Well it's been almost precisely three months, but I'm back from hiatus because the world needs to see this one. I made grilled pizza last night and couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. That is easily the most round I've ever been able to make a pizza and the cheese was perfectly brown and bubbly. You can even see some of the beautiful grill marks I was able to get on the crust. It was also incredibly easy to make.
I followed Mark Bittman's recipe for pizza dough, which is incredibly simple; it hardly even requires kneading. I let it rise for about three hours and then plopped it out of its container onto a floured pizza pan. The dough was very easy to work as it wasn't overly elastic, so I was able to stretch it out to the edge of the pan without it tearing and with a fairly consistent level of dough throughout. Then I threw it on the grill that had been preheating on high heat for probably twenty minutes so that it was really hot. I turn down the two burners that are directly below the pizza to medium after I put it on and then shut the lid and let it cook for about five minutes. After the five minutes I flip it and put on the sauce and toppings. Then I let it cook for another five to ten minutes. Basically at this stage I'm just looking for the cheese to melt and the bottom crust to get a little crispy. Now here's the secret that I discovered last night: once the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy enough that it can support itself take the pizza off and put it directly on the rack of an oven preheated to 500 degrees. That is key because on the grill the toppings don't get very hot or cook, but if you put it in a very hot oven the cheese will brown up, the topping will cook, and you'll still maintain that grilled flavor and crispiness. It tasted just as good as it looks by the way.