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You Can't Win 'Em All

Griffin
Griffin Posts: 8,200

Still trying to figure out the best method for me to cook pizzas on the MINI and last night was not a winner. :(

I had every intention of having a healthy dinner last night. I was thinking seafood. I was thinking shrimp. And then somehow it all spiraled downhill from there into shrimp alfredo pizza. But at least I kept it smart portion wise and opted for a MINI pizza rather than a large, right?

Starting off with the dough, I opted for the Naked Whiz bread machine dough. Simple and it only takes 90 minutes in mine once you hit start. Gives you time to run to the store for other ingredients. No overnight rise in the fridge or other long steps. I haven't used this dough recipe in a long time. And I mean a LOOOOOONG time. So long ago, that back then I didn't realize there was a difference between AP flour and bread flour. I used to use AP flour. Bread flour....so much better for this one. Trust me.

Anyway, got the MINI set up with the Woo and two pizza stones and let it pre-heat at 500F

image

The dough recipe said it was for 2 12inch pizzas. I figured that could also be 1 12 inch pizza and 2 6 inch pizzas. I can do simple math. ;) While prepping my dough, I think an errant wind, possible a mini tornado, must have blown through my kitchen just as the dough was reaching the apex of its arc into the air, blowing it off course causing it to go sailing and fall with a wet splat on the floor. Or I may have just dropped it. We have two dogs, one who sheds quite a bit. The 5 second rule doesn't apply in our house. Into the trash and started on the second small ball of dough. No problems with this one. Built my pie and onto the Egg it went.

image

Guess the Egg was too hot for this pizza. I also think there was too much dough. Probably should have gone with a smaller dough ball to start with. I pulled the parchment after 4 minutes. Checked again 4 minutes later and the top wasn't nearly ready. On a whim, I checked the bottom. Oh no! Cooking way to fast. Might have lost it already. Pulled it and tried to save it by finishing it under the broiler in the large oversized clock thing in the kitchen.

image

Looks like it wasn't a lost cause. Side shot had good air bubbles in it. Should be edible.

image

Not so much. The bottom of the crust was a total loss. 8 mintues at 500 was just too much for this little disc of happiness. Charred like....like something charred. I was able to scrape off some of the dough and the toppings and eat that and it was really tasty. This pizza could be a winner, if'n I can figure out how to cook it properly. Shoulda gone with 425 or 400 maybe. Oh well. Still got half a batch of dough left. I can either try another MINI pizza again later this week. Or maybe I'll just build a large pie. :))

Rowlett, Texas

Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

 

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Comments

  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    I like the story and the MINI. Wish the results matched your efforts. I am dying to get a mini. You will figure out the mini pizza I am sure. If you can operate that crazy machine at work the mini is a joke....
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Griff, your math is off a bit.  Assuming your dough is the same thickness, making a pizza half the diameter uses 1/4 the dough, not half. 

    area = radius^2 x 3.12 (pi)

    3.12 x 6^2 = 3.12 x 36 =  112  (square inches for 12" diameter pizza)

    3.12 x 3^2 = 3.12 x 9 = 28 (square inches for 6" diameter pizza)

    Maybe that's why it came out so thick?
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    edited April 2013
    Pie are squared?  I thought pie are round??

    Either way- I think that is a great looking pie Griff. I would hit that even with the burned crust.  I have recovered from such an incident with a large bread knife- just sliced along the bottom and removed the burned portion of the crust. 


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • jlsm
    jlsm Posts: 1,011
    Nola, I was trying to figure out how to divide the dough the other day and knew simple math was not the way to go. What is the upside down V? (I really am not a moron, but math is, obviously, not my strong suit.)
    *******
    Owner of a large and a beloved mini in Philadelphia
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    "^" means "to the power of".

    So 10^2 = 10x10
          10^3 = 10x10x10

    ^2 is another way of saying squared.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Trick is to work out your dough recipe like you're making a square pizza. 

    A single 12" square pizza can be split into 4 quadrants and make four 6" squares. 
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200

    Doh!! (or should I say "Dough!!"?) My brain failed me. I ain't as smert as you is @nolaegghead. Guess I shoulda thunkt on it sum more.

    @SmokeyPitt that same thought was rattling around my head as I read SmartGuy's explanation. I did the exactly what you did. Ran a knife along it and cut off the burnt crust.

    @jlsm he's using the upside down V to show that it is a superscript. radius^2 would be written as the radius with a small 2 that was raised up a bit. Its an exponent. Like radius to the second power or radius times radius. If it was a 3, it would be radius times radius times radius. At least I'm thinking thats what it is.Its early and my brain ain't right and I haven't been in a math class in a hundred years.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Griff, I made that same mistake a while back, and I have a math minor.  One things is certain, you only do it once...unless you're totally tanked up on firewater like I frequently am.  ;)
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Logger
    Logger Posts: 309
    Some good stuff here...    :))
    OKC area  XL - Medium Eggs
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Chubbs said:
    I like the story and the MINI. Wish the results matched your efforts. I am dying to get a mini. You will figure out the mini pizza I am sure. If you can operate that crazy machine at work the mini is a joke....
    Sorry but from talking with the "Mini Acceptance Group" made up of Mini owners I could only find one person that would not blackball you (that would be me).  We, as THE group, suggest a small Weber (i want you to have a Mini).
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669

    Griffin  I have went to only tortillas on the Mini and only one stone at the top. 450 to 500 max.

    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    PI IS 3.12!?!?!?!?!?!

    image
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
    PI IS 3.12!?!?!?!?!?!
    Pi has to be a little smaller to fit on the mini ;)


    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

  • egger ave
    egger ave Posts: 721
    I have been cooking on my mini for about a year. It is a different beast than the Large BGE. I had similar issues with baking on the mini. Suspect it's an issue with the distance from the heat source and smaller volume of the mini. I took the cowards way out and resorted to low carb tortillas instead of dough. They work great.
    1 Large BGE, 1 Mini BGE, 1 Minimax BGE, Original wife and 3 dogs living in the heart of BBQ country in Round Rock Texas. 

