Grilled Pizza

Happy Friday!  Oh how I love Fridays.  Friday's usually mean dinner out, family visits and lots of pre-weekend errands.  But every so often, they mean a relaxed (well, as relaxed the little Tornado of Toys allows them to be) dinner at home with lots of playtime and no particular things to do or place to be.  These are my favorite kind of Fridays (probably because they're so hard to come by!)  For those delicious Fridays, I like to pull out my favorite pizza dough recipe and have the hubby grill it up (after I prebake the shell).  There's something oh so yummy about a grilled pizza and an unhurried evening!

Grilled Pizza with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions and Pepperoncinis

Dough Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 + 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup pepper (or to taste)
2 teaspoons garlic powder


Topping Ingredients:
2 Hot Italian Sausage links
1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped or sliced thin
3 tablespoons sliced pepperoncinis
1/2 cup your favorite pizza sauce
1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese

Directions For the Dough:

1. Combine yeast with 1/4 cup water in a large mixing bowl and let stand for 10 minutes
2. While yeast is proofing, combine sugar, salt, garlic powder and pepper
3. After 10 minutes, add the flour, olive oil 1 cup water and spices to the bowl
4. Mix/Knead dough for 10-12 minutes (I let my mixer do the work) - dough should be elastic and smooth
5. Put dough in oiled bowl; Cover and let stand for 1 hour
6. Divide dough in half (for this recipe we're only using 1/2 of the dough - the other 1/2 can be put in the refrigerator for a few days or in the freezer up to a month)

Directions For the Toppings:

1. Remove casing from sausages
2. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium heat
3. Add sausages and saute - break sausages apart as they cook
4. After 5 minutes of cooking, add mushrooms and continue to cook until sausage is cooked through
5. Remove from heat and set aside

Assemble Pizza:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Roll/Stretch dough into pizza crusts of desired thickness (I use jelly roll pans)
3. Prick holes in the dough with a fork
4. Prebake dough at 375 for 5-7 minutes
5. Heat grill to medium
6. Remove prebaked shells and top each with pizza sauce, cheese, sausage/mushrooms, red onion & pepperoncinis
7. Gently transfer pizza to the grill using a large spatula
8. Close the lid and grill until cheese is melted and crust is desired crispness (5-7 minutes)
9. Remove from grill very carefully (I slide the pan back under it to remove) and enjoy