So as he guzzled down some delicious rosé while staring at the spice rack for twiced-baked potato inspiration, I managed to get a pretty spot-on-Badger-style tutorial of the grilled pizza extravaganza:
First, make the pizza dough of your choice in a bread maker - we went with
the Joy of Cooking recipe.
You can make the dough by hand but it involves lots of kneading and waiting (sounds like a drama queen) and rising and pounding and what have you and quite frankly we didn't want to go that extreme.
After you remove the dough from the breadmaker, pound it down to reduce the volume.
Place in a bowl with a wet towel over it for 2 two hours and let it rise.
Separate the ball of dough and form french bread-style pizza crusts (5x12"); make sure they're well floured. Dowse in olive oil.
Now it's grill time...
Cover the grill for ~5 minutes to cool down before you put the crusts on. After the grill is hot, oil the grates down, then throw the crusts on the grill.
Cook on one side until brown. Flip and place your toppings on. Cover the grill.
Cook with the cover on until the crust on the bottom is done. Cooking time depends on the grill, but it shouldn't take any longer than 7 - 10 minutes (or until crust is brown) combined for both sides.
Tip - If you make the crust too big, it will be hard to handle and most likely impossible to flip over. So the key is to make the dough thick and small so it's manageable. Use plenty of oil as well. "And don't forget to salt your ingredients accordingly!"
(I put this in quotes because seriously, you should have heard the way he said it. What a nerd :))
For flavors we went with::
carmelized onions + gorgonzola;
roasted red peppers + goat cheese;
soyrizo + boiled corn + cilantro + tomato + cheddar cheese;
homemade spaghetti sauce + mozzarella + pepperoni;
pickled jalepenos + goat cheese
The first 3 were the birthday girl's choice. I'm clearly a cheese-loving vegetarian in case you wondered. And boy oh BOY was it a delicious birthday meal. And I must give props to everyone at the party because it really was kind of a group effort...
Even Charlie thought it was great!