We love dessert at our house, and in the summer dessert more often than not involves every type of berry imaginable! We eat so many berries I am often surprised that that our skin doesn’t turn blue or red to match the color of all those luscious berries that taste oh, so good. We love berries in every way, shape, and form. Sometimes it’s just a small dollop of fresh cream on a lovely bowl of strawberries. Sometimes we are in the mood for a nice blueberry cobbler or pie with a scoop of ice cream!
Recently we were having some friends over to grill out, and I was racking my brain trying to figure out what in the world I would serve for dessert. A bowl of berries just didn’t seem special enough. There was no way I was turning on the oven to bake anything (although I am pretty sure if I would have left a pan full of cake batter on the front step that hot, hot day, it would have cooked nicely). In waltzed my new favorite cooking buddy… Twitter. I have written about finding recipes on Twitter before, and this week isn’t any different. Not that long ago I started following @driscollsberry. I discovered they have all sorts of wonderful recipes on their website. I found a recipe for berry pizza, and it fit the bill. I could do all the prep before my guests arrived and cook an interesting dessert right on the grill!
The recipe is simple enough: berries and goat cheese on top of a grilled pizza dough crust, garnished with mint or basil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. The recipe on the Driscoll website also includes directions for making a quick food processor dough, so I decided to give it a try. The dough went together very simply in the food processor. The dough ingredients were just flour, olive oil, yeast, salt, sugar and water. One note: I used a fair amount less than the 2/3 cup of water called for, so be sure to add it slowly so you can tell exactly when the dough has pulled away from the sides of the processor bowl. Of course, if you add too much water your dough will be sticky and require a little fixing with some extra flour. I can certainly see myself using this quick dough for other recipes.
While my dough was resting, I washed the berries and left them to dry on a paper towel, crumbled the goat cheese, and chopped up the basil. After the dough had rested, I woke it up with a loud rooster crow and told it that it was time to get to work! It was easy to work with, despite the rude awaking, and I pressed it out on the back of a floured cookie sheet into a circular(-ish) 12 inches. After another brief rest it was ready for the grill. Be sure to let the dough rest before putting it on the grill; it will make it easier to handle.
I had my grill at a medium-high heat, and I oiled it well with a silicone baking brush. I think because my homemade pizza paddle substitute (aka the cookie sheet) didn’t quite have enough four on it, my dough lost a bit of its shape as I slid it onto the grill. So make sure your dough moves freely on the cookie sheet before attempting to put it on the grill. But no matter.
I think pizza, like life, is more interesting when it’s not perfectly round, don’t ya think? After cooking about 4 minutes, the dough seemed ready to be turned over. I was a little aggressive with the tongs and I ripped the dough slightly but it turned over like a dream and had a perfectly brown appearance. I scattered on the cheese and berries and, with the grill lid down, cooked it for another 5 minutes. Like the directions say, it is important to press the berries down a bit after you transfer it to the serving platter. I then added the basil and a few turns of freshly ground pepper, cut the pizza, and served. We all tried a couple of bites without the balsamic vinegar, then ate the rest of the pizza with the balsamic drizzled on top. We all agreed that the vinegar added a nice little zing to the pizza.
This is not a super sweet pizza. The flavor of the berries really comes through especially with the added touch of the vinegar and pepper. But this is a recipe you can easily change to suit your family’s tastes. A touch of honey, cream cheese instead of the goat, strawberries or raspberries. It’s a great recipe that will welcome your own personal touch.
Now for the moment of truth. How did it taste? This pizza was fantastic. It really felt like a dessert you would order at some trendy bistro while having dinner out with your best friend. One thing I will do next time is stretch the dough out a bit more so the crust is just a bit thinner, but I always prefer a thin crust pizza over thicker. This recipe was easy, different, and tasted amazing… everything I need to give the recipe a 5 pie rating!
As a side note, if you aren’t up to making your own pizza dough, I did try out the ready-made pizza dough from Trader Joe’s. It tasted great and was pretty easy to work with, but it was just a little more elastic than my homemade dough . The cost is only $1.47, and it would make this tasty recipe go together just a bit quicker. Be a little careful of the pizza dough that comes in a can, as it has a high salt content and tastes a bit chemical to me.
Sounds Great PP, My husband is the grill master here.
