grilled sausage and onion pizza with basil
Baby it is HOT outside. 90 degrees at 7pm hot.
Not quite Egypt hot, but definitely hot for San Carlos, the city of good living.
And if it is just as hot where you are, I know it will be hard to convince you that not only should you make this pizza for dinner, but you should grill it. Above hot coals. It is seriously that good. Our neatly stacked white plates remained clean: we ate piping hot slices directly off the cutting board, standing around the grill out back.
Pizza is definitely one of our favorite things to eat and after going gluten-free it was definitely something that we were both missing. We were determined to have pizza back in our lives, even if the only kind we could have was a French bread pizza (made using our gluten-free baguettes).
Getting beyond the French bread pizzas took some figuring out. We wanted a pizza crust that was crispy and chewy at the same time. We wanted a crust that wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the toppings yet wasn’t too dense.
And since pizza is the topic of this month’s gluten-free ratio rally (hosted by Karen of Cooking Gluten-free), it gave me time to play around with our existing recipe. After some tinkering, we found our pizza perfect ratio is 9 dry : 8 wet… very close to a 1-1 ratio, but not quite.
So the next time you are waffling about what to make for dinner, consider making pizza, and consider grilling it. I say bring the heat. BRING IT.
grilled sausage and onion pizza with basil
Ingredients
- 176 ml / ¾ c water
- 12 g / 1 tbsp sugar
- 6 g / 2 tsp yeast
- 212 g / 1 1/3 c gluten-free flour of your choosing
- 3 g / 1 tsp xanthan
- 3 g /2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp cornmeal
- 176 ml / ¾ c pizza sauce
- 6 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 8 oz Italian sausage
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 handful basil leaves, washed and dried
- Crushed red pepper for garnish (optional)
Heat water to 110 degrees. Stir in sugar and yeast. Let proof in a turned-off microwave (ours maintains a 75 or so degree temp when off). Let rest until the yeast is bubbly and has doubled in size about 15 minutes.
Coat a 10-in pizza pan with shortening. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Coat hands with shortening and press dough out to the edges and folder over. Let rest for 30 min. Par bake at 400°F for 5 minutes or until very light brown.
Remove from oven and let cool. At this point you can store the pizza in the freezer if you don’t plan to use it immediately. Just be sure wrap it tightly and then defrost it thoroughly before using.
Cook the Italian ground sausage and half an onion directly in a pan on the grill. Once the onions are translucent and the meat is cooked, add the basil and remove the pan from the heat. Top pizza with sauce and cheese. Spoon Italian sausage and onions over pizza.
Place pizza on the grill so that it is near, but not directly over the flame/coals. Cook for approximately 15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to make sure crust is not browning too fast. If the cheese melts, but the crust is not as crispy as desired, move pizza over the flame/coals. Remove as soon as it starts to deepen in color. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired. Slice up and enjoy!
Curious what other pizzas the ratio rally-ers cooked up? Check out their posts!
- Jenn | Jenn Cuisine: Moitié-Moitié Sausage & Chanterelle Pizza
- Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie: Pissaladière (Provençal flatbread w/ olives & anchovies)
- TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies: Teriyaki Chicken Pizza
- Erin Swing | The Sensitive Epicure: Stuffed Pizza Pie: Spinach, Mushrooms, Sausage
- Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem: Grilled Pizza
- Mrs. R | Honey From Flinty Rocks: Pepperoni Pizza & Pineapple, Black Olive & Ham Pizza
- Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free: Pizza crust by ratio (choose your toppings)
- Morri | Meals With Morri: Everything Peace Pretzels & Pizza Blanca
- Meredith | Gluten Free Betty: Pizza
- Gretchen | Kumquat: Mozzarella Pizza with Pine Nuts, Currants, & Arugula
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October 5th, 2011 at 6:21 am
Looks delicious! Having also made a grilled pizza for this month’s ratio rally, I agree. Bring the heat! =)
Cheers, Pete
October 5th, 2011 at 9:16 am
Oooh, grilled pizza. Love grilled pizza! This looks great – and your crust looks amazing!
October 5th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Beautiful! I’ve never grilled a pizza before, your’s looks like it came out great!
October 5th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
I haven’t had a grilled pizza in ages. I maybe stealing my mother’s grill for this one!
October 5th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
I love love love grilled pizza. There’s something about the smokiness and crispness a grill imparts that makes even plain cheese pizza seem gourmet. Good for you for braving the heat to stand over hot coals! And interestingly, although I didn’t have time to participate in the Rally this month, I checked my grilled pizza recipe, and it’s pretty close to a 1:1 ratio as well.
October 6th, 2011 at 4:25 am
I always love a typically large meal miniatured to individual plates. The first thing I thought when I saw the first picture was “how cute.” And after I read through it, it went from adorable to adorable and delicious. And grilling pizza? Brilliant.
Also, what gluten-free flour combination did you use?
Morri