Pizza gives more time on deck time </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 9:44 AM on Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pizza gives more time on deck time

Spending time on a deck in Alaska is as much a summer requirement as fishing for salmon. Back in the Midwest, folks entertain on their manicured lawns furnished with comfy lawn chairs and a picnic table. Lightning bugs fly around glowing their June green-glow nightlights and crickets sing their melodic and rhythmic song. The party can move into the garage when the night air gets too damp and mosquitoes find you.

We Alaskans are more inclined to picnic on a deck in the late afternoon sunshine while the birds are singing and the blue sky above is scattered with fluffy white clouds. No tiki torches or lightning bugs here, but we do have lots of hungry mosquitoes. No outdoor time would be complete without the little buggers and we tough it out and save moving indoors to the garage for the winter.
The Other Fisherman and I have a grand deck we refer to as the party deck. It's covered and big, adorned with flowers and plants, and has just enough deck furniture. The view is killer; we look at glaciers, mountains, the bay and down onto Homer. We spend many evenings out there listening to birds sing, the wind rustle through the leaves on the trees and in the spring, you can hear water gurgling in a nearby creek. I like to wander out there in the early morning with my coffee and listen to the meadow below come alive with a new day; it is incredibly peaceful and the air smells fresh and clean.
Of course I have my barbecue grills out on the party deck and cook year round on them. I'm always trying new recipes on the grill -- anything you can think of that requires cooking, I try on the grill: fruit, bread, pizza.
Who doesn't love pizza? It is my weakness. This recipe is easy and fun, and everyone can make their own personal pizza. Have individual bowls of toppings ready and enjoy a casual dinner on the deck. My favorite toppings are sliced tomato, pepperoni, sliced onion, green pepper, mushrooms, cooked sweet Italian sausage and black olives. Good grated mozzarella and Parmesan are essential. The sky is the limit here, so think outside the pizza box and top your pizza with other yummy ingredients, such as smoked salmon and cream cheese, green onion, barbecue chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon bits, feta, mosquitoes, etc.

Home-made Pizza Sauce
This is a good standard version pizza sauce you can whip up fast and not miss too much time out on the deck.
1 8-ounce can of good quality tomato sauce
1 7 1/2-ounce can of undrained diced tomatoes
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1 tablespoon dried basil, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 10 minutes or until onion is tender.
Now comes the fun and messy part of you pizza recipe, the dough. You can make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until it is time to grill therefore giving you more deck time in the sun. Prepare your dough to the stage where you portion it out into individual pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and stuff in the fridge until time to roll out.

Pizza Dough
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon white sugar
Mix above in small bowl and let proof 10 minutes.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour to make dough batter
1 cup all-purpose flour to knead into dough
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Olive oil for brushing on pizza dough

In a bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, and mix in sugar. Let set for 10 minutes, or until foamy. (That way you know the yeast is alive and working.) Pour into a larger bowl and mix in the salt, olive oil, and about 2 cups of the flour and mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the remainder of the flour and knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough up into as many as six pieces. The smaller they are the easier they are to handle. Roll out into whatever shapes you can get them to be. Set on a cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Brush with olive oil.
Preheat grill for high heat. Brush grill grate with oil or carefully spray with PAM. Carefully slide pieces of dough onto hot grill (however many will fit.) When bottom of dough pieces get grill marks on them and top begins to bubble, turn over. Spread top with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Grill until toppings are hot and cheese is melted. Keeping the toppings to a minimum works best as you don't want the dough on the grill any longer than necessary, as the bottom could char too much. Keep in mind you can also turn off the heat in the middle burner if using a gas grill to get toppings hot and cheese melted without cooking crust further.
Until next time, however you enjoy being on your deck or lawn, just enjoy this incredible summer we are experiencing and keep the bug spray handy.