Practical? No. Efficient? No. Easy? Not really. Traditional? No. Worth it? Absolutely yes! Homemade pizza, cooked on stone over Applewood flames is something else. Doesn’t matter what you put on it the smoke adds a level of depth that’s simply incredible. Its 2016, we aren’t going to bore you with a pizza dough recipe, if you don’t know how to make it already the internet is filled with recipes. This isn’t fast food; the dough will take at least 3 hours to prove so take your time with the toppings, do something special, something worth the wait. Here’s what our effort

• Good quality passata
• Shropshire blue cheese
• Field mushrooms marinated in soy sauce
• Roasted shallots
• Roasted garlic
• Fresh thyme

So your dough is proved and rolled, BBQs lit, Applewood smoking away, pizza stone on the grill, just away from direct heat. Leave your grill shut so your stone gets red hot, dust your stone with semolina or polenta and lay out your dough. Top however you like and get that lid shut, trap all the smoke you can. You might need to tend the fire a little as the pizza cooks to keep the temperature up but try not to disturb it too much.

Depending on the heat of your BBQ the pizza will probably take 5-10 minutes to cook, a little char on the base is perfect. Slide the bad boy out, dress with a little cold pressed rapeseed oil, serve it with a salad to pretend you’re not about to pig out like we know you’re going to and enjoy!

GP