How to Pre-Cook Pizza Flatbread on Your Grill with a Pizza Steel (Recipe)

Recipe Overview

Hand Mix (recommended):

• Add warm water (95F) to bowl
• Add IDY to water and whisk to dissolve
• Add flour, sugar, and mix with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains
• Add oil and start by mixing with a wooden spoon, eventually switch to mixing by hand to fully incorporate the oil
• Add salt and mix by hand, making sure all salt is incorporated into the dough
• Turn dough out onto counter and knead for 2 minutes
• Cover and allow to rest for 20 minutes
• Knead for 2 more minutes
• Cover and bulk ferment for 3 hours

Stand Mixer:

• Add lukewarm water (75F) to bowl of stand mixer
• Add flour, IDY, sugar, and mix on medium low speed until fully combined
• Add oil and mix on medium speed until absorbed
• Add salt and continue mixing for 3 more minutes
• Cover and bulk ferment for 3 hours

Make Dough Balls

• Take out a container(s) large enough to hold the dough balls
• Divide the dough into 4 equal dough balls by weight and shape into tight balls, being sure to pinch the bottom seam shut before placing in your container, seam side down, and cover
• Proof for 2-3 hours at room temperature (68F-70F)

Preheat Gas Grill

• Remove all but two grates from your grill
• Remove the grill flame guards from your grill
• Center your steel inside your grill, using the two grates to support it on either side
• Ignite all burners and preheat on Hi for 20 minutes
• The steel should be approximately 650F* at launch

*An infrared thermometer is your friend here

Shape Your Pizza

• Dust the top of the dough ball with flour and flip upside down onto your counter
• Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and, cupping your hands around the sides of the dough, rotate it a few times to ensure it is a circle
• Using your fingers, press into the dough ball and along the sides to flatten it, form a rim, and push gasses to the edge. Be sure to press from the middle out while not making it too thin and pop any large bubbles that develop at the rim
• Rotate the dough 90 degrees and do the same
• Rotate again and do the same
• Flip the dough over and do the same to the other side
• Flip the dough back over and pick it up with your hands and using your knuckles along the rim of the pizza dough, stretch and rotate it to form a disk 10-12” in diameter
• Place it back on the countertop and using a rolling pin*, from the center out, roll the pizza dough into an oval
• Lift the dough off the counter, rotate 90 degrees, and using the rolling pin roll from the center out, bringing back its circular shape
• Pick it up with your hands and using your knuckles as above, gently stretch it into a circle and place down on your wooden peel
• Using a dough docker or a fork, roll/poke holes over the pizza dough*
• Gently lift and stretch with the back of your hands once more if desired

*Generally, you should NEVER use a rolling pin to shape pizza dough as it eliminates all the gas bubbles you worked so hard to create through fermentation.

However, as this pizza will initially be baked untopped, you need to avoid creating a pizza “pillow.”

The dough docker or fork punctures also facilitate in lessening unwanted rise while the dough bakes.

Because you first shaped the pizza with a rim before rolling and docking, the finished pizza will have a raised rim somewhat similar to oven baked pizzas.

Grill Your Pizza

• Launch the pizza dough once the steel is approximately 650F
• Close the lid let it cook for 1 minute
• Flip the pizza over and cook for another 1.5 minutes
• Turn off the burners directly below the steel, or if the only burners on your grill are directly below the steel, turn them to low.
• Flip the pizza back over and top to the edge with warmed sauce, cheese, and cooked toppings*
• Close the lid and allow the toppings to melt and warm together for 2-3 minutes
• Using a peel, take the pizza off the steel and place on a cooling rack
• Top with additional ingredients**, slice into triangles or squares (my preference), and serve immediately

*Grills do not have a top heating element like a home oven or pizza oven. Therefore, it is the ambient heat of the grill that melts the cheese and warms your toppings.

Pizza sauce won’t thicken like it would in an oven so if it is on the thinner side, it can be a good idea to thicken it slightly on the stovetop. Cook all other ingredients before placing them on your pizza - meats and vegetables.

**Grilled pizzas that have additional post-bake ingredients are often more aesthetically pleasing and delicious.

Basil, arugula, cilantro, burrata, parmesan, olive oil, and BBQ sauce are all common post-bake ingredients depending on the pizza you may be making.