Thinking about a new pizza set up: (your thoughts)

keepervodeflame

Pretty happy with my existing pizza set up using a deflector low and a pizza stone high in the dome on the AR and extender. I put out respectable pies, but am still looking for that perfect brick oven crust. Today while cleaning my Egg in prep for Easter Sunday's cook, I came up with this. The idea is to create an oven like environment in the kamado. I used three stones one low as a deflector one in the middle as the oven floor and one high as the oven roof. The pizza goes on the second stone down. What do you guys think, anybody done this before? 

Focker

Have tried many of those types of sandwich setups.  Steel over steel.  Steel over stone.  Stone over steel.  Stone over stone.  Stone over CI.    

And the preferred setup?

A Blackstone Pizza Oven.

It took a little while for me to figure this out.  The egg is good at alot of things, not the greatest.  And IMHO, not an ideal design for a "WFO brick oven pizza", even though we have been misled to believe that it is.

Not trying to shy you away from creating your own conclusions.  Just sharing my own experiences to save your time.

nolaegghead

I too have tried a bunch of different configurations and I'm happiest with PS legs up, grate, two bricks (4" raise) and a pizza stone.  At 700F this is perfect for Anthony Caputo Tipo 00 dough - perfect for cooking the top at the same rate as the dough.

SmokeyPitt

I don't think there is anything wrong with that setup, but since you can already use the top of  the egg for radiant heat it seems it might be easier just to just use two stones (a deflector and a cooking stone).  Basically I would loose the bottom stone and cook on the top stone. 

That being said it certainly doesn't hurt to eggsperiment.  Try it both ways and see what comes out best. 

jhl192

That setup looks good.  Frankly, I get excellent results with the AR/Woo2/Stone set up.  Can't think why anyone would think that the BGE doesn't make superb pizzas.  Mine rival or surpass most pizza shops around here. 

FatMike

I would agree that looks like a great set up...My blackstone pizza oven has a top stone also.  Cooks pizza great!

D_Train

My setup is exactly the same as nola. Lately I've been doing a NY-style dough at 625 and pizzas take about 3 minutes, maybe slightly longer. Top and bottom are cooked very evenly this way.

texaswig

I think the 2 stone has worked the best for me. The 18" one used like a place setter. A 15" store bought set on top of AR for the pizza to set on.

Carolina Q

jhl192 said:

Can't think why anyone would think that the BGE doesn't make superb pizzas.  Mine rival or surpass most pizza shops around here. 

I agree with Brandon. It's not that it doesn't make good pizza. It's that it doesn't make WFO pizza. If that is what he is looking for, he will be disappointed. You can get the egg to WFO temps, but you can't make it a WFO.

FearlessTheEggNoob

WFO = Wood Fired Oven!

In my amateur roadracing days WFO had a completely different meaning.

SoCalWJS

My best results come from using the plate setter (feet down), three old Egg "feet" on top of that , then the pizza stone on top of the feet. Allow plenty of time for the whole setup to get stable at the desired temp before you start. Great crust if you get the dough right.

OOC, what qualities do you think you get from a WFO that you don't get from a properly set up BGE?

I think WFO's are cool and would love to have one, but they are expensive, take up a lot of room and more effort than a BGE.

SmokeyPitt

So to get a real "Wood Fired Oven" pizza, you must use a Blackstone, which runs on propane. Got it!  8-}

Focker

@SmokeyPitt,

This makes it easier. 

http://www.theoutdoorpizzaoven.com/blog/how-does-a-brick-oven-work/

The Blackstone's exhaust exits above the cold air at the mouth, minus a chimney.  For the best performance, the WFO's chimney  is located in the front.  If it's on top of the dome, design is similar to the one below.

I too, had issues with propane at first.  But at 700 plus deck temps in a WFO, pizza does not pick up smokey flavors like it does on a 5 min plus egg cook. 

You get the benefit in design and function of a WFO, without having to build and tend to fires all day preheating your oven.  There are many who have both a WFO and Blackstone, and they cannot tell a difference in end result between the two.  A Blackstone is solely for convenience.  With preheat, dough opening, topping, and cook time, it takes about 15 min.  With some more practice, I could shave a few min.    

Now, in comparison, think about how your egg is designed.  Intake, fire location, pie location, exhaust, etc.  And also think about issues we all face when doing pizza.  Raising the stone helps some with radiation, but doesn't solve the convection problem. 

 

SmokeyPitt

@Focker- thanks for taking the time to explain.  That definitely makes it more clear. 

Focker

No problem SP, 

The egg can produce some good pies.  I'm just a snobby, OCD, pizza hack.

Dulax43

Does everybody in this post make their own dough from scratch?

nolaegghead

Can't speak for the others but I make all my dough.  It takes 10 minutes to make enough for 8-10 pizzas. (excluding leavening)

QDude

I make my own also.