Dare we say it – winter FINALLY seems to be over! With what felt like a never-ending winter season, including a freak ice and snowstorm in Ontario in April (usually when the daffodils are in full bloom), it almost seems too good to be true! But with only double digit temperatures in the foreseeable future, it seems as though we will be going straight from winter to summer and we are totally ok with that!
And what better time to welcome the summer season than with the upcoming May long weekend?! Typically known as the unofficial start to summer, there’s no better time to gather friends and family to celebrate the warmer days and shorter nights! And we want to help YOU celebrate this upcoming holiday weekend with a fabulous BBQ pizza party! So let’s uncover those patio chairs, dust off the deck and fire up the barbeque with some yummy eats!
When we finally finished our second story deck last year, Chris had only one request – a nice BBQ! For the last number of years we have gotten by with a hand-me-down BBQ that just wasn’t getting the job done anymore. So for Father’s Day 2017, we surprised Chris with a gorgeous, stainless steel Weber and Chris was tickled pink! Since then, he’s been scouring the internet trying to find the best recipes and cooking methods to help him level up on his BBQ’ing skills.
So it came as no surprise to me when Chris recently showed me this authentic Pizza Oven kit on costco.ca that is made to go ON the BBQ! This design from BakerStone features a patented 5-sided stone chamber which helps conductive, convective and radiant heat flow in and around the baking chamber, reaching scorching temperatures enabling the pizza to cook in a few minutes for a truly authentic taste!
One of our family’s staples is pizza. We seem to have it at least once a week, if not more. It’s an easy, go-to meal that I know everyone will eat without protest. While I’ve tried my hand at a few dough recipes, I find that I often opt for store made dough or even pre-made pizza naan bread to get the process going more quickly.
But this year, Chris has decided that he wants to perfect his own pizza dough recipe and cook it on the BBQ! Here’s why – authentic brick ovens that bake pizzas typically get up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, which is what allows the dough to be baked in minutes, achieving that crisp crust that we all love. Our home ovens just don’t get hot enough to cook the dough fast enough. With this revolutionary grill top oven, our pizza will be able to be cooked just like in an authentic wood oven, making the ‘za taste just like the real deal!
Making this new purchase even sweeter was the fact that we could purchase it online at Costco.ca using Masterpass. If you’ve never heard of Masterpass before, let me tell you about it and why we love it so much! Masterpass is a trusted digital wallet that makes shopping easier and more convenient online with thousands of stores. It is protected by the powerful, multi-tiered security of Mastercard, although not exclusive to Mastercard cardholders. You can store your eligible credit, debit and pre-paid cards in one, convenient and secure place, making online checkout quick, easy and organized. Simply sign up once for Masterpass (I should also mention that it’s free!) and you’re able to bypass checkout forms forever, wherever Masterpass is accepted! This helps you save time when shopping online, so that you can have more time to do the things that you love with your family and friends…like making pizza on the BBQ!
Now, let’s get to that homemade pizza recipe so we can toss it on the BBQ and get this long weekend party started!
- 500g Bread flour
- 16g kosher salt
- 1g active dry yeast
- 350 ml water
- 3 cups Bread flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 package yeast
- Throughly blend all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Begin adding the water until a shaggy dough forms. Once it has all come together and no dry ingredients remain, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit for at least an hour or 18-24 hours if possible.
- After the dough has sat, throughly flour your work surface. Place the dough on the work surface and divide into 3 equal portions.
- To shape, thoroughly flour a single dough ball and begin working flat with your hands. Work from the centre out to the edges. Once you have your basic shape, begin to stretch out the dough with your hands. Do not use a rolling pin!
- Once you have your desired shape, thoroughly flour your pizza peel and place the crust on it and begin to assemble your pizza, as desired.
- Preheat oven on the BBQ to 500 for 30 minutes with stone inside (lid open). Slide pizza off the peel and inside the stone oven and cook for 5-7 minutes, turning the pizza every two minutes to avoid burning.
- Sauce: For the pizza sauce, we always use Victoria White Linen Marinara Sauce that we get at Costco. But you can use whatever sauce you'd like, including making your own.
- Toppings: This is the fun part! You can top your pizza with whatever ingredients you would like. The pizzas are more like personal sized pizzas, so making personalized ones that everyone in your family will love is a great idea!
Once your dough is ready to go, it’s time to fire up the grill and get that pizza oven smoking hot! Simply place the pizza oven on top of your gas or charcoal grill, turning the grill to high. Make sure to leave the BBQ lid open for the air to circulate properly. Once the pizza oven is hot, the thermometer will read FLAMES and it’s time to cook! Use the wood peel to slide the pizza into the oven and leave for about four to six minutes. Two important things to note: 1. Make sure the underside of your pizza is floured so that it will slide easily into the oven. 2. Make sure to rotate your pizza while inside the oven using the turner every minute and a half or so. The reason for this is because similar to a wood oven, the heat is strongest at the back. So in order to avoid unbalanced cooking or even burning on one side, make sure to keep it moving!
Once the pizza is done cooking, remove from the grill and let cool before digging in!
What a perfect way to celebrate the long weekend with having friends and family over to make their own custom pizzas, cooked in an authentic pizza oven right in your own backyard!
To make this long weekend celebration that much sweeter, my friends at costco.ca have teamed up with Mastercard to give you a fabulous offer from now until June 17: Get $20 off your order of $100 or more when you use Masterpass at checkout (some conditions and restrictions apply). This is the perfect way to test out Masterpass and see just how easy and convenient it is, while saving you time, so you can spend more of it outside with family and friends this weekend!
We are SO excited for this long weekend and want to help YOU get a head start, so we are giving away a $250 pre-paid Mastercard! A great way for you to experience Masterpass first hand and who knows, maybe even buy a BBQ pizza oven just like ours! Enter below! (Details: Giveaway is open to Canadian residents and runs until May 24th, 2018. The winner will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to claim prize.)
Happy Long Weekend!
Love & Blessings,
Christine & Chris
Note: This post was sponsored by Mastercard. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
