Grilled Flatbread with Truffle Cheese, Roasted Sweet Peppers & Salami – Recipe!

Pizza night during the summertime doesn’t always seem like the best idea because the kitchen starts to really heat up when you crank the oven over 500 degrees.  However, you have other options when the weather warms up, so you never have to miss out on homemade flatbread or pizza.  Using your gas or charcoal grill to do the job of the oven, offers a similar steamy chamber that helps dough rise, while creating that intensely crispy crust we’ve all become accustomed to.  It sure doesn’t take much to make one of the most loved comfort foods right outside your kitchen door.

The recipe for pizza dough on the grill is slightly different than a recipe you create for baking it in the oven on a pizza stone, or sheet pan.  Bread flour over All-Purpose, OO (an Italian flour) or Caputo flour is best because it has more structure or protein, so it can hold up on the grill.  This type of dough made with bread flour can be better stretched, grilled and flipped with confidence that it won’t break apart, while cooking over the grates of a hot grill.

Here’s a few tips when making flatbread on the grill.  When you first place the dough on the grill, it takes a few minutes before it naturally releases itself from the grates, making it easy to turn over and toppings to be added.  Mozzarella and truffle cheese are the first toppings placed on top of the grilled flatbread surface, so they can gently begin to melt over the top, leaving the perfect edge.  Roasted red peppers that are grilled ahead of time, are then placed on top of the melty cheese, and then some rounds of salami, before closing the lid of the grill one final time to complete the cooking.  The results are some amazing stuff – a crispy, yet chewy crust with ooey-gooey cheese, smoky red peppers, and crispy circles of salami.  It tastes like summer pizza for sure, and it was all created on your outdoor grill.

Ingredients

Crust

2 1/2 cups bread flour

2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast or 1 3/4 teaspoon rapid rise yeast

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2-2/3 cup room temperature water

oil for bowl and grates

Toppings

1 sweet red pepper, seeded, sliced and grilled

6 ounces truffle cheese sliced

4 ounces sliced mozzarella

12 slices salami

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

(Makes 2 large Flatbreads)

To Prepare:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar and whisk.  Add water slowly, stir until combined.  After 10 minutes add salt, and stir.  Place on a flour dusted surface and knead for 3 minutes, until mostly smooth and elastic.  Oil bowl and place dough inside.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours.  Remove dough and divide into two pieces, shape into two balls.  You can make dough a day before, and let rise in the refrigerator overnight, then let rest on the countertop for 1 hour before using.
2. Preheat grill to 450 degrees.  Oil grates with a towel, carefully.
3. Stretch one ball of dough out and place on top of hot grill.  After 3-4 minutes, when dough begins to release, flip over and add half of cheeses.  Close lid of grill and allow cheese to melt for 2 minutes.  Adjust temperature of grill if cooking too fast.
4. Add sliced peppers and salami.  Close lid and cook for 3-5 minutes more, depending upon how fast the flatbread is browning on bottom.  Remove flatbread and place on a board or peel.  Dust with parmesan cheese and let rest 3 minutes before slicing.  Repeat with second ball of dough.  Enjoy!