“Grill” and “pizza” aren’t always the first two words you’d string together if you want to make a homemade pizza. However, it is actually commonly done. With a hooded grill, you can directly grill thick crust pizza. You can also use a pizza stone that’s made for grills if you want to make thin-crust pizzas. If you’re not too adept at using such cooking tools, you might need to learn how to grill pizza on a stone to get the best results.
To help you with this, here’s a quick rundown of the steps you have to follow.
How to Grill Pizza on a Stone? Follow these Steps
1. Find a Pizza Stone Made Specifically for Grills
The very first thing you need to do is to find a pizza stone that’s actually made for a grill. These cooking tools are not your regular pizza stones as they are made to withstand higher temperatures. While regular baking stones are only heat-safe for up to 550 to 600F, pizza stones for grills can handle up to 2000F. This makes them more durable.
When shopping for a pizza stone to use with your outdoor grill, you also need to measure your unit to ensure that the stone will fit. Like other pizza stones, the ones made for this purpose also come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, so you can’t just get the first item you came across with and call it a day. Save yourself from the hassle of returning the item and waiting for a few days more before you get to grill a pizza.
You can also check out your grill’s manufacturer if they have stones that are specifically made for the unit you own. This will make your search a lot simpler and faster.
The stone you use in your oven might just work, too. If it can handle high heat, you can easily save a couple of bucks by letting your old baking stone double duty for both your oven and grill.
Releted: The Best Pizza Stone
2. Make Your Dough
If you’re going to make your dough from scratch, you might want to do this a few days before your pizza night. Doing this will let you ferment your dough nicely to give it a unique flavor.
Even if you don’t want to ferment your pizza dough, you can still benefit from making your dough in at least a few hours before you intend to start grilling. Doughs need some time to rise and get to its full size, so you should allow it some time to do its thing.
3. Shop for Ingredients
If you’re going to let your dough ferment, you’ll have to wait for at least a day or two before you can get on your grill. You can use this time to get your ingredients and ensure you have everything you need for your pizza recipe.
4. Prepare for Grilling
Because your grill will most likely be outside, you might want to gather everything you need so you don’t have to go back and forth from your kitchen to your grill area. You should also precook all the raw ingredients that take a while to get cooked if you want to use them for your recipe.
With the high temperatures a grill can generate, you can’t leave your pizza inside for a long time just to cook the meats and veggies. This can lead to a burnt crust, so if you want to avoid eating ingredients that are not supposed to be consumed raw, take the time to cook them before popping them into your dough.
5. Preheat Your Grill and Pizza Stone
Fire up your grill and preheat it with medium to high flame with your pizza stone inside. Make sure to keep it covered the whole time to effectively build up heat. Preheat for up to 500F and leave it on for an hour.
Always remember to preheat your stone alongside your grill or oven to avoid breakage. Never use a cold stone on a hot grill or oven as this will put your pizza stone in a thermal shock and will cause it to break.
6. Start Assembling Your Pizza
Now that you have an hour to burn while waiting for your pizza stone and grill to heat up, maximize the time by making your pizza. Divvy up the dough if it’s too big and if you want to make smaller pizzas.
You can easily whip up pizzas in different shapes in most pizza stones. The size may be a bit limited, though. If you don’t have a gigantic grill, you might not be able to whip up a large pie. If you also own a rectangular pizza stone, your round pizzas may be limited to the length and width of the stone.
7. Grill Your Pizza
Once the 1-hour mark is up, you can already start grilling your pizza. To get started, let your grill burp or release some of its heat through a small opening before completely removing the grill’s cover. After removing the lid or uncovering the grill, you should then slide the pizza onto your pizza stone. Be careful as the stone and the insides of your grill will be very hot.
Once the pizza is in place, close the lid. Bake your pie for at least ten to twelve minutes or until the dough has browned.
8. Carefully Remove from the Grill and Serve
When your pizza is already brown enough according to your liking, you can now take it out of the grill. Remember to burp the grill again before completely opening the lid to avoid the heat from rapidly exiting the grill and causing injuries.
Once the lid is open, grab a peel or other flat tool that can be used to completely remove your pizza from the stone. Serve to friends and family and enjoy a nice homemade pizza.
Final Verdict
Learning how to grill pizza on a stone is not a major feat that you have to dread. It’s actually a lot like baking a pizza on a traditional oven. So if you already know how to make bread or pizza in a traditional oven, you won’t struggle in doing the same thing on a grill.
