Bob Hart's BBQ pizza

In the spirit of the New Year, a light-hearted topic, and something for those (the majority!) with a big gas monster barbie: do they realise how good a pizza oven a big gas barbie makes?

All you need is a good pizza stone (Barbeques Galore do a good one) that you place on the cold barbecue. You then turn the outer burners to high, the central burner to low, and heat the barbecue to around 250 C, or more if it will do it. Never oil the stone. A dusting of flour will do the trick.

Make a pizza dough (recipe below) or even buy pre-made bases (they cook in less than 10 mins), add your own topping (a good tomato sauce, such as a Maggie Beer tomato and basil, torn buffalo mozzarella, olives or anchovies, basil, mushrooms, pepperoni, anything you like. Except, of course, ham and pineapple, unless you are a bogan, baked beans or anything with Vegemite!

To make your own dough, mix 2tsp dried yeast with pinch salt and 2.5 cups sifted plain flour in a large bowl. Gradually stir in 1tbs EV olive oil and 1 cup warm water. Turn onto floured board, knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Place dough ball in large, greased bowl, cover, stand in warm place for about 30 mins with a damp tea towel over until it has doubled in size. Return to floured surface, knead until smooth and divide into two portions. Roll each portion into a pizza base and add toppings as required. This dough, topped, will cook in your hot barbie (top down, of course) in 10-15 mins.

Afterwards, allow your stone to cool and then brush clean - never wash it! And remember, this is NOT a serious barbecue dish. But the fact that it is delicious, and works so well on a covered gas barbecues, means I will turn a blind eye. In fact, I make barbie pizzas regularly!