Pizza a la parrilla

Last night I was invited to eat pizza at a friend's house and what a gastronomic experience it was. Hernan, the master pizza maker, cooks these amazing creations over the coals, on the parrilla (barbecue / braai). First he makes the pizza bases with water and flour (pre-bought pizza flour), allows them to rise close to the fire so that within 15 to 20 minutes the dough had risen. Then, one by one, he flattens them out into a pizza baking tray and allows them to cook, but just barely. Once all the bases are cooked, he covers them with his homemade pizza sauce (fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and salt) and returns them to the parrilla to cook. Once all the bases are at this stage, everyone is called to the dinner table as the pizzas are about
to roll out. And then it's a non-stop eating fest. Mozzarella and cheese, ham, bacon, blue cheese, rocket, you name it, Hernan combines these ingredients perfectly. And the pizzas just keep coming.
The trick, of course, to getting the
top of the pizza to cook (over coals where the heat is only coming from the bottom) is to cover the pizza with the pizza baking pan, thereby creating a convection oven. Yum! Thanks Hernan for helping me share this post.