Pizza, pretty much the universal party favorite of kids and adults alike.  Even more fun is having the construction of the pizza take center stage at your get together.  I’ve seen kids have a blast making their own pizzas at birthday parties, and the same goes for family dinners.  Give the kids a bit of dough, some flour and a rolling pin and let the fun start.  (We have to hide the toppings or else two cans of olives disappear before the dough is even rolled out!) We love to make pizza in the summer when cooking it on the barbecue lets us enjoy the outdoors while keeping the house cool.  While you can put the dough straight on the grill rack, we’ve found it’s much easier to both carry and bake your pizza if you use a pizza tray made just for the barbecue.  Although the long handled pizza trays tend to cost less, I’ve been told that it’s easier to grill with the short handled pizza trays as you can close the barbecue cover all the way.  The trays also make great gifts for that special someone who loves to grill.

Many supermarkets offer fresh pizza dough (white or wheat) that’s inexpensive and convenient.  You just need to let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and it’s ready to shape.  I also make whole grain dough in the bread machine, which takes a bit of planning for the 3 hour dough cycle.  Last summer, my brother-in-law, our family’s grilling guru found the perfect quick pizza dough recipe you can make at home that’s ready in 20 minutes.  I’ve made it myself, it’s fast and tastes great too!

Quick Pizza Dough

1 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups flour (plus 1-2 Tbsp for kneading)
3/4 tsp salt
1 pkg quick rise yeast

• Mix water and oil and heat to 125°.
• Mix flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.  Add hot water mixture to dry ingredients.
• Knead with fingers for 2 minutes.  Sprinkle on more flour until dough is smooth and elastic, not sticky.
• Let dough rise for 10 minutes (30 minutes if you used active yeast).  Roll out dough and add pizza toppings.

If you would like to try grilling your pizza, follow these steps:

• Preheat grill to 350-400°.
• Grill pizza for 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and dough is baked.
• Check the pizza every 5 minutes.  If crust starts to burn, turn off middle burner and continue baking with indirect heat.