HOT DAMN! First really good pizza!

Finally think I might be getting a handle on this whole pizza thing. I was experiencing BGE withdrawal so I decided to fire it up for a pizza in the rain. Finally had the patience to allow the egg to get stable at 500 before putting on the pizza, and it was WELL worth it. I also set my pizza stone up raised this time, and that seemed to help as well.

I had a pack of dough I bought at a farmers market last Sunday that I needed to use up, so I rolled it out nice and thin and trimmed it down to fit onto my peel without overhanging. Topped it lightly with sauce, added sliced hierloom tomatoes, onion, garlic, pepperoni and mozzarella. Drizzled very lightly with olive oil and sprinkled on a bit of oregano, crushed red pepper, and garlic salt. Threw some corn meal on the peel to aid sliding and went out to the Egg.

Two minutes on the stone at 500-550 then a turn and slight reposition. I did that twice before pulling the pizza after 6 min on the egg. Cheese melted beautifully, no sticking whatsoever and NO BURNING! Big bubbles in the crust that fell during cooling.

The first one looked so good i decided to roll out the remaining dough and throw a second one on. This one was very simple; rolled thinner, very little sauce, less mozz then half with peppered salami and half with pepperoni. Same turning/cooking as above, but egg had moved up to 550-575 this time.

I attached some pics below. The first pizza was really good. Maybe a little too much cheese, and the flavors ended up just a bit muddled but it was still really good. Crust was nice but this one probably could have been excellent with one more minute on the egg.

The second pizza WAS excellent. Thin and crispy, but still with a bit of chew and even a touch of stretch in the crust. Crunchy, but not at all crackery. There was one perfect slice in the middle that was half peppered salami, half pepperoni and all awesome. This is the new bar I will be shooting for with pizza cooks.

One negative is the new lump I'm working with. The only BBQ shop in reasonable distance has been out of BGE lump for about two weeks now. I finally broke down and bought their store brand (BBQs galore) hardwood lump. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the bag, lots of nice big pieces (softball sized and larger) but the rest of the experience has been acceptable at best. This lump seems harder to light and seems to burn much smokier than BGE. My new plan is to have some WGWW shipped to an Ace that's not too far away. This Ace doesn't carry it normally, but I understand they'll ship to the store for free.

Guess this is a bit rambly, but I'm excited to be cooking on the egg again, overcoming this terrible rainy SoCal weather (it's got be  below 50!) and finally enjoying some really good pizza.

Cheers all -
B_B