Tasty Whole Wheat Pizza...On the Barbie!

It's coming up on that time of year when it's just do dang hot to cook in the house...hard to believe that ever happens in Oregon, but it does for a few days anyway!  And, not that I don't love a good burger, but I do get tired of them after a while in the summer, so it's nice to change it up a bit for dinner on the grill.  Yes, I'm getting to the moral of the story, and that is, you can use a Silpat on a temperature controlled barbeque to cook pizza in summer without heating up your house! Temperature controlled you say? Basically, if you can keep your barbeque below 480 degrees, you can use a Silpat on the grill.  (Silpats are safe to use up to 480 degrees). We have a Traeger BBQ, and it has a temperature gauge on it, so it's pretty handy for such an endeavor. Now, down to the food business...

The following recipes are what I use as my base for all pizzas...dough, sauce, and cheese.  For Weight Watchers Points Plus, I get 12 servings from the whole dough recipe + 1 cup of sauce + 3 cups of shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, equaling 5 points per serving.  When I roll out my dough, I roll it big enough to almost cover a large Silpat, which is 14.5" x 19".  Of course, adding toppings besides veggies adds points, but you can add some pretty low point foods and still have a really delicious, and filling pizza!

Also, both the dough and the sauce can be made ahead and frozen! Just pull the dough out of the freezer a few hours before you want to roll it out, and about the same amount of time for the sauce. 

So, for the dough-

1 1/2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Luke Warm Water

2 1/4 Teaspoons Yeast

Just throw all these ingredients in your bread machine on the dough cycle (about an hour). You could also use a stand mixer with a dough hook, just follow the manufacturer's instructions for mixing and kneading, and let it rise for an hour or so.

For the sauce-

1, 6oz Can Tomato Paste
1, 10.75oz Can Tomato Puree
1, 15oz Can Tomato Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Dried Oregano
1/4 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper (or more or less depending on your taste)
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 Teaspoons Dried Parsley
1 1/2 Teaspoons Dried Basil

Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and whisk together.  Bring to a boil on medium-high heat until it starts to boil. BEWARE, it will pop and splatter everywhere, so as soon as it begins to boil, put the lid on and lower the heat; simmer covered for 10 minutes just to let all the yummy herbs and spices become friends with the tomatoes. Yummy!

 
Now, to make it a little more pizza-like...

Lay your Silpat on the counter (nifty fact...it sticks to the counter, but food won't stick to it! That means, you can use minimal flour to roll out the dough, since plain, white, all purpose flour has a whopping 455 calories in just 1 cup!!!), and stick your dough right on top.  Dust the top with just a little flour, and roll out to desired thickness, I usually go to about 1/4 inch thick.  Let it rise for 20 minutes or so until it gets puffed up again.

 After the dough is ready to go, pour on 1 cup of sauce, and spread out evenly over the dough, and then sprinkle with 2 1/4 cups of the cheese (save the rest to sprinkle over the other toppings). ...yikes, please ignore the hideous state of my Silpat...it has been well loved, and well used!!

Now, for toppings! For blogging (and dinner) purposes, I put chicken, olives, red bell peppers, and sliced onions on this pizza, just remember for you Points Plusers out there to add in the points.

Now, for the bbq'ing part...get your bbq to about 400 degrees, and just slide everything (perforated baking sheet, Silpat, and pizza) right on the grill.  Shut the lid, and let it cook for about 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, check to see how crispy the crust is getting underneath, and rotate the pizza if need be (our bbq has a hot spot in the back, so I turned my pizza about half way through).  It should take between 20 and 25 minutes to cook the pizza, basically the same as if you did it in your oven.  Once the crust is nice and crispy, and all the toppings are nicely cooked, take it off the bbq and you're done! No hot house, and just a Silpat to wash up quick! Just don't cut your pizza on the Silpat, or you'll need a new one!! :)

Enjoy!