When summertime comes around everyone breaks out the barbecue. I can always catch a whiff of typical barbecue fare: steak, chicken, and hot dogs. But this year my neighbors will be smelling brick-oven style pizza fresh off the grill.

The Williams-Sonoma Grill-Top Pizza Stone is made specifically for gas grills and includes a porous clay stone that sits within a raised stainless-steel frame. The backsplash keeps toppings from flying all over the grill and the thermometer helps you keep the temperature in check. It “uses the high heat of the grill to produce brick oven-style pizza with a crisp crust and bubbly-hot toppings.” Hold on, let me wipe the drool off my keyboard before continuing”¦

We tried out the pizza stone using a focaccia bread recipe for the crust and the typical cheese and pepperoni toppings so my kids would actually try it. The only slightly tricky part was making sure the pizza dough didn’t stick on the cookie sheet so I could slide it easily onto the stone, but once I used half a box of cornmeal we were good to go. Though our version didn’t look nearly as gourmet as the picture””our crust turned out a good two inches thick—it tasted pretty yummy. The crust was hot and crispy on the outside and chewy (but still cooked through) on the inside. The cheese was bubbly, the pepperoni greasy, and we ate every last bite.

Cleanup was a cinch; just scrape the stone clean of any leftover toppings and it’s ready to go the next time you’re craving pizza hot off the grill. In my case that could be tomorrow. Sure, we’ll still try and grill a few burgers, but only if there’s room once we throw on the pizza. – Emily

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Daily Dish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.