Grilled Pizza with Bacon and Rosemary

Okay, so this whole thing started with two things. First, my wonderful friend J gave me her copy of Taste of the South magazine. I had never heard of this one before, but it took about 30 seconds of paging through it before I was filling out my own subscription card. Among other things, it included a article full of ideas for grilled pizzas. (Those of you who have been reading this blog awhile know I am a sucker for grilled pizza -- those of you who haven't, please click here.)

At any rate, the recipe that caught my eye was for a bacon rosemary topped pizza that called for making a homemade heirloom tomato sauce. Since is is barely summertime, I filed that idea away for when I ran into some good-looking heirloom tomatoes.

Then about 2 days later, I met this handsome guy, and about 10 of his friends.

Was this a sign? Just to be sure, I asked the Southern husband to look around the farmer's market to see if by chance they had any cans of crushed tomatoes, and he came back 5 minutes later with this:

He said he liked the look of the can. (So did I, as a matter of fact!) So I figured this was as sure a sign as any that I was supposed to be firing up the grill to make bacon rosemary pizza. The sauce came together quickly and easily and made my kitchen smell like heaven. Next I cooked up some bacon...

...and some pizza dough. I have to admit, I used my old faithful Cooks Illustrated pizza dough recipe, because it has never ever let me down, and I also used their grilling method, which calls for rolling out the dough into individual rounds and grilling them on one side until they are crispy and have those great char marks. Take them off the grill and spoon the following on the grilled side: tomato sauce, grated fontina cheese and chopped shallot. Return the pizzas to the grill and cook them with the lid down until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the pizza is nice and browned.

Then take them off and sprinkle them with fresh chopped rosemary. Let's take a look..

Let's take a closer look....

Let's eat!!

Grilled Pizza with Bacon and Rosemary, adapted from Taste of the South and Cooks Illustrated.

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 large shallots, minced
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/2 table dried basil
• 6 heirloom tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes.

2. Stir in oregano and basil, stir, and add diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper.

3. Simmer 20 minutes. Makes about 5 cups.


Dough

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup water at room temperature
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast

1. Mix water and oil.

2. Add bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast to food processor. Pulse once or twice to mix.

3. While running, add water mixture through tube. Process until dough forms a ball that clears the sides of the bowl. If dough doesn't form a ball, add more flour one tablespoon at a time until it does.

4. Transfer dough to mixing bowl sprayed with olive oil. Cover and let rise for 2 hours.


Pizza assembly

• Heirloom Tomato Sauce
• One batch pizza dough
• 1 12 ounce package bacon, cooked and chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 8 ounces shredded fontina cheese
• Fresh rosemary for garnish

1. Divide dough into 4 sections. Roll into balls, dust with flour, and roll each one out to about a 6-8 inch size crust. Don't worry if the shape isn't perfect, grilled pizza is supposed to look rustic! Layer crusts in between wax paper.

2. Heat grill to medium high and lay crusts on grill. Grill for about 5 minutes, lifting up to check every minute to make sure the crusts aren't cooking too fast. Pop any big dough bubbles with a knife.

3. Remove crusts and turn over so grilled side is UP. Spread about 1/4 to 1/3 cup sauce on each crust, sprinkle with fontina cheese, and then shallots, and then bacon. Return to grill, put cover down, and grill until cheese is melted and bottom of crust is browned.

4. Remove from grill, sprinkle with rosemary and cut into sections. Makes 4 personal sized pizzas.

Click here for printable recipe