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Prep Time4 to 5 hours
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Cook Time10 minutes
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Serving2
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In furtherance of my latest obsession, which is all things Tiki, I decided to make a pizza. What’s more Tiki than a ham and pineapple pizza? Yes, I know this combination of toppings is divisive, but I was craving it. Pizza at home is a tricky business as few of us have a brick wood-fired oven (unless you chose the path of a personal injury lawyer as compared to my particular station in life). Nevertheless, I think my pizza crust was a perfectly imperfect home-made crust. A longer fermentation would have improved it and given it more character but I did this in an afternoon and, in my opinion, it was far superior to most pizzas that are available by delivery. The crust was crunchy on the bottom with a crisp crust — and just the right amount of chew. I used a bottled sauce, hand shredded mozzarella, Canadian bacon and fresh chopped pineapple. Having gained some confidence in my dough making ability, I might make a few changes the next time I make this: I thought the pizza needed a bit more sauce and I would have liked a saltier ham, I think. But this pizza was really good and super fun to make. I fired up my Kitchenaid gas grill (more than a decade old!) to about 600 degrees and used my Le Creuset pizza stone. But sure to heat up that stone in the oven for at least 20 minutes before you slide the pizza onto it. Also, don’t forget to use a little cornmeal on your pizza peel so that you can slide your gorgeous pie onto the stone without it sticking.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough & Toppings
Directions
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water. Whisk it and let it bubble up about 5 minutes. Do this in the bowl of your Kitchenaid stand mixer.
Put the dough hook on your mixer and turn it on a lower speed. Start adding the flour (2 cups) and salt and let the dough hook do its work for 10 minutes. Add a little more flour, up to about 1/4 cup more, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and isn't sticking to the bottom.
The dough will be sticky. Pour it out on the counter and with a minimum of flour form it into a ball. Pour the oil in a bowl. Put the dough in the bowl and flip it over so that the surface is oiled. Cover it with a towel and let it double in size.
Punch the dough down. Give it a few turns and form it into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the frig until you're ready to make a pizza. Take it out of the frig about an hour before you form the pizza.
Pat the dough out to a circular shape, and then lift it and with your knuckles under the dough, turn it, turn it, turn it, until gravity does its work. It will get thinner in the middle and it will be thicker around the edges.
Make sure you have some flour or cornmeal to slide your dough onto -- get the pizza on a peel that has some cornmeal on it so that you know you can slide that pie onto the hot stone.
Add your toppings. Sauce, cheese, ham and pineapple.
Slide the pizza onto the stone in the gas grill. Let it cook about 4 minutes, then check on it. Total cooking time may be about 10 minutes. Remove with a pair of tongs and a peel.
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