On a hot Arizona evening, the last thing anyone wants is a five-hundred-degree oven running in the kitchen. The good news? Your grill does the job better anyway. Cooked over live fire, a pizza picks up a blistered crust and a whisper of smoke no indoor oven can match.
The method is simpler than it sounds. Roll the dough thin, get the grill good and hot, and lay the crust straight on the grate. Once the bottom sets and marks, flip it, work quickly to add your sauce and toppings on the cooked side, then close the lid just long enough to melt the cheese. A light hand is the whole secret - a grilled pizza wants to be simple.
Set out a few bowls of toppings and let everyone build their own, and dinner becomes the entertainment. That, to my mind, is exactly what summer cooking should be.
Originally published in View AZ Highlife Magazine, Aug / Sep 2007.