BBQ Pizza

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I was on dinner duty while Jessica ran to the store.  The request from the kids was BBQ pizza. So, I said...why not!  This is a family favorite and always turns out tasting so good!

Have you ever tried making bbq pizza?  If not, here is what you will need:

Pizza dough (your favorite kind)
Toppings (sauce, cheese, meat, veggies, etc.)
A warm BBQ
A pizza peel (we've done it with the back of a cookie sheet, but it's kind of a pain.  I highly recommend investing in a pizza peel).
A pizza stone

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The Dough

You really can use any dough recipe that you want to, but it is best that the dough is a little on the stiff side.  I've been really liking this one from Ciao Florentina.  I recommend starting with less water than the recipe calls for.  Other than that, I think it's perfect. 

I had great helpers  during this process.

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Ok, maybe not the happiest helper.

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When the dough was kneaded, I cut it into four pieces and covered them.  I was kind of impatient, so I didn't let them rise for very long.  From there, I rolled out the first quarter, put it on the pizza peel, and put all the pizza toppings on.  TIP: I like to put a little corn meal on top of the pizza peel so the pizza can slide off easier when it's time to transfer to the pizza stone.

The BBQ

To set up the BBQ, I just placed our pizza stone right on the grill and fired it up.  Our BBQ cooks pretty hot, so I turned on all three burners on low and let the stone get good and hot.

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For this one, I started with BBQ sauce, topped it with leftover pulled pork, sautéed onions, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese. 

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This was the end result:

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The next pizza was the classic pepperoni.  Just for fun, I added some fresh basil from the garden.  It gave it the perfect touch.

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And that's it!  I love the smokey flavor that the BBQ adds to the pizza.  There's something about it that almost takes me back to my time living in Italy.

FoodTim Porter