Smoke signals from the backyard: Homemade pizza on the grill

After our successful attempt at grilling a take-n-bake pizza in my trusty charcoal Weber, my wife decided it was time for a more ambitious project - homemade pizza.

In a previous life, my wife worked at a pizzeria. She's familiar with making pizza dough, so it wasn't a problem for her. Follow just about any recipe you find online, and it should be fine. Or, buy pizza dough in the store and follow the directions.

First, our goal was to recreate the chicken-artichoke heart pizza we purchased from the take-n-bake place. I grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts as a way to use the coals prior to placing the pizza dough on the grill. I rubbed down the grate with vegetable oil before this as well.

The chicken breasts usually take about 30 minutes (or a little longer, depending on the size).

Rather than setting up the grill for indirect grilling, I opted to have a single layer of coals spread across the charcoal grate. They should be ashy gray and not too hot. If you can put your palm over the grate for a count of three or four Mississippi, that should be medium (one to two is high). You want medium low, so shoot for a five count. I had to adjust the air vents on my grill to achieve the temperature I wanted (as in the photo below).

Be prepared
I can't stress the importance of this enough. This goes very quickly. Make sure you have all your ingredients ready and next to the grill. Our pizza had chopped grilled chicken breasts, chopped artichoke hearts, fresh basil, chopped bacon and cheese. My wife used a garlic-and-olive-oil sauce to drizzle over the pizza.

With the toppings ready to go, it was time to get the pizza dough on the grill. Place the dough directly on the grill (no pan needed) and cover. Leave the dough on for about three minutes (for thin crust pizza). With a spatula, flip the dough and quickly add your toppings while the bottom cooks (about another three minutes).