I can not touch his BBQ, so he will be making this recipe very soon at my urging. I will let you know how it goes.
Yummy Pattypie !!! The berries around here are finally tasting great and who knew doing this on the grill. I think the goat cheese would really add a different flavor to a desert receipe.
OMG, that picture is gorgeous – the blackberries look so luscious! I absolutely love blackberries. Then to read that this recipe features goat cheese…I think I’m in love. I can’t wait to try this (I think I will do a bit of a honey drizzle because honey + goat cheese is an irresistable combination.
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I like the Trader Joe’s pizza dough too, though you really need to add some flour to be able to work with it at all. I had no idea there was such a thing as pizza dough out of can. It’s a strange old world..
This recipe looks wonderful.
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CocoPuff, I am impressed! A husband that would attempt this is a husband I would want to keep.
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I have never had goat cheese before. But in my defense, I am from Wisconsin and we were raised to believe the only cheese worthy of eating, comes from a cow. 😉
Berry interesting. You lead us to the best sites too, thanks!
So this Trader Joe’s dough is good. PP, how do you make your home made pizzas?
Pam – I usually just make them in the oven – but I think I will try grilling now – very easy!
BH – It is a really good site with lots of wonderful recipes
Coco – working with the dough on the grill was much easier than I thought!
Well not to sound like I am bragging here, but yes it is true my husband is a keeper ~LOL.
When he visited me while I was in the hospital he took great care of me.
( he was my best nurse) and he was just the best ever while I recuperated here.
He is a great cook as well as other things : ) ~ Wooo Hooo, LOL
I lucked out with him.
And I have never tried Trader Joe pizza dough but have liked anything/everything I get from there.
I actually just bought TJ lemon curd that I want to make a different dessert with, something out of the norm.
I think bragging about a good husband is completely allowed!!
just sayin’
Please. That is not pizza.
jeff,
Why would we all be here commenting on COMMON pizza? This is Berry Delicious Pizza. Why not try it & live a little !
Oh no! NO WARS on the food column! It will give me indigestion! LMAO~
If y’all come over here and start a war…. next week I am going to make republican elephant pie and democratic donkey pie and let all hell break lose!
All I am saying is give peas a chance – or in this case berries 🙂
Love, Pattypie
Jeff is all about pizza, LOL. He put himself through college working at Pizza Wagon. When we go on vacations we are constantly searching for the perfect pizza. He has not been happy here in Los Angeles with the pizza until he found Fresh Brothers. He loves it so much he wrote a review for Imperfect Women. https://imperfectwomen.com/practically-perfect-pizza/
Sometime, Pattypie, I would love to have a recipe on a good homemade pizza.
Could the Republican pie be bigger and better than the Democratic pie…just sayin.
Ut Oh!! Pam,are you telling us something?? LOL. I was going to post a new article on making sweet pickles, but which party would like them. 🙂
Ahhh Now I have insight into this Pam comment”
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A husband that would attempt this is a husband I would want to keep.”
Wouldn’t ya know I’d get in the middle of Jeff harassing the Pie for a Real pizza recipe! I totally understand though. My hubs went into mourning when his favorite shop just up & closed.
Ha! I am pretty sure I know pizza better than Jeff! I worked at a pizza place to put myself through elementary school, high school and college and I had to deliver the pizza up hill both ways in snowstorms too! I am pretty sure I made pizza to work my way through nursery school too but I can’t remember that far back!
Crust – cheese – toppings – it’s a pizza 😉
just sayin’
snickers…if you’re going the party (political) route…sweet doesn’t seem to match either. Go for it! ;0)
I think I done gone and scared everyone off! 😉
OH! This looks LUSCIOUS, but I am not a big fan of goat cheese (tastes like goats) so I would prefer cream cheese.
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By the way, I use pizza crust from the can (Pillsbury’s) for a fresh fruit pizza adapted from a recipe here on IW that Lily shared. Lily uses a cookie crust. I accidentally bought a canned pizza dough once and liked it, but it is for a sweet pizza.
Ann ,LMAO @ goat cheese tasting like goats.
P.S, Still haven’t tried this recipe yet, but cant wait.
This looks too good to eat, but somehow I think I couldn’t resist. Seriously, this looks devine. I have all sorts of different combos of cheese, fruit, etc. running through my head, but I’ll have to try the original first! Thanky!