Pizza Temps

r270ba · October 2012

I hope to do my first pizzas this weekend. I have never taken my egg above more than about 600 degrees. Is there anything special to getting the egg up to pizza temps? How do I do it?

SamFerrise · October 2012

There really is no need to go above 550-600 to do pizza.Make sure the plate setter is warmed up before you cook. I let mine go at 500-550 for at least 30 minutes to get it stabilized. If you have an original gasket it probably will get fried so be ready for it.

BBQMaven · October 2012

What Sam said,

The XL will take at least that long to stabilize (if not longer)... fire it up, let the smoke clear, put the plate setter, spacers, and pizza stone in.... and wait till temp reaches 500 and then start your "warm up" timing... If you are worried about your gasket, put the plate setter in with legs up and grate on top of it. Put your pizza stone on the grate. Should help keep the gasket from high heat.

r270ba · October 2012

Thanks guys. Why do some cook at the 700+ temps?

halo42 · October 2012

I haven't done 'anything special' to get the egg up to temp, just fully open on the bottom and top.

When the coals have really started to catch I put the place setter legs down and a sacrificial pizza stone on top of that. When it's stabilized around 550, it's good to go.

I have cooked three batches of pizza and my gasket still looks like this:

I find that closer to 600+ the cheese starts to burn in places before it's fully done. With that said, I cook mine for 5 minutes at 550 and they are awesome. Parchment paper is the only reliable way I have found to transfer the uncooked pie to the stone. (Tried flower, corn meal, oil, pizza peel, cutting board - and all combos of said items...)

Duganboy · October 2012

r270ba said:

Thanks guys. Why do some cook at the 700+ temps?

They read about pizza ovens being 800-1000 degrees and they are trying to duplicate. Trust Sam, 550-600 is plenty hot to do a pizza on the BGE.

Skiddymarker · October 2012

r270ba said:

Thanks guys. Why do some cook at the 700+ temps?

Because they can, and, it works for them. Pizza the way you want it is a combination of temp (500 to 700+), time (5 min to 10 minutes), dough (moisture content) and topping (both what and how much).

If something is not to your liking, vary only one thing at a time until you get what you want.

For example, if the topping is undercooked and the crust is overcooked, there are a number of things to try. More moisture in the dough or less toppings are two things to try. It might be as simple as wiping the stone with a damp cloth to cool it slightly, slows down the crust cook, no effect on the topping.

nolaegghead · October 2012

There are lots of different kinds of pizzas and doughs. They taste different at different temps. Generally you don't want to do thick doughs at high temps.

The one classic pizza that's done at 900 F is the:

Neapolitan

Neapolitan pizza (pizza napoletana): Authentic Neapolitan pizzas are typically made with tomatoes and Mozzarella cheese. They can be made with ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, which grow on the volcanic plains to the south of Mount Vesuvius, and mozzarella di bufala Campana, made with the milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Lazio in a semi-wild state (this mozzarella is protected with its own European protected designation of origin).^[6]

According to the rules proposed by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana,^[7] the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of wheat flour (type 0 or 00, or a mixture of both), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other machine, and may be no more than 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire.^[8] When cooked, it should be crispy, tender and fragrant. There are three official variants: pizza marinara, which is made with tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil, pizza Margherita, made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-virgin olive oil, and pizza Margherita extra made with tomato, mozzarella from Campania in fillets, basil and extra virgin olive oil. The pizza napoletana is a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (Specialità Tradizionale Garantita, STG) product in Europe.^[9]^[10]

Little Steven · October 2012

I do all mine thin crust and hot 700* - 900* and have finally learned that less is more for toppings

nolaegghead · October 2012

I think thin crusts get better when you cook hotter. The heat creates a lot of interesting flavors and textures. Thick crust will just be doughy at the topping/dough interface and burnt on the bottom if you try to cook them that hot.

We're thin crust folks.

Little Steven · October 2012

I dunno, I've had some pizzaria bought doughs that I couldn't stretch thin. They still come out well at higher temps. I will usually put more stuff on a thicker dough to even the timing out a bit. I do mine on top of the ajustable rig, platesetter with legs cut off, copper plumbing tees and stone. If I ever get some buffalo milk mozzerella I will do margherita

DonWW · October 2012

Little Steven said:

I do all mine thin crust and hot 700* - 900* and have finally learned that less is more for toppings

+1 on this. Ditto for the sauce. Don't over do it. Also, try other sauces - pesto, alfredo, BBQ.

Little Steven · October 2012

Olive oil, goat cheese and rosemary is a favourite of ours

r270ba · October 2012

Wow the knowledge on this forum truly is incredible. Any good thin crust dough recipes you guys care to share?

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Neapolitan