Pizza Frustrations

CPARKTX · February 2013

Due to what I know know was pure dumb luck, my first BGE pizza was one of the best pizzas I've ever had. About six pizzas later, I just can't repeat the results: the crusts don't don't out as well. The first pizza had a thin, light, crispy crust with lots of air bubbles (see photo, and yes, that was before I could roll round-ish pizzas).

I've tried elimating the variables: I'm using the same store bought dough, same toppings, same thickness (cant imagine that could very much, the stone is a fixed size so I'd notice a big change of the pizza relative to the stone), same cook setup...I suspect it has to do with temperature, but I can't dial it in. On that first pizza, i had poor temp control, so the temp was all over the place. Tonight I cooked at 450. I've burned some bottoms trying hotter

A photo of the pizza I did tonight is attached...the crust was okay, but seemed denser, with no air pockets. I don't think I could have cooked it any longer without starting to burn the bottom.

Any suggestions??

Black_Badger · February 2013

Hey @CPARKTX I've had some of the same variability and frustrations. Not to say I'm an expert by any stretch but here''re a couple things I've noticed:

Higher temp is better - ~550-600 seems to be the sweet spot. At this temp it's easy to end up with burned crust, so I've needed to check it much more often than I would anything else on the Egg. Don't be scared to open the dome on a pizza.

Start thin, end thin - At first I was scared to use enough flour and work the dough sufficiently to get it as thin as I like. I stopped trying to stretch the dough by hand and instead started using a rolling pin. Plenty of flour ensures the the dough will not stick to every damn thing like it wants to do.

Cornmeal adds a little flavor and lots of mobility - A little cornmeal on my peel and on the dough allows it to slide on and off the peel and stone with ease, that's a huge win. I've had the most success when I move the pie around a bit and keep it on a hot part of the stone.

Easy on the toppings - I have a tendency to get carried away with the sauce, cheese and toppings. I get better results when I scale back a bit and let things work together in small amounts.

I know none of this is groundbreaking, but I hope it might help a bit. I've found persistence to be well worth it and been rewarded with some really amazing pizzas on the egg.

Cheers -
B_B

six_egg · February 2013

Please do not take the wrong way. It looks great but I thought of a big Doritos chip when I seen pic.

cortguitarman · February 2013

My success has come by cooking at 550-600 and spinning the pie every 2-3 minutes. I've also learned not to overstretch the dough. I've recently been experimenting with a dough with a higher moisture content. It allows the dough to be worked more freely and allows me to stretch the dough by hand instead of using a rolling pin.

smokesniffer · February 2013

Black_Badger said:

Hey @CPARKTX I've had some of the same variability and frustrations. Not to say I'm an expert by any stretch but here''re a couple things I've noticed:

Higher temp is better - ~550-600 seems to be the sweet spot. At this temp it's easy to end up with burned crust, so I've needed to check it much more often than I would anything else on the Egg. Don't be scared to open the dome on a pizza.

Start thin, end thin - At first I was scared to use enough flour and work the dough sufficiently to get it as thin as I like. I stopped trying to stretch the dough by hand and instead started using a rolling pin. Plenty of flour ensures the the dough will not stick to every damn thing like it wants to do.

Cornmeal adds a little flavor and lots of mobility - A little cornmeal on my peel and on the dough allows it to slide on and off the peel and stone with ease, that's a huge win. I've had the most success when I move the pie around a bit and keep it on a hot part of the stone.

Easy on the toppings - I have a tendency to get carried away with the sauce, cheese and toppings. I get better results when I scale back a bit and let things work together in small amounts.

I know none of this is groundbreaking, but I hope it might help a bit. I've found persistence to be well worth it and been rewarded with some really amazing pizzas on the egg.

Cheers -
B_B

+1 I use parchment paper for about 4 minutes and then pull it. Turn the pizza around on the stone a couple of times during the cook, just in case there is a hot spot. Also I like to have a pizza stone up to the temperature of the egg for about 20 or more.

Good Luck.

Mattman3969 · February 2013

I am no expert by any means but I use a pre-made crust @ 400 I do platesetter legs up my grid and then my homemade raised grid with the lil egg feet with the pizza stone on them.

Mattman3969 · February 2013

Solson005 · February 2013

What is your current setup for pizza? Do you light the coals in one spot, two, three? I have found I need to make sure all the ash is gone every single time I do a pizza cook. Normally I do multiple pizzas and have the egg burning for up to a couple hours. It has just become routine pizza and a clean egg work well. I also light it in two spots and have found this to be the best setup for crust. With a 500° pizza stone temperature.

Pizza Frustrations

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