Grilled Pizza with Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Prosciutto

Grilling pizzas is one of our favorite things to do in the summer.  The dough gets nice and crisp on the outside while staying soft on the inside.  There are a multitude of toppings that you can use and that we will showcase as the summer progresses.  Simple classics from a cheese pizza to a pizza bianco or a breakfast pizza topped with caviar and creme fraiche, this will become one of your favorite ways to make a pizza as it has been for us.  Today we start with a  twist on the basic pizza margherita.  The prosciutto adds a crispy saltiness while the mozzarella makes a light yet creamy balance and the tomato brings the aromatic freshness that is essential for the season.  Topped with some of the year's most aromatic basil, it is a simple dinner or appetizer while being elegant and amazingly tasty at the same time.


Grilled Pizza with Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Prosciutto

Ingredients

Basica Pizza Dough (see recipe below or reference our past recipe for Basic Pizza Dough)
3 Roma tomatoes 

2 balls Buffalo Mozzarella

1 cup grated mozzarella

4-5 thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto (diced)

5 TBSP olive oil

Basil to garnish

**Kitchen Tip:  A quick and easy way to slice Buffalo Mozarella is to use an egg slicer.  Using an egg slicer not only saves on time but also gives you even and uniform slices with little effort.

1.  Pre-heat your grill to as hot as you can get it (about 500-600 degrees)

2.  Cut tomatoes into thin slices.  Slice the Buffalo Mozzarella.  To cut the prosciutto into strips, stack each piece one on top of the other and then roll them like you would a fruit roll up.  Once rolled, slice thinly from one end to the next.  Separate the pieces from each other.  

3. Before you roll out your pizza dough, sprinkle some corn meal down on your surface so the dough won't stick.  Roll out your pizza dough to a desired thickness.  You don't want to roll the dough too much though.  The more you work with it the tougher it can get to use.  It is also a skill to get the pizza dough into a circular shape so don't worry if yours isn't a circle.  The pizza in the pic above is a square shape. 

4.  When you are ready to make your pizza, rub your grill with some olive oil.  Brush one side of pizza dough with olive oil.  The side of the dough that you brushed with oil will be the side that you put down on the grill.  Leave the dough on the grill for about 3-5 minutes, lifting the corner to check on grill marks.  Once the dough starts to brown and there are some nice grill marks, brush olive oil the side of the dough facing up and flip the dough.  Once the dough has been flipped, brush some olive oil on the dough (this helps in not making the dough soggy when you put the toppings on).  Start layering your toppings leaving a 1 inch to 1/2 inch border from the sides.  Start with the tomatoes, then buffalo mozzarella, then grated mozzarella, then prosciutto.  Close the lid of the grill and let cook for about 5 minutes.  When the cheese starts to melt (buffalo mozzarella will not totally melt), and you lift a corner of the pizza to check to see that there are some good grill marks on the underside of the pizza, then you are ready to take the pizza off the grill and move it onto a wooden cutting board and let rest for a couple of minutes.

5.  Take about 4-5 basil leaves and layer them one on top of another and roll from one side to the other (lengthwise).  Cut the basil into thin slices starting from one end to the other.  Sprinkle over pizza.

Yields 1 pizza

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 (1/4 ounce) envelope active dry yeast

1 tsp honey

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

(yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling baking sheet)

1.  In a large bowl, combine water and yeast.  Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.  Stir in 1 TBSP olive oil and the honey into the yeast mixture.

3.  Sift 1 1/2 cups flour and the salt over the yeast mixture.  Mix by hand until it is incorporated.  Slowly add flour 1/2 a cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until the dough is smooth but still slightly sticky (may not need all of the flour).  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 3-5 minutes.

4.  Oil a large bowl with remaining 1 TBSP olive oil.  Place dough in bowl, turning to coat with the oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and cover with a clean kitchen towel on top.  Set in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

5.  Press gently on the dough and turn it onto surface and form into a loose ball (for two smaller pizzas you can split dough in half and make two smaller balls).  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest for an additional 15 minutes.

Yields 1 large pizza or 2 small pizzas