Think it’s too hot for homemade pizza? Think again. If you’ve got an outdoor pizza oven or even a basic grill, the time has never been more right.
 

AFTER RUNNING A WEEKLY PIZZA RECIPE BLOG, Thursday Night Pizza, for seven years and counting, it’s safe to say that I’ve sufficiently pizza-ed my way through all the seasons. And without a doubt, summer is my favorite. Sure, nothing beats a square slab of grandma pie in winter or Bosc pear with gorgonzola and rosemary in the fall, and I covet every bite of that first asparagus pizza I make each spring. But summertime is the most pizza-friendly of all the seasons, with its kaleidoscope of ripe heirloom tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, fresh herbs, and other tender veggies and fruits that can be endlessly mixed and matched on stretched-out dough.

Here in Philly, summer is the only time of year when traditional fresh pizza ingredients grow. It’s the time when our climate more or less matches that of pizza’s birthplace: Naples, Italy, where San Marzano tomatoes and basil leaves adorned the first Margheritas in the late 1800s. It’s also the time when we take our cooking outside, drawn like moths to the flame of the grill—or, in my case, the backyard pizza oven.

Pizza loves high-heat cooking. Summer is the season of cooking with fire. So why aren’t summertime pizza cookouts more of a thing?

In the last few years, a variety of innovative and affordable propane- and wood-fueled home pizza ovens have appeared on the scene, enabling home cooks to up their pizza game to new pillowy crusted levels no matter their budget or space constraints. The cheapest models cost around $150, the sleekest metal ones (Ooni and ROCCBOX) are in the $300 to $600 range, and the cave-shaped beauties tiled with stone or terracotta will send you into the thousands. Some ovens are slim and portable—great for tailgating, camping, and small urban outdoor spaces. Others are works of masonry art meant to grace your backyard forever.

Peggy Paul Casella making pizzas in her Fishtown backyard. 

What all pizza ovens have is the ability to get extremely hot (some as hot as 1,000 degrees F). They also cook pizzas from above and below at the same time. The preheated stone bakes the crust from the bottom while the flames lick the oven’s ceiling, quickly cooking the pizza from the top down. It’s the best way to get a crust that’s crispy and charred in spots around the edges and on the bottom, and it’s the closest you’ll come to true Neapolitan- style pizza without getting on a plane.

Don’t feel like buying a fancy new pizza oven? If you’ve got an outdoor grill, there’s no need. Some people use heavy baking stones or steel plates to cook pizzas on the grill, but my favorite method is to lay stretched-out dough right on the hot grates briefly, then flip it over, top it with sauce and cheese, and cook until the cheese melts and the crust is seared on the bottom with crispy brown grill marks. I mean, does it even count as grilled pizza if there aren’t any grill marks? Though you won’t get a fluffy, Neapolitan- style crust, what you will get is the smoky flavor—and summertime ethos— that can only come from a grill.

Ready to get cooking?

If you own an outdoor pizza oven, it’s always best to follow the cooking instructions and recommendations provided by the manufacturer. If you prefer, however, to go slightly old-school, here are some basic tips for making pizza al fresco on the grill, plus three of my favorite summertime recipes.

HOW TO MAKE PIZZA ON THE GRILL
 

TOOLS TO ASSEMBLE

• Heavy-duty heat-resistant grilling gloves to protect your hands and forearms
• Large long-handled spatula or pizza peel for transferring the dough to and from the hot grill
• Grill scraper brush for cleaning off the grates

BASIC METHOD

1

First, set up your grill for high direct heat. If you have a propane (a.k.a. gas) grill, that just means turning all the dials to high and letting it preheat for 15 to 20 minutes. If you have a charcoal grill, that means getting the coals well started, spreading them evenly on the bottom grate, closing the lid, and letting the grill heat up for 10 to 15 minutes

2

It is much easier to grill pizza on a propane grill, since the dials help you maintain even heat and you don’t have to worry about coals burning out. If you’re making pizza on a charcoal grill for the first time, it might take a few tries to achieve a perfectly cooked crust. Make sure you light plenty of coals and spread them out evenly, and don’t skip the preheating step; the pizza dough will not cook properly if the grates aren’t hot enough.

3

Once your grill is nice and hot, stretch or roll out a ball of dough to a 12- to 14-inch round (or whatever shape you want). The dough will cook quickly over fire, so make sure you stretch or roll it out as evenly as possible; it should be thin enough to see light through it.

4

Brush or rub one side of the dough with olive oil and lay it, oiled side down, on the hot grill grate. Close the lid and grill the dough just until it has golden brown grill marks on the bottom, 1 to 5 minutes. Using a large spatula or pizza peel, remove the dough from the grill and flip it onto a cutting board so the grill marks are facing up. Make sure you close your grill so it doesn’t lose heat while you top the par-grilled crust.

5

Top the crust with whatever ingredients you like, erring on the side of minimalism. Unlike in an indoor oven, where the pizza cooks longer and is heated from the top down at a lower temperature, on a grill the pizza cooks from the bottom over higher heat; if you pile on too many toppings, the crust burns before the cheese melts. Start with two spoonfuls of sauce and spread it in thin layer so you can still see glimpses of raw dough. As for cheese, 4 ounces is more than enough for a 12- to 14-inch pizza; shred it or cut it into small (¼-inch) cubes so it will melt quickly.

6

When your toppings are in place, use a spatula or pizza peel to transfer the pizza to the grill. Close the cover and grill the pizza for 3-ish minutes, just until the bottom has nice grill marks and the cheese has melted. Immediately remove the pizza from the grill, let it rest for a couple minutes, then slice and serve.