[Balboa, Cuidad de Panamá, rep. of Panamá; 08º 56'N/079º 33 W]

These folks are from Seattle and are good friends of good friends of Carina but we only met Teresa, Rob and their kitty Maya (of the Baba 40 Yohelah)  in Panama City in the fall of 2008.  They introduced us to the concept of personal pizzas grilled on a BBQ grill and though we weren't able to get their recipe, we developed our own.  This pizza can also be done in a small omelet pan, preferably with a non-stick coating, though the BBQ-grilled pizza has a crispier crust.  One of the advantages of these personal pizzas is that they cook up FAST; an important attribute when feeding hungry cruisers.

Dough

1 tsp. dried yeast

1 1/2 cup warm water

dollop of honey (just enough to feed the yeast)

1 tsp. sea salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

~ 3 cups all purpose flour

Add fresh water to a large covered bowl; sprinkle in salt and yeast.  Squirt in a small dollop of honey.  Whisk briskly with a fork to aerate.  Add whole wheat flour and whisk until it is dissolved.  Slowly add all purpose flour (~1 cup at a time) and beat with each addition until all flour is incorporated uniformly and dough becomes "rubbery".  Transfer dough to a gallon sized zip lock bag, seal and place in refrigerator for a number of hours or overnight.  Dough will appear bubbly through baggie.

Sauce

~ 1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 sm. can tomato sauce

~ 1 Tbsp dried basil

1/2 cup red wine

Brown onion well in olive oil, add minced garlic, tomato sauce, basil and red wine.  Cover and cook for a half hour or more to cook off wine.  A pressure cooker works well for this.   Keep covered until ready to use.

Toppings

grated mozzarella cheese

AND ANYTHING else you love on pizza....

pepperoni

sausage

ham

tomato slices

mushrooms (browned)

sliced olives

chopped pan-fried sweet pepper

anchovies

hot pepper flakes

Preparation

Separate "tennis ball" sized portions of the dough from baggie and roll on a floured board or pastry cloth.  Invert a plate and use as a template (pun intended) to cut dough to size of plate.  Slide pizza dough onto plate; one plate per personal pizza.  Make only as many personal pizzas as your grill will accommodate.  Our small Sea-B-Que grill will cook two at a time.  Repeat as many "rounds" (another pun, sorry) as you need to feed your crowd of hungry veleristas (sailors in Spanish).

Transfer dough from plates onto a preheated BBQ grill and cook on one side.  With a spatula, flip dough onto a plate so that the cooked side is up.  Spread with thin layer of warm pizza sauce, apply toppings and grated mozzarella and return to grill.  Cover grill and cook until bottom is browned, mozzarella is melted and toppings are warmed.