Should You Use a Pizza Stone When Grilling Pizza?
Several months ago, at the beginning of the grilling season, I wrote about my love for grilled pizza and shared the techniques my family has developed over the last ten years.
A few people wrote in about pizza stones (do they make the process easier? Do they defeat the purpose?). At the time I had no experience using a pizza stone but I recently got to give one a try. The stone I used is from Mario Batali's cookware line; it comes with an enameled cast iron frame that holds the pizza over the flame and has handles for easy gripping.
To test the stone, my family and I decided to grill two pizzas, one on the stone and one placed directly on the grill rack (using our original method). Both produced terrific though slightly different results.
The pizza stone pizza made for a more attractive (even professional looking) pie. Because the stone is a 14-inch round, we had to roll the dough out to roughly the same size, and that requires some precision. Our batch of dough happened to be particularly easy to roll out, but if you're having trouble getting a round shape, don't worry. Any irregular shape smaller than the stone should work. Another thing to keep in mind is that when using a stone, you don't have to oil it first. If you place the dough directly on the grill rack, either the dough or the rack need to be oiled to prevent sticking.
In terms of taste, the pizza stone pizza did lack the charred grill marks of the one cooked directly over the flame, but it did have that fire-kissed flavor we love. Plus, unlike the second pie that we ended up slightly burning (my fault), the pizza stone pie was perfectly cooked. With the stone, I think there's less risk of burning because the dough isn't as close to the flame. This won my father over. He liked the reliability of the stone and not having to worry about the dough burning if left over the flame too long. Another bonus is that the cast-iron frame makes it easier to take the pizza on and off the grill. The stone is extremely hot so having those handles on the side makes it easier and safer to take the pizza on and off the grill.
I'm not sure if we will always use a pizza stone to grill pizza but we grill a lot of pizzas and now that we know how easy the stone makes the process, we'll very likely keep using it, especially when guests are over and we want to impress them with professional-looking pies.
Previously: How and Why You Should Be Grilling Pizza
by Lauren Salkeld
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