How to Make Pizza with a Barbecue

Making pizza on a barbecue grill is both an art and a science. There are a few things that you need to learn gradually, but with a little practice, you can set up the grill, roll the dough and finish a delicious pizza. If you like, you can also serve the pizza with other baked goods.

Table of Contents

Ingredient

450 g pizza dough
½ to 1 cup ketchup
Cheese (Grated Asiago, Grated Parmesan, Shredded Mozzarella)
Ketchup
Thinly sliced toppings of your choice
Olive oil

Set up the grill

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Make sure your barbecue has a thermostat and a lid. Buy a grill thermostat at home or grocery stores if your stove doesn’t have one. The stove must reach and maintain a temperature of about 220 degrees Celsius to generate enough heat to bake the cake. If the temperature is too low, you will only be able to bake the base from the bottom.

If the stove does not have a lid, you can replace it with a baking tray placed upside down on the stove.
Try using a stove with a flat, wide grill. The slotted grill will still bake pizza, but it will be more difficult to clean.
For a wood-fired or outdoor stove, you’ll need a brick kitchen frame and a hot charcoal grill.

Cover the barbecue with an upside-down baking tray if your stove doesn’t have a lid. Arrange bricks on two sides of the wall and one wall at the back of the kitchen. Each wall surface needs to be 2 bricks high. Leave the top and front of the stove open. The distance between the two walls must be small enough for the baking tray to be placed firmly and securely on top.

Bake the pizza by placing the cake in the space inside the “walls” and cover the baking tray above so that the heat reaches the top of the cake.
Be very careful when using this method to avoid burns.
Take out the baking tray covered on top to check after baking for a while. Remove the cake if the top turns brown too quickly.

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Lay bricks around the stove to add more heat. If desired, you can lay clean tiles around the barbecue before preheating the stove to simulate a toaster oven. When using bricks, it will take you more time to preheat the stove, but the heat will be more even and suitable for baking pizza.

Use clean bricks to avoid fire risks and wrap bricks in tin foil for safety.

Roll the dough

Place 450 g of pizza dough on a flat surface sprinkled with a thin layer of flour. Sprinkle some flour on a suitable surface such as a pizza shovel, baking tray, or cutting board. ^{[1] X Research Source}

You can buy pizza dough at the store or make your own. If you’re making your own dough, keep in mind that whole-wheat flour or fine cornmeal is richer in protein and chewier, but it also takes longer to cook.

Roll the dough from the inside out into a circle about 30 cm in diameter. Roll the rolling pin up and down along the dough. Thin pizza base is usually about 0.3-0.6 cm thick. Remember to rotate the dough and roll it flat in as many directions as possible so that the cake has an even thickness. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Try a thin base – most pizza baked on a barbecue have a thinner base and less raw ingredients because it’s baked from the bottom up.
A barbecue with good heat control can bake cakes of different thicknesses and textures; You’ll have to experiment to see which is best for your stove.
You can pre-bake the base and freeze it. The frozen cake base is still delicious, so try baking it once.

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Cut the filling ingredients into pieces of equal thickness. Only use a maximum of 3 types of cake fillings. The usual pizza filling includes green bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. You can also use spinach, artichokes, and other less common ingredients. The meat filling usually includes pork sausage, beef sausage and chicken.

If you want to keep it simple, you can make a pizza by baking the dough on both sides like a pancake, then apply garlic oil to the cake and eat or sandwich it with other foods.

Cook the raw meat filling before putting it on the pizza. This step is especially important when you’re using seafood and chicken. Surely you don’t want the cake to come out of the oven with the filling still alive. It is best to place the meat close to the edge of the pizza to cook faster. ^{[3] X Trusted Source National Health Service (UK) Go to Source}

Eat cooked meat as soon as possible. If you have leftovers, store them in a clean, sealed container and place in the lower shelf of the refrigerator at 5 degrees Celsius or below. Keep cooked meat separate from processed foods and raw meat.

