Pizza Margherita

I’ve always wanted to try grilled pizza and found this recipe in a saved file of “must make someday”… seems like that pile grows when I’m not looking!  I need to get better and giving them a try.  This recipe was put out by Weight Watchers, but needs a little tweaking, I think.

The dough was easy enough to put together, but lacked a good flavor.  I would suggest brushing it with some olive oil before cooking and sprinkling your favorite pizza herbs on it.  We are going to try garlic on it next time.  Once you’ve let the dough rise to double in size, you flatten into 6 circles and grill on one side till it is golden brown {roughly a minute, but might need a bit more time}.  The bottom will look something like this:

Once you grill the second side just long enough to get it to stiffen you take it off the grill and add your toppings.  My husband and I followed the recipe for ours but the children did the traditional sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.  Our grill could only fit two at a time, but they were HOT when we took them off so that worked out just fine as they were cool enough to eat by the time we were done.  This is just before they went on the grill… so delicious looking!

You grill it the final time for about 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted.  All it needs is some extra spice and you’ll have a dish you’ll return to again and again!

Pizza Margherita

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water {105-115F}
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 (1/4 oz) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

• 4 large plum tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves

To make the dough, stir together the water, oil, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl.  Let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.  Combine the flours and salt in a food processor**; pulse until combined.  With the machine running, pour the yeast mixture through the feed tube; process until a soft dough forms, about 2 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.  Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; add the dough and turn to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in volume, about 2-3 hours.

When dough is almost ready, generously spray the grill rack with nonstick spray and preheat the grill to high or prepare a hot fire using the direct method.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape into balls.  Roll 1 piece of dough into an 8 inch round; place on a baking sheet.  Repeat.

Place 1 dough round on the grill rack and grill until browned on the bottom, about 1 minute.  Turn the dough and grill just until the bottom stiffens but is not colored, about 30 seconds.  Return crust to the baking sheet, browned side up, and repeat for the remaining dough.

Combine the tomatoes, oil, and salt in a bowl.  Sprinkle the tomatoes evenly over the crusts.  Sprinkle with the mozzarella and Parmesan and top with basil.  Grill the pizzas, covered, in batches if necessary, until the cheese melts, about 2-3 minutes.

Per serving {1 pizza}: 450 Calories, 9g Fat, 77g Carb, 5g Fiber, 16g Protein

**I did not use a food processor as I don’t have one that could have handled that… I just used my hand mixer until the dough forms, which was pretty quick and then continued with the directions.