The Best Tasting Pizza Crust Relies On One Extra Grilling Step

You've taken inspiration from eating delicious store-bought pizza crust and want to try to create your own at home. Before you set out to make a fresh peach and gorgonzola pizza recipe on homemade Neapolitan pizza dough to grill, we gathered tips from 13-time World Pizza Champion master pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani. You might recognize Gemignani from appearances on Food Network or "Good Morning America" or have heard about the legendary pizza he made that earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest pizza. Not only does Gemignani boast over one dozen championship titles, but the chef also has a fleet of award-winning pizza restaurants, including Capo's, and several cookbooks to help aspiring pizza makers improve their skills. 

Once you have rolled out your thin crust pizzas to slap on the grill, Gemignani recommends a specific method of grilling — pre-grilling your crust – and close attention to the temperature of the grill. "When grilling a pizza, you typically stretch your pizza or roll your pizza out using a rolling pin and carefully add it to a grill that sits on low to medium heat," he tells Tasting Table. "You then take your dough off the grill, flip it over and top it on the grilled side."

An amateur pizza maker may simply toss the pizza back onto the grill for a few minutes from there. But, according to Gemignani, there's a slightly more targeted approach: A covered cook session to ensure all ingredients are properly heated. 

With the grilled surface crowned with pizza-making ingredients, Gemignani advises that at-home pizza makers allow for extra time for pizzas to rest on the grill in a more controlled environment. "Carefully slide your pizza back onto the grill and make sure that the lid of the grill is closed so you can create some top heat," he instructs.

Gemignani has good reason for this careful grilling process, explaining that this particular technique will help ensure that the cheese you've added to your pizza will melt and whatever other ingredients you've topped your pizza with will properly heat. "You want to make sure that your grill is not too hot," he adds. "A tip if you have three burners on your grill is to have the right and left burner on low to medium and your middle burner off." 

This helpful hack is particularly useful for pizza recipes that may call for a longer time on the grill so that the dough doesn't burn — which, according to Gemignani, is a common mistake among pizza makers. Now that you have the knowledge, enjoy tasting the rewards.