My Pizza Eggsperience

sdbelt

Over the last couple of weeks, I've now made 8 pizzas on my Large BGE. I have the place setter and pizza stone from BGE. I didn't use any firebricks, though I did let the BGE stabilize for 10 minutes, before the first pizza went on. All pizzas were made with dough from scratch, and the last 6 were made with sauce from scratch.[p]Here's what I've found is working well for me:[p]Dome temp between 600 and 650. To achieve that temp, I have the bottom vent wide open, the daisy wheel slider on. The slider is covering about half the top, with the daisy wheel holes open. If the slider is fully open, my temp will be right at 700, which is a bit too hot.[p]My first 2 pizzas were with dome temps ~750 (nothing on the top) and in both cases the cheese was not fully melted, but yet the crust was burning. Thus, the lower 600-650 range seems to be perfect.[p]I cook 'em for 6 1/2 minutes, using my "skinny" pizza dough. The crust comes out crispy (that's right _crispy_ in just 6 minutes), and guests were commenting that they'd never had such wonderful crust. Recipe I use:[p] 1 cup scant warm water (110 degrees F)
2 teaspoons honey
1 package yeast
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil[p]Water, honey, yeast are combined for ~5 minutes. Flour, cornmeal, salt, and olive oil are mixed. Then liquid is add and mixed with dough hook until a ball is formed. Kneed dough for a few minutes. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and store in fridge for at least 1 hour. Punch down, kneed a couple minutes, and its ready for use, or can be put back for later.[p]Alternatively, you can replace the 3/4 cup cornmeal with flour, for a traditional white crust pizza. You could also add fennel or other seeds to the dough, to create some character.[p]This recipe makes 2 12" pizzas.[p]For sauce, I like the following:[p] 1/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cups minced onions
3 cloves of glaric minced

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tablespoon each oregano and basil
1 teespoon fennil seeds
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons honey (optional)[p]Suate onions and garlic in stock until onions are translucent, then add the rest and simmer for 35-40 minutes, or until it tastes/looks like pizza sauce. I like to give the final result a quick run through the mixer, particularly if my mincing is more like chopping, or if I use diced tomatoes not crushed. Or, you can leave it the way it is for a "chunky" sauce, which is also good. Be sure to chill the sauce before using, or your dough will stick.[p]To make a pizza, divide the dough in half and roll it out on a floured surface. Once rolled out, transfer to a cornmeal dusted pizza peal. Add toppings (sauce, mozzarella, and ????).[p]I've made this many times in the oven, with the exact same recipes, and can honestly say the BGE pizzas come out significantly better. Like I said, the pizzas come out with a great crispy crust. The dough is fully cooked, and has a light golden color. The cheeze is fully melted. Pepperoni has a great crispness on the edges. Canadian bacon and pinneapple (my favorite) is perfectamundo![p]Make some for your friends and family, and you'll have them coming back for more...[p]--sdb

KennyG

MOp,[p]A REAL pizza doen't require tearing one or two dollar off coupons out of the newspaper, you do them on the Egg. Have you ever had a real pizza?? hehehe[p]K~G

djm5x9

Mop:[p]There is no excuse for you NOT to learn how to do pizza on the BGE. If you are not careful, you may get voted off the forum! Now get over to Tim's BGE site, review the pizza section, and come back here with your questions. We are gonna make a pizza pro out of you or else!

djm5x9

Mop:[p]Here is the link . . .

[ul][li]Pizza . . .[/ul]

sdbelt

Mop,[p]The only smokey flavor coming off my pizzas was from the lightly smoked cheddar I mixed in with the mozzerella. In 6 minutes, you can't inject much smoke flavor. And this isn't a novelty way of making pizza either. Like I said, compared to my oven variety, this was much better.[p]--sdb[p]

GaDawg

sdbelt,
An excellent post. I'll try your dough the next time
I do pizza. I've been making pizzas for 2 years and have never had a smoky flavor. I agree that 600-650 is ideal.
My goal is to replicate NYC brick oven pizza and I am
getting extremely close. Keep up the good work.
Chuck

Spin

sdbelt,[p]Congratulations and thanks for sharing. I have found that cooking with the top vent off does tend to cook the toppings unevenly - less done toward the middle of the pie. Cooking with the bottom wide open and regulating with the top vent tends to force the hot air down on the pie better.[p]Nice job![p]Spin

WessB

sdbelt,
Congrats and thanks for all the tips..I have been doing mine at between 500° and 575° with great sucess, I will have to give it a shot at your bumped up temp of 600° to 650°..and just for the record I have NEVER once made a pizza that tasted smokey..we always get some authentic brick oven pizza when skiing in Vermont..you actually sit very near the oven itself and there`s a thermometer in the stack (chimney)leading out the roof and it usually reads in the 950° range...kinda hard to explain but the fire( wood/logs ) and the pizza`s are on the same stone or base or whatever you wanna call it..some great pizza and something I`m getting close to...Thanks again..just my $.02[p]Wess

GaDawg

WessB,
That extra heat will get you closer yet to the
brick oven effect. 650 is ideal for me, I have
gotten away with 675 but you're on the brink of
danger there. 700 and up pizzas make for good
skeet shooting.
Chuck

Unknown

sdbelt,
As a newbie, I cooked a pork tenderloin last week on the medium BGE and Sunday I cooked two pizzas. Both pizzas were from scratch. Neither was smokey. My college-age daughter and her fiance raved about the pizzas, and they certainly have years of experience with pizzas. I for one am looking forward to years of experimenting with cooking on the BGE. As someone mentioned maybe foods cooked previously on the Egg have something to do with the smoke flavor. My two cents.

Spin

MOp,[p]At the cooking temperatures sdbelt is using the dough seals almost immediately after closing the dome. With what little smoke flavorings that exist in a clean Egg cooking clean lump, the resulting flavor imparted from the charcoal is that of a wood baking hearth. [p]These types of pizza cooks require fresh dough with the better ones being totally homemade. Fresh dough can be purchased from a local pizza establishment and will work well with this cooking temperature and method.[p]Commercial premade pies will not work very well using this cooking method as the dough mixes they use are designed to work best within the limits of the heating of a conventional oven.[p]I do not think you really believe that a considerable amount of unrealated people (except via this forum) are conspiring to convince you to waste your time on an unworthy cook. You actually can create a truly excellent pizza. Pizza is one of those things that become great when all of the little things of the cook (prep to done) start to come together. After you create the first eatable one, you are 90% there, everything else is just adjusting ingredients, prep, and/or the cook to create your favorite pizza done absolutely right.[p]Give a shout, forum or email. You can make great pizza.[p]Spin

GaDawg

Spin,
You expressed it better than I did yesterday. I find that
the hearth / brick oven flavor actually imparts a "fire"
flavor for lack of a better word. Absolutely not smoky,
but very "brick oven-esque". "Fire" is probably a poor
choice of adjectives, but I know that the only other place
to get that flavor is a brick oven. Does that make sense?
Chuck

Spin

GaDawg,[p]You make perfect sense. Your "fire" adjective is excellent in describing the resulting taste.[p]Spin