Today we Galley Pirates are welcoming guest pirate Ann as she walks us through her Italian family’s homemade pizza recipe. On a grill! On a boat! Aaargh!

Heavenly Grilled Pizza – so named for two reasons. I first created this pizza recipe on a Mission Trip to Ulaanbaatar Mongolia two years ago when my hosts were all excited about taking me to the new Pizza Hut. I said, “I am a half Italian-half Sicilian Veterinarian, and we can make far better pizza!” Last year my skipper convinced me a stern rail grill was the way to go after a charter trip to the BVI’s- so I worked on the quick dough recipe and the technique of using the grill as an oven. Our boat’s name is “Blue Heaven” – so that is the other piece of the name puzzle.

This makes 2 pizzas!

For a print-friendly recipe see below

Quick Pizza Dough

4 Cups All-purpose flour (King Arthur or Italian tipo 00)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp dry yeast (1 packet)
2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

The dough recipe can be easily cut in half if you only want to make one pizza – just use a half packet of yeast and save the other for another time!

Fig, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Pizza topped with Arugula

4 oz fig preserves/jam.
4 oz crumbled goat cheese
4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto

2-3 cups arugula
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pepperoni Pizza:

1 cup Pizza sauce.
4 oz of sliced pepperoni
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

Making the dough: Mix (1 ½) Cups warm (110F) water in a cup with 1 tsp sugar and sprinkle yeast on top. Allow to proof for 10 minutes.

Mix in olive oil and then pour into a large bowl with the flour, salt and remaining sugar. Mix with a spoon adding more flour until not sticky.

Turn out onto a very clean work surface and knead 8-10 minutes adding more flour as necessary until springy.

Coat with oil and put in large bowl- cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place (80-100F) until doubles in size – about 1 hour on a hot Chesapeake day.

Punch down and divide. Cover with a towel and let the dough rest 10 minutes.

Stretch or role into a 13-14” circle and place on baking sheet that has cooking spray applied.

In the meantime Skipper Chuck is heating up the pizza stone on the grill and checking the temperature with his IR temperature gun. A deft sailor can do this easily while holding a glass of wine. Be sure it reaches 450ºF.

Grill: Get a pizza stone – it makes all the difference. Using cool IR temp gun to confirm heat–may also be used to check the temp of your alternator when it’s malfunctioning and not charging your batteries. Sailors, especially Pirates, believe everything on a boat should be a multi-tasker and take up as little space as possible. And as I told my Mongolian colleagues, bring science to cooking!

Top the pizza dough with the fig jam, then the cheese and lastly the prosciutto. Next prepare the arugula.  Similar to Galley Pirate’s earlier Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza, this pizza also gets topped with a “salad.” Toss the arugula with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside while you grill the pizza.

Place the pizza pan on the 450 preheated pizza stone and close down the lid. Grill for 15 minutes and check the crust. It may take 20 minutes especially if it’s windy.

The real way to know if your pizza is ready? A lovely golden brown crust as well as melted cheese!

After removing from grill, top with the arugula salad that has been tossed with dressing.

Slice up and serve. This method of grilling on a pizza stone gives that perfect combination of a gooey top and a crispy crust. Not easily done on a boat. (Well, not unless you’re Pizza Pi!) We have actually been working on translating oven pizza to a grill situation for awhile. It was the addition of the stone and the IR gun that took us to a point of consistency where we were comfortable sharing with the REAL Galley Pirates!! Aaarghhh!

And as Ernie looks on….

…prepare the Pepperoni Pizza. Use the same method with remaining pizza dough. Top with sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni.

Grill to perfection, again using the pizza stone and a hot grill at 450º.

Check your pizza after 15 minutes. Remove with a large spatula when the crust is crispy and the cheese is melted.

Slice up and serve. Our Niece was taking sailing class for the week, and along with helping us take the boat down to our favorite Rhode River she was a whiz in the galley and insisted on a “normal” pizza in addition to the “fancy” pizza. And of course our new boat dog Ernie (affectionately named after Ernest Shackleton) was aboard to monitor both food production and kayak use.

 

And a big Galley Pirates THANKS goes out to the whole Pizza Grilling Crew: Chuck, Ann, Fran and Ernie!