use the peel to push the first pizza onto the hot stone and quickly close the lid again to keep the temperature high. According to the Weber recipe, a pizza takes 15 minutes. It's much quicker for me. I can take the pizza out at the first check after about 7 minutes. Like the first pancake, the first pizza is not yet perfect. The dough is a little too thick and the stone is still a little too cold. But it still tastes good.
For the next ones, I pull the dough apart more. Meanwhile, the heat is just right. The pizzas are really good. This is also confirmed by my test eaters.
Luca says: [[pullquote:«The pizza was definitely better than any ready-made pizza from the oven. The dough turns out really well. I'm currently thinking about buying a stone like this for the grill.»]]
Livia is also impressed by the pizza:
«I especially loved the pizza base - not because the toppings weren't good, the base was just perfectly crispy. And not too dry at all, as is often the case with pizzas.»
Vanessa even throws her principles overboard:
«I am pleasantly surprised. The dough turned out nice and crispy. I usually leave the pizza crust on the plate. But that wasn't the case with the chargrilled pizza.»
Kevin, on the other hand, has a few things to criticise about the barbecue pizza:
«The pizza dough is really great: nice and crispy, but not dry. You can really tell that the heat is coming from underneath. Unfortunately, the topping can't quite keep up: But that's not just down to the ingredients. I have the impression that the pizza doesn't get enough heat from the top.»
One opinion is still missing. And that's from Galaxus gourmet Simon:
«Pizza on the grill works. It's certainly better than from a normal oven. But you have to heat up the grill properly. And if you have space for a pizza oven, then buy one. The pizza stone for the kettle grill is no substitute for one.»
And which dough tastes better? Here, too, everyone agrees. Marcella Hazan's comes out on top because it's slightly more flavourful. Either way, I can recommend grilled pizza for anyone who doesn't have a pizza oven. The dough turns out much better than in the oven. And it's quicker too, if you don't take the preparation time into account. I haven't made grilled pizza for the last time. But next time I'll try it with the recommended coconut fibre charcoal.
My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.
