BBQ’d pizza

Let’s get one thing straight. This pizza contains NO barbecue sauce. This pizza is barbecued, as in cooked on the barbie.

In my dreams I live on a small island in the bay of Naples, there is a house which has a wood fired rotisserie and pizza oven attached just down the road and they sell cooked chickens, sausages, potatoes and fresh pizza to anyone who pitches up. The sun shines all the time, I own an old Vespa and wine is free. Then I wake up.

The south London/Surrey borders are nothing like the Amalfi coast sadly. The sun steadfastly refuses to shine and the wine in Waitrose is not free, (this is Surrey remember!)  The best I can do is try and recreate the pizzas.

So How do I go about this then?

Knock up a batch of white bread dough, your favourite recipe is fine. I’d just add a tablespoon of oil in with the liquid to help the pliability of the dough.  Light the coals with 30 mins to go if this is a charcoal barbecue. Prove and knock back as usual then divide the dough into cricket ball sized pieces. Put the BBQ on to heat up if gas.  Allow to rise a little more, 15 mins maybe. Get out your toppings. This varies in our house depending on what leftovers I have (yesterday I had some grilled peppers lurking in a bowl so they got used) and how much time has elapsed since my last “big shop”. We always have ham, salami,olives and passata so the only thing to nip out for is some mozzarella. After a bit of trial and error I have found that part precooking the base works best. I have a grill that has a cast iron flat plate so I cook the pizzas directly on that. Before we had the new BBQ I just used a double layer of foil to cook the pizzas on.

Cook the pizza base for a moment or so each side. A little scorching is good but watch this like a hawk as it can cremate itself pretty quickly. Remove the bases and top with whatever you have to hand. Place back on the BBQ and this time lower the lid as you want toe mozzarella to melt. Add a dash of olive oil, open the wine and pretend you are on that Mediterranean Island getaway. Short of a lottery win or an encounter with the doctor and his TARDIS, this is the the only way I’m getting to Ischia in the near future!

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