One food that I absolutely love is pizza. Pizza is most often ordered out, but did you know you can make outstanding homemade pizza at home? You can make pizza in your oven, but I prefer to make it on the grill, as this comes closest to the wood burning ovens that are used in the best pizza places. Making pizza can be a fun activity to do with your family or guests and everyone can assist. First you have to start with the dough. You will need the following for 1 large pizza:

 3 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

1 package of active dry yeast

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 cup of warm water (about 100 degrees)

1 tablespoon of kosher salt

2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

1. Begin by combining the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a mixing bowl and stir gently to dissolve. It is important to have the water at right around 100 degrees, so the yeast will become active. You do not want the water hotter however, as it can kill the yeast. Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes to give the yeast a good chance to become active. The yeast will create foam on top of the mixture.
2. Stir in the salt and two tablespoons of olive oil
3. Slowly begin adding the 3 cups of flour stirring it in with a spoon.  The mixture will thicken and it will become too difficult to stir with a spoon.
4. Knead the rest of the flour in by hand slowly in small amounts until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. This may seem a bit difficult your first time. If the dough is crumbly add a bit of water to it. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. You may go back and forth a few times between sticky and crumbly, but this is natural. After about 10 minutes, you should have dough that is fairly smooth and elastic.
5. Form the dough into a ball. Then lightly coat a bowl in olive oil. Add the dough to the bowl and turn it coating the dough lightly in olive oil.
6. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap, and let sit in a warm place for an hour. The dough will magically rise and double its size. You now have great dough to use for making pizza!

Your possibilities are endless when it comes to making great pizza. The key is to use the best and freshest possible ingredients that you can find. You will be surprised at what you may be able to find just at your local grocery. I started out by making a traditional style pizza. You will need:

Buffalo Mozzarella: You can often find this freshly made and preserved in a small amount of water. Depending on how much cheese you like, you will need anywhere from 10oz to 16oz for a large pizza.  Buffalo Mozzarella melts well and will give your pizza a great traditional taste!

Italian Sausage: Find Italian sausage at the butcher counter in links. I used 3 links for my pie. Often you can get this in variant degrees of spice to add as much heat as you want to your pie. 

Sliced Salami:  You can use pepperoni. However, if you want to add a more traditional flavor to your pie, use salami.  You can find it presliced, which makes it easy to add quickly to your pie.

Marinara Sauce: Use your favorite. I prefer to make my own, but there are plenty of great ones you can buy as well.

Fresh Basil: This is a really key ingredient. Adding fresh basil to your pizza really gives it a great, fresh, Italian flavor. No matter what ingredients you use, add some fresh basil and it will really accentuate your pie. I wash the basil, and then using scissors, cut it right onto the pie.

OK. Now that you have the scoop on the ingredients lets get started.

1. Get your grill nice and hot and cook the sausage links on the grill. Once you have grilled the sausages, slice them up into nice size bites to put onto the pizza.

2. Clean the grill to ensure you have a nice clean surface for the dough to go on. You can fold some paper towels and add a bit of olive oil and wipe the grates using tongs to hold onto the towels.

3. Put some flour onto a large pizza board or cutting board and roll out your dough. Stretch it out carefully until it is in the shape you desire. If you are fancy you can put the dough on the knuckles of both of your fists and lightly toss it to expand the dough’s shape. The pizza doesn’t have to be round, an oblong shape works fine.

4. Brush the dough with a thin layer of olive oil and lightly salt.

5. Lay the dough, oil side down, onto the hot grill

6. Cook for about 3 minutes until the dough starts to bubble and become stable. Then turn the crust over using tongs.

7. Add the marinara sauce, the sliced buffalo mozzarella, salami, and Italian sausage. Take some scissors and cut fresh basil onto the pie. Let cook for about 4 minutes with the grill top closed.

8. Remove the pizza from the grill and add a bit of parmesan.

9. Enjoy, your classic Pizza!