Ingredients

Large ball of pizza dough (store bought or homemade), room temperature

4 to 5 tablespoons loose cornmeal

¼ cup olive oil (for extra flavor, simmer with a few garlic cloves)

1 very ripe large tomato, thinly sliced

1 pound good mozzarella, grated or thinly sliced

A handful of fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat a gas grill to medium-high, leave covered.

Cut the ball of pizza dough in half. Spread 2 tablespoons of cornmeal on your work sur­face. Flatten out each half of dough the heels of your hands. With a rolling pin, roll the dough from the center out to the edge, repeating from several angles. It may be a bit of a workout, especially if the dough hasn’t warmed up enough. Your goal is to have two rolled-out pizza crusts about 12 to 14 inches in diameter.

Making one at a time, place your rolled-out dough onto a cookie sheet. Brush the top with olive oil. Open the grill lid and adjust the temperature to low. Grab the dough by the edges and place the oiled side down on the center of the grill. Use tongs to adjust any dough that may have bunched. Close the cover of the grill.

Using tongs, check the underside of your dough every 2 minutes or so (on our grill, it takes 4 to 5 minutes for the dough to get to a nice golden brown). When the underside of your pizza is done, oil the top and flip it with your tongs. Now, quickly add the toppings in this order: tomatoes, cheese, basil. Rule of thumb: sparse is better. Not every square inch of the pizza must have every topping. Close the top of the grill.

Check after 3 or 4 minutes, and occasionally after that. With a center burner off and the outer burners on low, it will take about 10 minutes for the pizza to come out perfectly.

Using a large spatula or tongs, remove the pizza from the grill and place it onto a wood cut­ting board. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. One of my favorite recipes because a few excellent, very fresh ingredients are allowed to speak for themselves. Keep it simple!