DOUGH Ingredients:

Wallaby Bakers Flour                         500g

Salt                                                    10g

Lighthouse Yeast & Bread Improver  14g

Olive Oil                                              30g

Water (warm)                                      280g

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add oil and water.

Knead into dough – keep kneading for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

I usually divide the dough into 4 equal portions, roll them into balls, cover them with clingwrap or a damp dishcloth, then let them double in size. Next sprinkle plain dry flour over the benchtop and using a rolling pin, flatten the pizza bases to the desired thickness.

Key points:

1. Knead dough.
2. Prepare toppings.
3. Soak apple woodchips in water container.
4. Burn the charcoal beads using wood kindle in the chimney starter.
5. Add toppings to pizza bases.
6. Start range hood gas BBQ – set all burners to high.
7. Put charcoal beads in aluminum tray on the adjacent cooking rack.
8. Scatter pre-soaked woodchips on charcoal beads to induce smoke flavour.
9. Create an indirect cooking environment – 2 indirect burners on high / 2 directs burners on low – temperature should be around 300 degrees celsius.
10. Cook 1st pizza – approx. 10 – 15 minutes.

Weekend Challenge — Smoking-Hot BBQ Pizzas

There’s something about a Saturday afternoon that pulls me back out to the backyard—maybe it’s the soft hum of the breeze drifting in from the gum trees, or maybe it’s just the promise of a good feed. Either way, this weekend I had pizza on my mind. Not the delivery kind. Not the quick, lazy kind. I’m talking about the full ritual: dough, charcoal, smoke, the whole show.

The fun always starts inside, where the kitchen smells faintly of flour and olive oil before the first ingredient even touches the bowl. I pulled out the Wallaby Bakers Flour—500 grams of the good stuff – tipped it into the biggest bowl we own (I like to use our large glass Pyrex bowl). Next comes the salt and that Lighthouse yeast-and-bread-improver blend. 

I know there is a bit of name-dropping going on here but I assure you, there are no endorsements or affiliations – it’s just what I usually use.

A little olive oil. Warm water. And suddenly the dough starts to take shape under my hands. There’s something meditative about kneading – ten minutes of rhythmic movement, palms pressing and folding, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. The kind that gives just the right bounce back when you poke it with your finger.

Tip: pour a little olive oil on your hands to stop the flour sticking to them (like cement).

Four equal portions. Rolled into little domes of possibility. I like thin pastry. If you like thick crusty bases – maybe just make 2 pizzas. I tucked them under clingwrap like sleeping bundles of goodness and left them to rise, doubling in size while I moved into the second phase of the ritual: the backyard set-up. And to be completely honest, I have done this process a dozen times now so it is becoming a ritual… especially the bit I don’t mention. 

P.s. I always seem to have a beer stuck in my right hand while barbecuing – don’t tell anyone, it’s our little secret!

Out by the BBQ, the air was still cool enough to make the coming heat feel like a proper event. I filled the water container and tipped in a handful of apple woodchips. They floated for a moment before sinking like tiny driftwood boats. I like to soak them for around 30 minutes so they can generate more smoke – perfect for the sweet, smoky punch I wanted in the pizzas.

Next came the charcoal beads. I piled them into the chimney starter, tucked some wood kindle with firestarters underneath, and lit it. There’s a moment every time I do this, where the flame catches, and that first curl of smoke rises, and it feels like the entire backyard wakes up. Yes, I am a fire bug but I stress, I only light fires responsibly in controlled situations – our backyard firepit or camping ground fire places.

While the heat built, I ducked back inside to prepare the toppings. Bowls of sliced vegetables, cheese shavings, sauces… the benchtop looked like a proper pizza station by the time the dough had fully risen. A sprinkle of flour on the bench, and I pressed each dough ball flat. The rolling pin did its usual clack-clack rhythm and yet again – an irregular shape, I can never get a perfect circle.

Then it was time to head outside again.

The range hood BBQ roared to life, all burners on high to start. I waited until I could feel the heat pushing out toward me—like opening an oven door—before transferring the glowing charcoal beads into an aluminium tray and set it on the adjacent rack. I always do this before adding the pizza tray because sometimes ash goes everywhere. The beads hissed and snapped as soon as I scattered the soaked apple chips over them. The smell that rose… well, if you’ve cooked with smoke before, you already know. It’s that mix of warmth and sweetness that lingers on your clothes long after the meal.

Now the stage was set for indirect cooking. The two burners with the aluminum tray (charcoal beads) on top stayed on high, the two  for the pizzas I dropped to low, this arrangement gives me a temperature settling around 300°C – the sweet spot for a smoky, crisp-based pizza (*Typically – thin pastry pizza grill indirect cooking temperatures range 260 – 315°C).

Back inside again, I dressed the first base. A swirl of sauce, a scatter of toppings, a generous layer of cheese, and then I was back out the door. Pizza in left hand, beer in right,  heat at my face, smoke gently curling across the hood.

Onto the grill it went.

Ten to fifteen minutes – that’s usually the window (if you like thick crusty pastry you should cook longer with a lower temperature). But if you’ve cooked enough pizzas, you know you feel the timing more than you watch it. The cheese starts bubbling, the edges crisp up, and the base gets those little golden freckles that make you grin like a kid.

While the first pizza cooked, I was already inside prepping the second. A rhythm formed: assemble, cook, assemble, cook. Four pizzas, one smoky BBQ, and a kitchen that looked like it had survived a minor culinary tornado by the time I was done.

Side note: Play around with your toppings. If you are not sure – look at a gourmet pizza restaurant menu – that should get your creative juices flowing. I like to do some with a tomato based sauce, some with BBQ sauce but I generally do my own interpretation of a ‘supreme’ and a ‘meat lovers’.

My wife Nitcha actually makes Tom Yum (Thai food) pizzas. Amazingly, they are really good! When Nitcha first suggested making a Tom Yum pizza I went a bit crazy saying “I’m making the pizzas, you stick to the Thai food. The origin of pizza is Italy, I am not making Tom Yum”. She pushed me aside of course and made her own pizza. Believe me, we have had pizza nights with friends and everyone that can handle chilli loves them.

A good challenge. A good feed. And a good story for the next one.