HOT DAMN! First really good pizza!

Black_Badger · January 26

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

hoofaloos · January 26

looks awesome!!

caliking · January 26

Is that first pic just one slice?? How big was the whole pie?

I keed, I keed. I wouldn't mind a slice of that! Did you like the crust?

Wicked good seems to be the charcoal of choice, but Royal Oak lump is easier on the wallet and available at places like Wal-Mart. Guess who makes BGE lump? Yup, the good folks at Royal Oak. Be warned though that RO bags have some surprises like lumps of concrete, etc. Bigger bags seem to have bigger pieces of lump.

SkinnyV · January 26

Funny I was tired of royal oak taste ony pizzas so off recommendations I did the ace order online. Just picked it up today, delivered to store within the week.
I walked since ace is down the road but didn't realize how heavy the bag would be. Great price @ 21.99 tax included.

jfm0830 · January 26

Congrats on the pizzas. That first one looked particularly tempting. I see you specialize in organic shaped crusts like I do. ;) I couldn't roll out a round crust to save my life. I gave up worrying about it when a grilled pizza book I bought made the claim that the free form shaped pizzas taste better.

I will make an unsolicited suggestion. You should try standardizing on a time and temperature combination that works for you and then always stick with it. By using the same temperature you can work on getting the time just perfect. I happen to use 600 degrees , but nothing wrong with 500. I get the Egg, plate setter & pizza stone up to 600 degrees, make sure it is stabilized and then let it stay there for 30 minutes. Then I cook the pizza, I've found at that temp it takes 5:30 to turn out a pizza the way I like it. It took a few tries to get the time just so, but now it is very repeatable. I cook the pizzas with the Metal Cap off which has the added benefit that I can look in on the pizzas down the chimney. This helped me get my perfect time down. I also don't turn my pizza, I'm not sure if the 30 minute warmup evens things out, but I get even cooking. By not opening the Egg this keeps the time constant.

I think you'll like the WGWW. I've tried other charcoals but none have worked as well.

Black_Badger · January 26

Thanks @jfm0830, what you're suggesting makes total sense. I was cooking without the cap or daisey wheel last night as well. It did seem th temps were drifting because of the frequent opening to turn.

I'm sure it'll get better as I go.

Cheers -
B_B

r270ba · January 26

Looks great! Love the shapes.

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HOT DAMN! First really good pizza!

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