    "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

    Albert Einstein
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    @Mickey I've done the tortilla pizzas and liked them, I was just looking for a thicker dough, not the crispy cracker crust.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669

    Maybe if you caught it at 400 going up and only did one or two before it got so hot. Just a guess.

    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    Color and toppings look really good to me, the crust can be slowed down with a cooler stone. Put it on later, that is do not let it get so hot (Infrared thermo works) or use a thinner stone. Sometimes I wipe it down with a damp cloth just before the pie hits it, cleans the stone a bit as well. 
    On my MBGE I let the egg stabilize at 500 and then put the stone on. 10-15 later the pie goes on, the crust works for my combination. 
    Like you said, try a lower temp with the same dough/top set-up, change only one thing at a time. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    Mickey said:


    Chubbs said:

    I like the story and the MINI. Wish the results matched your efforts. I am dying to get a mini. You will figure out the mini pizza I am sure. If you can operate that crazy machine at work the mini is a joke....
    Sorry but from talking with the "Mini Acceptance Group" made up of Mini owners I could only find one person that would not blackball you (that would be me).  We, as THE group, suggest a small Weber (i want you to have a Mini).


    Your vote is the only one that matters to me Mickey.... But if I am balled then.....

    I AM OUTTA HERE

    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    edited April 2013
    PI IS 3.12!?!?!?!?!?!
    Pi has to be a little smaller to fit on the mini ;)
    Sorry, I'm an idiot!

    3.14

    (edited - I was being obnoxious)
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    huh 8-}
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    I feel you with your trial and error with pizza on the mini. I am still trying to dial in making pies on my small. I have found 00 flour helps with the stone getting hotter than it does at the same temp in my large egg. I will get out my IR thermometer and see just how different the stone gets next time. I usually am away from my house when pizzas are made on the small and don't take it with. Even pizza I don't consider perfect on the BGE is still better than a hot n ready… 
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    edited April 2013
    Griff, your math is off a bit.  Assuming your dough is the same thickness, making a pizza half the diameter uses 1/4 the dough, not half. 

    area = radius^2 x 3.12 (pi)

    3.12 x 6^2 = 3.12 x 36 =  112  (square inches for 12" diameter pizza)

    3.12 x 3^2 = 3.12 x 9 = 28 (square inches for 6" diameter pizza)

    Maybe that's why it came out so thick?
    Hey Nola  - even with the .02 error in Pi, your math is sound for a flat pie. I recall the manager of the pizza joint I worked at during high school claiming "we" got three 8" pies with the same amount of dough as one 16" pie (don't forget the crust edge is thicker to hold the toppings on and provide a handle and is pretty much the same for all pie sizes). He always said customers were dumb and thought that two 8" pies are the same as one 16" pie which is why an 8" pie sold for 1/2 the price of a 16" pie.  
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    @Skiddymarker Yeah, it's funny how people think.   Same deal with TV screens.  If they sold them by square inches (pizzas and TVs), I think people's heads would explode.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    edited April 2013
    @nolaegghead Nola.  I know everything is bigger in Texas than it is in Lousyana, but here, ∏ = 3.14 (more appropriately 3.1415926), not 3.12.  So, your calculations are way off.

    Edit: Just read Skiddymarker's post.  Seems like ∏ is 3.14 in Canada too.
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    @Skiddymarker Yeah, it's funny how people think.   Same deal with TV screens.  If they sold them by square inches (pizzas and TVs), I think people's heads would explode.
    I wish they did. I loved explaining wide screen to people when I was still selling electronics(HDTV was reaching the mainstrean and 16:9 was trickling down to us common people).

    "How come this 42" TV is only 37" long ?!"

    "Well, it's 16:9 format, good sir"

    "Huh? my 36" TV is 36" wide at home!"

    "Well sir, that is because you have a standard definition 4:3 format TV; it is nearly square."

    "Do what?"

    "HDTV is in 16:9 format because that is the eye's natural frame of vision sir. Just like at the movie theater."

    "Oh, okay then. Give me that Toshabi right there"(this is how it was pronounced, not "Toshiba")

    "Very good choice sir"

    This is a summation of my selling experience from 1999 until 2003. Then people started to get it. After that, it was explaining "true HD" of 1080p .Lines of resolution is where the real fun was. Then came frame rates.

    The good old days.....
  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    Pi is a transcendental mathematical constant?

    A circle can't be squared?

    image
  • Village Idiot
    Village Idiot Posts: 6,959
    My birthday (mmddyyyy) is in the 247,684th position of Pi.  Talk about a coincidence !!!!
    __________________________________________

    Dripping Springs, Texas.
    Just west of Austintatious


  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    @VI - I'll just chock that faux pas up to using the early implementations of pi found on an ancient Babylon tablet that had it at 28/5th, or 3.125.   Close 'nuff for guvment work.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • What is the recipe for this delicious looking pizza?  I have a medium BGE, so I would do 1 12in pie right??  Just bought the pizza stone yesterday.
    Persistence and determination are omnipotent!
  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200

    Didn't really have much of a recipe. Used this for the dough, just dumped it in a breadmaker and hit the dough cycle (mine takes 90 minutes to complete):

    1-1/2 cups warm water
    2 Tbsp olive oil
    2 tsp kosher salt
    3-3/4 cups bread flour
    1/2 cup corn meal
    2 tsp sugar
    2 tsp rapid rise yeast
    I did add 1 tsp of Italian seasoning to it that was not called for.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings