My Mom has been making pizza dough for as long as I can remember, however it has always been a bit of an intimidating task for me. Ya know sometimes it is just a challenge to try to duplicate heaven and her dough is seriously a slice of heaven.

However, I decided I wanted to make grilled pizza and I knew it was time for me to face my fears and make my own dough. I found a recipe in Cooks Illustrated that provides instructions for making pizza dough in the food processor and I decided I must bit the bullet. And if I can do a bit of a humble brag here...well...I am pretty proud of my dough. It was the perfect consistency and it was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I think I may have made myself a believer and because it is so easy I don't think I will ever buy dough from the store again. Sorry Trader Joe's!

So to begin with I love the fact that this dough can be made in advance, as far as 3 days in advance to be exact. However, I just made it the day before. The other awesome fact about this dough is the fact that the ingredients are ones that you normally just have it home, nothing crazy or complicated.


To begin with, put 3 cups of flour, 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast in the food processor and combine for about 2 seconds (this is not a typo it is really just 2 seconds).


While the food processor is running, add 1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons of iced water to the dough. Process until the dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let the dough stand for 10 minutes.

So yes, you can make pizza dough in 10 minutes and 12 seconds to be exact.


Add 1 Tablespoon oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the dough and process until the dough forms a satiny, sticky ball that clears sides sides of bowl, 30 to 60 seconds. This instruction is straight from Cooks Illustrated and to be honest I just watched the dough and stopped it when it started to pull away from the food processor and it actually looked like a dough ball.


Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. It will start off slightly sticky, but once you start working the oil into it the texture improves rapidly.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and shape each piece into a tight ball. Place on a well oiled cookie sheet and cover in plastic wrap, but do not compress the dough. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.





By the way, you also want to take the dough out of the fridge an hour before you plan on using it.





As for grilling the dough, well we had a bit of a technical difficulty trying to maintain its shape while placing it on the grill. They were truly so cute and round before trying to manhandle them onto the grill, so I do have room for improvement in that area.


To cook the dough, grill for 2-3 minutes and then flip and grill for another 2 minutes. It is recommended that you cook the dough and then add the toppings and cook again because otherwise you are going to have a dough disaster. Yes, dough disaster is definitely a technical cooking term.


We had a blast with our grilled pizzas and it was a lot of fun to allow everyone to make their own pizza. This is definitely a meal that I plan to duplicate again and I love the fact that I conquered my pizza dough fears. Cheers!