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First Attempt at Pizza - Colossal Failure

CP92
CP92 Posts: 318
edited November 2013 in EggHead Forum
Got all excited, made time to spend most of the day at home and decided to do my first pizza.  I've done high temp pizzas in the oven before, so I figured it couldn't be that hard.  Well, boy I thought wrong.  I went with a store bought fresh dough.  Took it out to rise and ran to the store to get the rest of my ingredients. Got back and fired up the LBGE.  Came in and started getting my marble slab and rolling pin out.  Back and forth checking on the Egg I decided I'd get a head start on my dough and rolled it out.  BIG mistake.  In the time I finally assembled it, it had gotten so tacky and warm it wouldn't come off the marble and onto the peel. Tried in vain a couple of times then got frustrated gathered it all up in a ball and in the trash it went.  Now waiting on the Egg to cool so I can put a turkey breast on for turkey pot pies tonight.  Oh well, guess there's next weekend.
Chris
LBGE
Hughesville, MD

Comments

  • Sorry dude- been there, done that.

    A note on store bought dough that can save you some trouble next time: It usually burns over like 450 anyway. I scorched a few at my neighbors house with fresh dough from Whole Foods. All dough is a little different but most premade (even fresh) cannot handle the 600+ degree temps. They are great at 450 but I wouldn't go much over that if you don't make your owns specifically for high heat cooks.


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • CP92
    CP92 Posts: 318
    Appreciate the tip CTS, cause I was certainly headed for 6 fiddy.
    Chris
    LBGE
    Hughesville, MD
  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 22,951
    edited November 2013
    CP92 said:
    Appreciate the tip CTS, cause I was certainly headed for 6 fiddy.
    let my pain save you some aggravation. I was telling my neighbor how awesome pizzas were on the egg (he had just bought one that week and asked me to come over to teach him the ways of the egg). So we went over to drop some serious Centex/TFJ pizza knowledge on him and it was a disaster.I did get the temps down for the last 2 pizzas and they turned out great. The first 2 were raw on the top and complete charcoal on the bottom. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 25,880
    For me store bought pizza dough is best used on parchment paper. 10 minutes into the bake I slip my peel under the pie and pull out the paper so that the crust will finish browning in 2 to 4 minutes.
    Re-gasketing America one yard at a time.
  • I use parchment on every cook but I never take it out during the cook. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    I had a lot of problems getting pizza to come out correctly until I figured out that I wasn't letting the pizza stone warm up enough.  It takes about 15 minutes for it to come up to temperature. I have an IR thermometer that I use to tell me its temp.

    We make our own dough so I can't help with the problem you had.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    Were you working on a well-floured surface? That should have taken care of the dough's tackiness to keep it from sticking to the marble slab. 

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • CP92
    CP92 Posts: 318
    I don't think it was the store bought dough so much as I left it sitting too long after I rolled it out. I've never used store bought before, but I've been super exhausted lately (haven't been using my CPAP, I think that's the issue) so I was being lazy and I really wanted to do a pizza on the Egg without spending all day doing it.

    Appreciate all the tips though.  They'll be put to use.
    Chris
    LBGE
    Hughesville, MD
  • CP92
    CP92 Posts: 318
    @caliking, I thought so...
    Chris
    LBGE
    Hughesville, MD
  • Sticky and stuck to the marble?  Did you put flour down?  All dough, bread, pie crust,pizza, has to have a flour coating before working it.

    XXL #82 out of the first 100, XLGE X 2, LBGE (gave this one to daughter 1.0) , MBGE (now in the hands of iloveagoodyoke daughter 2.0) and lots of toys

  • I too am surprised it stuck to the marble surface unless you didn't use any flour. I occasionally use dough from Trader Joes and we let it sit out for over an hour before using. Makes it less elastic and easier to work with. Also am a big proponent of parchment paper for part of the cook.
    Clarendon Hills, IL
  • Cookinbob
    Cookinbob Posts: 1,691
    +1 with cen-tex on parchment paper
    XLBGE, Small BGE, Homebrew and Guitars
    Rochester, NY
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,432
    Cooking pizzas are just like cooking a chunk of meat; the thinner the meat the hotter you have to cook it to balance out surface browning and cooking to the center.
    For example, a "Cowboy" pizza from Papa Murphy's, which is quite thick/heavy, needs about 425 to balance cooking it along with a good crust bottom.  I usually cook their "deLite" pies (much thinner) at 600-650; and when I cook a scratch-made margherita (very thin) I go up to 900 and the pie cooks in 90 seconds or so, cheese melted and bubbly and the crust bottom perfectly browned (or close, anyway).  
    For the OP, at least it stuck to your countertop.  My first pizza stuck to the metal peel, and when I "snapped" the pie onto the stone in the oven (this was pre-Egg), the sauce, cheese and meat very nicely slid onto the stone; the dough was still on the peel!  :-O
    Nothing to do at that point but open all the windows, turn off the smoke alarm, and go to Dennie's for supper 
    :-&
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Don't give up! Your successes will be rewarded.
    Practice practice and some beer will help.

    I use Panko bread crumbs on the bottom of the pizza. Just lightly roll it into the dough and flip it over onto the peel.  Build the pizza and take it to the egg.

    Egg and plate setter  has to be warmed and ready 600 works best for me and the plate setter is my cooking surface. Use a wet rag if their is charcoal dust on the top before sliding pizza off.

    MY process is to bake for 2 and 1/2 minutes. Bottom should be nice and brown, nothing burnt.   Slide a pizza pan under the pizza removeng it from the stone.,and  with the other hand, place another pizza pan upside down on the plate setter, then set the pan and pizza  back on.  Using this other pan insures the top will bake for 8 more minutes without burning the bottom.

    Check the pizza at 6 minutes to make sure one side isn't getting too done, maybe rotate it 180.

    Take it off and put it on something where the steam can escape from the bottom, like a rack or a
    cutting board with grooves in it.

    When we have a party I have one made when everyone shows up and every 12 minutes another
    comes off.  We always make our own dough earlier in the day in the bread machine. For faster browning crust, add more sugar to the dough.

    The panko adds flavor and crunch. 

    I made one for a friend and he wanted extra char on his crust.
     I put a few hot coals on the plate setter
    right next to the pizza, every minute I would turn the pizza just a little.  Burned it perfectly for him.
    Now he expects it .



  • I am not fond of all the mixing and rolling so I've been using premade crusts..we like thin and crispy...Target has them for $4 for two...I parchment for about 6 min then pull and rotate the pie 180 degrees and go another 5-7 checking every couple min towards the end...perfect every time.
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...
  • I had to lol. We have all been there bro. PArchment and flour is the key. Soldier on!
    Large BGE and Medium BGE
    36" