not really OT...I tried out a new pizza joint tonite

Unknown

called Papa Murphys "take & bake" pizza. It's a pizza joint that only sells RAW, ready to bake pizzas. We didn't feel like making a scratch pizza so I went out and got one. It's pretty good, with fresh dough, fresh ingredients and such. It took about 5 minutes to prepare the pizza while you watch. The dough is already in a disposable baking pan so you don't have to worry about sticking dough and corn meal. I just slapped it on the egg (with pizza stone & plate setter) at 450F for around 20-25 minutes. The only complaint was that the crust wasn't crispy enough. I think next time I'll cook the pizza in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then see if I can get the pie out of the pan and onto the stone for the last 10-15 minutes of the cook.[p]Jeff

Daddyo

lo n' slo,
Might work better direct. I use my plate setter for almost everything, but not for pizza. I think it's good to get some more heat on the bottom.

Unknown

Daddyo,
Good point. when I usually make pizza I cook it at 500-525F and I need the extra ceramic thermal mass so I don't burn the crust. At the lower temps papa murf recommends for cooking their pizza, I can probably dispense with the setter.[p]Thanks!!!!![p]Jeff

Unknown

Jeff,
I went to a similar place last week, because I wanted to try my first pizza without actually making it. It was pretty funny because this high strung store owner told me I COULDNT cook one of his pizzas on a grill. And why would I want to take the time to heat up a grill and a pizza stone when I could just throw his in the oven? Finally, he said, there's no way you can get my pizza out of the easy bake pan without ripping it. The challenge was on.
I bought his za and my wife and I painstakenly got it on my peal without tearing it. I used a plate setter and a pizza stone, got the egg up to 500, and cooked it at 450 for about 20 minutes. No chips. Killer za. perfect crust.
I'm looking forward to telling the dude that the ONLY way to cook his za is on the egg. Also, I'm going to ask him to build the za right on my peel so I'm ready to go. Either he'll agree, and sell me one or 2 pizza'a a week, or he won't.
I never thought about putting it on the grill on the pan. I guess I was concerned it would burn.

The Naked Whiz

lo n' slo,
I live about a block from a place like that. The paper pans they use are only good up to 450 degrees supposedly, so I don't use it. When they make the pie, I ask them to put a little flour in the paper pan before they place the dough down. Then when I get home, I get it off the plate and onto the peal as soon as I can so it doesn't have time to stick to the pan. I do this by flipping the pie (while still wrapped in plastic upside down onto the box. Then I undo the plastic, peel the pan off the dough, place the peal over the pie and flip back over so it is now upright on the peal. Now, I cook the pie for about 7 minutes on a 550 degree heated stone. Perfect! Cooking it at a hotter temp and on a stone should get you the better crust that you want. I also like to toss a handful of smoking chips on the fire as I put the pie it to give it a quick burst of smoke. Nice......[p]TNW

Citizen Q

Guys,
I, too, have had a similar experience, but with babyback ribs. My local grocery store carries these "Lloyd's BBQ Ribs", they're already cooked and drowned in sauce, so I don't even have to smoke my ribs anymore, hell I don't even have to light the charcoal, I can just toss em in the microwave!!! They're great!!![p]All blatant sarcasm aside, half the fun of making your own great pizza is making it from scratch yourself. Now I want you go out and quarry yourself a nice 800-900 pound millstone and start grinding the dried semolina that you harvested last August into a very fine flour for the dough. When you've done this, come back and we will walk you through the rest of the process, it's easy, I promise.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

Unknown

Whiz,
Good ideas. What kind of chips do you like?

The Naked Whiz

Scott Borders,
I usually only have hickory chips around since most of my smoking stuff is chunks.
TNW