Grilled Pizza on Steel: Problems and Solutions

Steaks, burgers, chicken, vegetables, practically everything that hits the grill is elevated to another level.

With its high heat and open flames, grills are some of the best cooking tools we have available to us.

Gas grills, with their precise heat and ease of use, makes them a staple in almost every American household.

Therefore, a gas grill should be a wonderful way to cook excellent pizzas.

After all, pizzas notoriously need very high heat and nothing else quite matches the performance of a grill that can reach 700F.

Unfortunately, grills have a crucial flaw that makes baking your typical pizza all but impossible. Fortunately, there are solutions.

This is a massive problem. Without any heat from above, the top of the pizza crust won't brown and the toppings won’t cook.

Stainless steel or cast iron grates are either not going to store enough heat to provide proper oven spring, or they won’t cover enough area of the dough to supply equal oven spring.

Pizzas cooked directly on the grates more closely resemble topped flatbreads than traditional pizzas.

Pizza steels solve the problem of a lack of oven spring, while introducing the complication of a blackened bottom. All that stored heat needs to be accounted for when making pizza on a steel in the grill.

Some recommend flipping the pizza once and topping the cooked bottom as the new top of the pizza. For pizza cooked on the grates this works well as the grates give the dough some texture, but once again - flatbread.

Flipping a pizza baked on a steel creates a very flat surface without any ridges, valleys, or other textures to collect the sauce and toppings.

The underside is then the textured side and it’s like you’re eating a pizza upside down. Not an enjoyable experience.

As said earlier, without a heat source from above, the crust can’t develop any color and the toppings can’t cook.

The sauce remains thin, pepperonis don’t crisp, tomatoes don’t blister, sausage remains raw, vegetables don’t char.

A higher hydration, around 65%, and an increased oil content in the dough is going to provide a pizza that springs nicely on the steel, has an airy rim, and is tender, not dried out.

Hand mixed or by stand mixer, the dough should not be overworked, which contributes to the pizza’s lightness and avoids chewiness.

A short fermentation means you can have pizza the same day you make it, much more in line with the convenience of using a grill.

Pizza sauce should be simmered for a few minutes to thicken and warm.

BBQ sauce should be warmed over the stove and thinned out with apple cider vinegar.

Raw meats should be completely cooked through, and if necessary, chopped into smaller pieces for topping.

Cherry tomatoes should be blistered in a pan with olive oil and minced garlic.

Mushrooms, peppers, and other vegetables containing a large amount of water should be seasoned and cooked in a pan.

Cured meats like pepperonis should be crisped in a pan or microwave.

Pickled ingredients should be blotted dry of any brine and cut appropriately.

The pizza should be shaped as normal, pushing the gas to the edge and establishing a rim.

A rolling pin and dough docker or fork are necessary as the pizza will be first baked untopped. Rolling out the shaped pizza and then puncturing holes in it will keep the untopped dough from turning into a pizza “pillow.”

That is not something that’s able to be successfully topped and cooked. Due to the hydration and heat from the steel, plenty of gasses remain to create proper spring in the rim and texture throughout the pizza.

The rim will still be established post-bake as it was formed before it was rolled and docked.

Remove the flame guards and all but two grates. Less material in the grill absorbing heat or blocking heat, the better the steel will heat and the hot air will circulate. Use the two grates to suspend the steel over the open flames.

Steel temp 650F-665F at launch. This temperature provides enough heat for proper oven spring and browning of the bottom, without burning, in 1 minute.

THE DOUBLE FLIP.  Flipping the dough top down after the initial 1 minute bake for 1.5 minutes gives the crust some color. Flipping it back over and topping means you can say goodbye to pale pizzas.

Turn some of the burners off. Turning the burners directly under the steel off after the second flip and then topping it keeps the bottom of the pizza from burning while you heat the toppings for 2-3 minutes. The steel has enough stored energy to continue to brown your pizza, but not enough to burn it.

Bring your toppings to the edge. Saucing close to the edge and then adding your cheese and other toppings to the edge creates an appealing “flatbread” look for your pizza.

Be sure to have additional post bake toppings for your pizza.

Burrata with its delicious creaminess and cold temperature juxtaposed with the heat of the grilled pizza is a wonderful companion.

Basil or arugula sprinkled over top provides a contrast of color and can even hide less aesthetically pleasing parts of your pizza - it happens.

Additional drizzles of olive oil, balsamic glaze, rings of BBQ sauce, or splatters of pizza sauce can always elevate your pizza visually and provide additional flavors.

Slicing your pizza into squares allows all of your guests to get a bite. They can get their hands on airy pieces of the rim and the more flatbread-like areas of the middle.

Grilled pizzas on steel, much like a summer get together, are an informal affair. An unfussy dough that ferments quickly, ample opportunity for topping improvisation, and the perfect food to easily share with friends and family.

The house stays cool with the oven not being needed and the outside stays lively as you flip, flip, top, and slice pizza after pizza.

Neapolitans might have their high heat ovens and New York pizzas have their flops and folds, but give me the patio table, a beverage, and the fresh summer air of a grilled pizza any night.