Place the necessary ingredients and tools on a tray. Place all the filling ingredients on a tray (sliced or shredded ingredients), sauce, olive oil, oil brush, and a wide cooking shovel. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Grips are also useful, but not required.

Bake pizza

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Place the slice of pizza on the pizza shovel. You can also use a wooden cutting board, baking tray, or other flat object to easily transfer the pizza dough onto the barbecue grill.

If you’re using homemade dough and don’t bake the base first, be careful not to let the dough rise too much, or the cake will be soft and break easily.

Brush olive oil on top of cake. Gently brush the olive oil all over the cake. Continue sweeping until the entire surface of the powder is coated with a thin layer of oil. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Place cake face down with olive oil, cover and bake 1-2 minutes. Open the stove top and gently place the dough on the griddle. Bake for about 3 minutes uncovered, or 1-2 minutes if covered. ^{[6] X Research Source}

Use tongs to lift the dough every 30 seconds. The cake should be baked to the point where it has the mark of the grill but is not yet crispy.

Use a shovel to turn the base of the cake. Slide the shovel under the dough as deep as possible and place your other hand over the unbaked surface. Gently turn the dough over onto the griddle. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

The cake should be easily removed without breaking. If the cake is soft or seems fragile, continue baking for another 30 seconds, then check again.
If the cake is only golden on one side, use tongs or a shovel to turn the cake to a 90 degree angle and bake for 1 more minute.

Brush the top with olive oil and add a large spoonful of sauce. Pour a little olive oil on an oiling brush and lightly brush the surface of the baked pizza, then scoop a spoonful of the sauce over the cake, using the back of the spoon to spread the sauce all over the surface of the cake. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

You can use one or more spoonfuls of sauce if you like to eat a lot of sauce, but there is a risk of the cake getting wet.

Add the filling and cheese on top of the cooked cake. Start by spreading the filling evenly over the cake, then sprinkle the cheese on top, and if there is meat, place the meat on top of the cheese. Avoid filling the cake with fillings, especially cheese and different sauces.

The cheese will yellow and melt very quickly, so if you add too much cheese, the filling may leak. ^{[9] X Research Source}
If you add too much cheese, the cake runs the risk of burning and burning.

Bake the pizza for 3-5 minutes. After adding the filling, close the lid and let the cake cook. Use your sense of smell and judgment to monitor the baking process – if you smell burning, open the lid. You can also move the cake to a cooler part of the grill.

If the cake continues to burn even after you open the lid or move the cake, you need to reduce the temperature to about 260 -290 degrees Celsius.

Close the vent for 2-3 minutes if you use a charcoal grill. Remember to close the vents on the lid almost during the entire baking process. After 2-3 minutes of baking or when the cheese starts to bubble and the bottom of the cake starts to brown, remove the cake with a shovel and place it on a cutting board for 1-2 minutes before serving. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Remove the pizza when the cheese has melted just enough.

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Cut the pizza into four parts. Gently hold the edge of the cake and cut a vertical line in the center of the cake, then cut a horizontal line to divide the cake into four equal parts.

You can cut 1-2 more diagonals if you want to divide the cake into smaller portions, but 4 pieces is best for each serving with this size pizza.
If more than one person eats the cake, ask everyone to lend a hand while baking so you can share the work and enjoy the cake when it’s done.

Advice

Barbecue pizza can take a lot of work, practice, and experimentation to get to the perfect finish. Making pizza in a regular oven is much easier, but if you put in the work, the results are well worth it.
Watch out for your neighbors and make sure the wind blows away from the house (especially the clothesline). There are now many restaurants that serve grilled pizza, so it’s best to go to those places instead of causing friction with your neighbors because there is no suitable place for BBQ.

Warning

Bake cakes only in the appropriate areas. Watch out for smoke and local government fire restrictions and fire hazards.

Things you need

Barbecue (gas or charcoal stove)
Oil brush
Big spoon
Pizza baking pan
Baking tray (optional)
Kitchen gloves
Metal tongs
Metal cooking shovel