Super Bowl Party Idea: Grilled Pizza
Pizza is by far the number one food served for a Super Bowl Party. You could order out for it, but you may not know what everyone wants on their pizza. And it’s cold by the time you go for seconds. Here’s a way to create a pizza buffet without keeping the oven on all night long, yet folks can enjoy hot, delicious pizza their way!
Grilled Pizza is quick and easy and you can get started making the shells tonight. First of all, very important. If you don’t have an interest in standing in the freezing cold in front of your barbecue grill and you don’t have a stove top grill pan, you may want to go out and get one. They’re relatively inexpensive ($20-30) and very useful all year round.
Then buy some pizza dough and toppings from your local megamart. Your going to make 8 individual pizzas out of each dough ball. So estimate how many your guests may eat and buy accordingly.
When you get home let the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours or until the dough rises and looks nice and fluffy from all the yeast activity. Spread some flour on your work surface and punch down your dough with your knuckles. Then form it back into a ball. Now take your pastry dough cutter, or a knife if you don’t have one, and quarter the dough and then half each of the quarters so you have 8 little dough balls.
In the meantime, get your grill pan hot – use medium heat. Or start up your barbecue – on low for now. You can also spray some oil on the surface just before placing the dough.
Spread a small amount of additional flour as needed on your work surface. You can either take a rolling pin and roll out each dough ball, or do it by hand to give it a more rustic look. If by hand, punch the dough down with your knuckles. Then grab an edge of the dough, lifting it off the surface. Place your fingers of both hands next to each other and lightly stretch apart. Don’t pull too hard or too far or you’ll put a hole in the dough. Gravity will be pulling and stretching the dough downward. Go around the dough at least once. You’re trying to make the dough into a rough circle but not too thin. Place back on the surface and spray cooking oil on one side of the dough. This side will be going down on the grill pan first.
Take the dough by one edge, hands apart. You want to lay the dough’s bottom oiled edge onto the far side of the pan allowing it to "stick" so you can stretch the dough over as far as possible to the other side of the pan. Don’t worry, when the dough is cooked it won’t continue to stick to the surface. The pizza dough will cook fast, only a few minutes on each side. And you’ll have nice grill marks to show for it. Repeat with all your dough. You can wrap them in plastic and keep them at room temperature until the next day or put them in the fridge (but let them come back to room temperature before cooking because this way the toppings will cook faster and more evenly).
On Super Bowl Sunday set up your pizza buffet line. The dough is already cooked so all you’re doing is making sure that the cheese melts and the toppings heat up. You can use your oven, broiler, toaster oven, specialized pizza counter cooker, frying pan or grill pan to reheat. If using a frying pan or grill pan, use a pot cover that doesn’t fit securely and allows air circulation, yet retains heat so the toppings heat through. A lower heat setting is best so you don’t burn the crust.
Important Note: Don’t put any raw foods on your dough – please cook them first!
This works great for any party or sporting event (football, baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer).