I usually prefer to cook on the grill when the weather is nice, but this week the weather has been cold and rainy. I braved the cold and fired up the pellet grill to make some grilled flatbread pizzas and let me tell you, it was worth it!
How to Grill Flatbread Pizza
I had made the pizza dough the previous Sunday and kept half the recipe in the fridge and put the other half in the freezer for a rainy day (like today…. see what I did there?). Pizza dough freezes really easily; just remember to freeze it after you’ve given it its first rise, then let it thaw in the fridge (in a bowl!) and let it have a second rise on the counter for about an hour to let it come to room temperature before you use it. Let me share some first-hand knowledge with you: never keep pizza dough in the fridge as a ball wrapped in saran wrap. The dough will expand and burst through the saran wrap making a total mess out of your fridge. I’ve included my recipe for pizza dough for grilling at the bottom of this post. Since I hadn’t planned ahead for this meal by purchasing pizza topping items, I had to dig around through the fridge and pantry to find some ingredients. I ended up deciding on three different types: a “traditional” version for the husband, a “gourmet” version for myself, and a “Thai” version because I just can’t help myself. And because I am STILL trying to use up that leftover peanut sauce. For the “traditional” version I used pretty traditional pizza ingredients – go figure. We’ve got mozzarella cheese, sliced ham, tomatoes, onion, and pizza sauce. I didn’t have any pizza sauce on hand so I made my own with tomato paste, a bit of water, and seasonings (salt, pepper, a touch of sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes). For the “gourmet” version, I pulled out all of the fancy schmancy jars I had in the fridge and said “good enough.” We have roasted red peppers, an artichoke heart, Parmesan cheese, olive tapenade, and garlic gold (in the bowl).
Garlic gold is something new to my life but it is incredible. It’s basically high-quality oil studded with these perfectly crunchy bits of garlic. It really is pure gold. I also used some mozzarella on the “gourmet” version to help hold everything together.
Finally, the “Thai” version. I used peanut sauce as a base, then added chopped garlic, ginger, and cilantro topped with slices of tomato and onion. No cheese on this one – it just seemed too weird.
I separated my dough into four balls and over the course of about twenty minutes stretches and tossed them out into four little flatbreads. I tried to make them round but it just wouldn’t happen. I also tried throwing them up in the air and catching them on my knuckles which worked for a while until I got too cocky and dropped one. I laid them out on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal to keep them from sticking.
Once my grill was ready to go, I tossed the flatbread dough on with the cornmeal side up. I wanted to “bake” them on both sides and get grill marks but I also knew I wanted the cornmeal side to be on the bottom once they were done.
I let them bake for a few minutes on the non-cornmeal side, then flipped them….
…added the toppings…
and let the flatbread pizza on the grill get hot and melty with the lid closed for a few more minutes.
Here they are in all their glory. The gourmet version was definitely my favorite, but my husband preferred the traditional ones (as I had predicted). The Thai version was also totally delicious, even though I had worried that it would be dry without any cheese on it. It was getting pretty dark by the time they were done so the pictures aren’t what they could be. Here’s the recipe for the dough – everything else is just personal preference. Try topping with a few different types of cheese, or throw some pineapple chunks on with some ham. Get creative! Use up whatever you have in your fridge.
