Grilled pizza was introduced in the United States at the Al Forno Restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island, by the owners Johanne Killeen and George Germon in 1980. Although it was inspired by a misunderstanding that confused a wood-fired brick oven with a grill, grilled pizza did exist prior to 1980, both in Italy, and in Argentina where it is known as "pizza a la parrilla."
According to legend, the Rueben sandwich was created by Arnold Rueben of "Rueben's Restaurant and Delicatessen." The story goes- One night one of Charlie Chaplin's leading ladies came into the deli and said "Make me a sandwich, I'm so hungry I could eat a brick." Ol' Rueben said he went to "clowning around for the dame," cut a rye loaf on the bias, piled on a ton of corned beef, then threw on some saurkraut and russian dressing. Supposedly, she wolfed down the whole thing, and word got around about a great new sandwich. The Rueben special was born.
Grilled pizza, and a legendary sandwich... I'd heard of these two magical foods being spliced together, and so I decided to give a go for myself, with a couple personal tweaks. And of course, I wanted to bring beer into the mix!
Ingredients:
Crust (makes enough for two 12 inch pizzas- you can freeze the other half for next time):
- 1 1/2 cups of warm beer (I used Fat Tire-it's biscuity flavor is perfect for pizza crust). Heat the beer to about lukewarm before using. You want it warm for the yeast, but not hot.
- 1 package of active dry yeast (I used one that was labled "best for pizza crust").
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 tea kosher salt
- 1 tea sugar
- 1 tea clover honey
Pizza Ingredients (enough for one 12 inch pizza):
- Olive Oil (enough to brush the crust, and grill grate)
- Cormeal (enought to sprinkle on whatever you use to transport the pizza to and from the grill)
- 1/2 cup 1000 Island dressing
- 2 cups shredded swiss cheese
- 6 oz sliced deli corned beef cut into small strips
- 1 cup sauerkraut- drained as much as possible
- 1/3 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1 tea caraway seeds
Prep Time: 2hours 20mins (much of it is combining and rise time for the dough)
Cook Time: 35 minutes
So, right off the bat, I'll tell ya- I don't have the patience to knead dough and create it from scratch by hand. For me, the bread maker is the way to go (If you don't have a bread maker, there are easy to find recipes for using a mixer, or if you're patient, by hand. I'll leave that for you to decide).
Alright... Let's crack a beer, and get cookin'!
1. Mix your dough ingredients together in the bread machine, making sure you add all of the wet ingredients first, next the dry ingredients, and then create a small indentation to place the yeast. Start the cycle. It will take about an hour and a half, so this recipe definitely takes some planning. Once the cycle is over, punch down the dough, and let it rise back up (should take about 15 minutes). Do this a couple times. The whole process will take about 2 1/2 hours. Trust me, it's worth it, rather than using a premade frozen dough.
2. If you use a charcoal grill like me (definitely the preferred method for this recipe), get the coals going in a chimney starter.
3. Chop, measure, and gather up the pizza ingredients.
4. Sprinkle flour on whatever surface you plan on working your dough. Using your hands, shape the pizza however you want. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then spread it out again, if needed. Don't bother making a raised rim around the edges. Thin or thick, either will work fine. Sprinkle cornmeal on a pan or pizza stone, or whatever you're using to transport your pizza. Carefully place your pizza dough on it. Now its time to check the grill.
5. Once the coals are ready, clean your grate and brush it with a folded paper towl lightly soaked with olive oil to prevent sticking. Carefully slide your pizza dough onto the grate (the cornmeal makes this easy), and close the lid. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, have some beer.
6. After 2 minutes your crust will have some bubbles, or will be very puffy overall. This is a good sign. Lift up half of the crust with tongs, and check to be sure it's getting a light char. If it has, carefully slide the pizza stone/tray/what-have-you underneath, and remove from the grill. If it hasn't charred much, wait another minute or two. Once removed from the grill, flip your crust char side up. Lightly coat the top and edges with olive oil. Now it gets fun. Have a drink, and reflect on how well this is going.
7. Spread 1/2 of the dressing over the entire top of the crust. Next, sprinkle with 1/2 of the swiss cheese. Arrange all of the corned beef on top of the cheese, then drizzle the rest of the dressing. Throw on all of the sauerkraut, and then the remaining cheese. Lastly, sprinkle on the caraway seeds.
8. Time to get this bad boy back on the grill. Carefully slide your pizza back on the grill, and cover. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Same drill as before, using tongs to check the underside for char. If there is some char and the cheese is melted, game on (if not, give it a couple more minutes). Slide the pizza off the grate onto your stone/tray/what-have-you.
9. Sprinkle on the chopped pickles. Let your pizza sit for 5 minutes, then slice it up and dig in.
This was the first time I've tried to make this, and it turned out even better than I had hoped. I think the above method of grilling crust/pizza is solid. As far as staying true to the sandwich, all the toppings are straight from a Rueben, and the wheat crust and caraway seeds helped mimick rye bread very well. The beer definitely added another great layer of flavor to the crust.
Considering how easy it was to put together, I'll definitely make this again. Give it a try, and let me know if you have any questions, or changes that worked well!
Cheers!
The Drunken Chef
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