Grilled Pizza On A Charcoal Grill

Grilled Pizza on a Charcoal Grill | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

We’ve made a lot of grilled pizzas here at Bread in Five, but almost all of them have been on a gas grill. If you’ve ever attempted a pizza on a charcoal grill you know why this is: the pizza is much easier to manage, and there is less change of burning when it’s not over flaming hot coals. However, many people do not own a gas grill, and so we set out to figure out some helpful tips and tricks in making a charcoal grilled pizza a little bit easier. Twenty pizzas later, and we finally have something for you.

There were quite a few things we learned along the way: bread flour makes a nice, sturdy dough, olive oil in the dough keeps the pizza from sticking to the grill, building a hot and cool side in the grill is a must, and keeping the pizzas on the small side makes them easier to manage.

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The new edition of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is now available

The new edition of the best-selling bread cookbook

So excited about this NEW version of the first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. So, what’s new? It’s nearly 150 pages longer, with lots of new recipes, techniques, and WAY more photos (40 gorgeous color and 100 black-and-white instructional shots). There are over 30 brand-new recipes and fun variations, including Crock Pot Bread, Pull-apart Rolls, Pretzel Buns, Stuffed French Toast, gluten-free breads, and lots more.

All the old favorites are still there, and thanks to your suggestions, there are weight measures added to all the dough recipes in the book, both U.S. (pounds/ounces) and metric (grams). The Tips and Techniques section’s expanded, and includes instructions for adjusting salt and yeast to your taste.

As always, you’re pre-mixing dough that can be stored in your refrigerator for up to two weeks, so active time is still only five minutes a day. There’ll be much more to talk about in October when the book hits the stores, but we just had to give you a sneak peek at the beautiful new cover.

Two years in the making, this sixth-anniversary edition of the first book–The New Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day–is available from online sellers. Thanks for all the feedback you’ve given here on the website–it’s shaped the new book. Cheers!

Keep baking bread all summer long–outside!

cover-on-the-grill.jpg

Below, one of my posts from years back, on baking loaf breads on the gas grill in my backyard.  Some folks were having trouble with the bottom scorching and one solution is to crumple a bunch of aluminum foil and put it under the loaf so it insulates under the parchment.  And here, click on the video for a TV appearance where I had a chance to show how to handle the dough for flatbreads on the grill (didn’t actually go outside).

Other summer posts:

Grilled pizza

Grilled flatbread

Baguette on the grill

Pumpernickel done on the grill

Rustic fruit tart on the gas grill

Brioche on a grill

Bread on a Coleman stove while camping

Kohlrabi Greens Pizza right on the grates

Fruit pizza on the grill baked with the stone

Pumpernickel done on the grill

Fourth Of July berry pizza

Even in Minnesota it’s 83 degrees today, so out to the gas grill I went.  Last summer, we did pizzas, and other breads on the gas grill (I like the Weber gas grills for this), but I never tried baking on a gas grill with a closed cast iron pot.  The results are terrific– the crust is much better than last summer’s projects because the Dutch Oven traps steam next to the bread–you don’t have to add any other steam to the baking environment.  But you also need to use a pizza stone under the pot, or it can scorch. Read More

Star Spangled Berry Pizza on the Grill

4th of July Pizza 10

There is nothing more American than grilling on the 4th of July, well, maybe a star spangled pizza is the most patriotic of all. This is a super fast pizza that is ideal for breakfast, which I just served my family this morning, or can be throw together at your holiday BBQ as dessert. I made the pizza in a small baking sheet, but you can make a larger one if you have a crowd to feed.

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Olive Oil Flatbread with Asparagus and Caramelized Onion Spread

olive oil flatbread with asparagus and caramelized onion spread | bread in 5

The asparagus season is short, and since we’re on the very tail end of it, working it into a flatbread seemed like a good idea. Technically this might just as easily be a pizza, since there is sauce, some cheese, and a heaping of vegetables. Either way, it’s a delicious dinner. The caramelized onion spread is sweet, and adds a nice backdrop of flavor. The asparagus is peeled into ribbons, and this technique helps them bake easily, leaving a tender bite and a subtle flavor. Goat cheese lends just a bit of tang, and if you happen to have chives growing in your garden, topping it all off with chive flowers makes a beautiful presentation.

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Gluten-Free Calzone

Gluten-Free Calzone | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Stuff a calzone with any fillings you like and you have a simple and delicious lunch. And if you make them small, individual-serving-size, you can pack calzones for a great school lunch. There is no end to the flavor combinations. This recipe can be made with any of the doughs in our Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book, but today I made a gluten-free calzone, which is super tasty and the dough is easy to work with. Because the dough doesn’t have the same gluten-full stretch, we have to handle it slightly differently, but it is just as simple as traditional dough with the right technique. Read More

Soft Puerto Rican Sweet Buns (Mallorca)

mallorca

For spring break my family visited Puerto Rico. It took me less than 24 hours to find myself an amazing local bakery with all kinds of tasty pastries and breads to try. My favorites, which I managed to sample several times during our stay, were the Quesitos and Mallorca buns. The buns are a sweet enriched dough that is wound up into a snail shell shape and dusted with a thick coating of powdered sugar. We ate them plain with coffee or split open, stuffed with eggs and bacon, as a breakfast sandwich. When I got back home, I used our brioche dough to recreate the sweet buns and they are delicious and easy to make.  Read More

Thanks Michael Pollan, for telling MN Public Radio that you can live on bread alone…

Michael Pollan on MPR

… at least if it’s got some whole grain.  Michael Pollan was on MPR May 2, 2013, with Kerri Miller.  Charming guy, you can listen to the interview (click here).  He was in town to promote his new book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

To our ever-lasting joy, he really focused on bread; that’s where the conversation started.  Long-fermented (like ours), and home-baked. We have lots of whole-grain loaves in Healthy Bread In Five Minutes a Day, while most of our white-flour based breads are in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Michael, by the way, talked about the value of a little white bread now and then.  Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Braided Black-and-White Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf

KitchenAid Professional 600

Given all the baking I do, you’d think I’d have started using a stand mixer years ago.  But believe it or not, I’ve recipe-tested for three books using nothing but a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk.

Well, I’m tired.  So above, my new KitchenAid Professional 600 series, 6-quart capacity stand mixer, which is an outstandingly beautiful piece of industrial design that hasn’t really changed its look in about 100 years. More on the mixer in a bit.

So many doughs, so little time.  I’m hooked on this machine, especially when I have to make more than one dough for a recipe, like in this very beautiful Braided Black-and-White Pumpernickel and Rye Loaf from two doughs in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (this photo by Mark Luinenburg):

New York Rye

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