Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Puttanesca Pizza on Grilled Flatbread!

Do you know what is harder than math? Coming up with a new pizza flavor that is not revolting. I mean really. Look at some of the things the pizza giants have come up with: Anyone want a chicken bacon ranch pizza, or a mexican style ole' pizza with shredded lettuce and ground beef, or a hula hawaiian? Yuck!

I think that I may have something here, and I have never seen it before. I took my puttanesca sauce and served it on olive-oil grilled flatbread with provolone and fresh parsley. Let me tell you it was magic. The grilled bread and the salty, spicy sauce were the perfect combo. I'm putting this one into syndication.

For the flatbread:

1 warm beer (I used a pale ale)
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
olive oil

Throw the dry ingredients including the honey into your Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, and then turn it on low. Add the warm beer 1/4 at a time. You may need the whole beer, and you may not. Look for the dough to come together. You will know it when you see it. Let the mixer run on low for about 15 minutes. This will develop the gluten in the bread flour which is required for a good pizza dough. Now turn off the mixer, remove the dough hook, and coat your dough in a generous amount of olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside. The longer you let it rest and rise the tastier it will be. I let mine go a minimum of a couple of hours, but you could let it go for a day if you'd like.

Remove the dough ball, punch it down, and divide in half. Make each half into a ball. I do this by cupping my hands together and rolling the dough around on the countertop. Go Turn your gas grill on high so it can heat up. Use a little flour and your rolling pin to flatten each ball into about a 12 inch round. Store each round on floured pieces of waxed paper until you are ready to grill.

Ok. Go outside with your pizza dough, olive oil, and a pair of grill tongs. This is kinda tricky, but not difficult. Douse one side of your flatbread with olive oil, and rub it in with your hands. Now peel the dough away from the waxed paper and flop it onto the grill olive-oil side down. Allow it to cook for about 4 minutes. You will see the bread start to rise. Flip it over using your grill tongs. It is best to grab it from the middle so you do not tear the bread. Cook that side for about 5 minutes. It takes longer because it has less oil. Repeat with the other flatbread.

Turn your broiler on high. Sauce and cheese your pizza, and then stick it under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Garnish with some chopped parsley and parm, and then enjoy.

7 comments:

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

ok. so after googling around i discovered that everyone has a version of this pizza, but not on grilled pizza dough. so there!

Anonymous said...

this may be true, but i'd never thought of it so am delighted that you, at least, brought it to my attention. I was very excited reading the menu until I realised you meant grill in the North American sense (i.e. UK Barbeque) and not broiler (i.e. UK grill). Neverthless this is do-able- my other half is a bread fiend so I can get him to knock up something interesting and olive oil-y to use as a base. My best friend is veggie and I defo owe her a meal...this would be awesome.

also, here in Scotland we have discovered that Haggis is awesome on pizza. Goes well with swiss cheese. I see no reason why veggie haggis wouldn't do the trick too.

Chris said...

I am counting down the days until I can fire up the grill again without simultaneously turning my hands into popsicles (we don't have a grill pan :(...), especially with this recipe in hand. My pizza dough usually doesn't come out well, so perhaps grilling is the answer!

Chip said...

We often grill pizzas too, but with a thinner crust. We don't use beer in our dough, but I've wanted to try it.

Great pics, as always.

Anonymous said...

Yummy. I bet this was amazing. I love a good puttanesca sauce.

Dionne said...

GREAT ARTICLE!!!

Lisa said...

I just tried this pizza dough and it was fantastic!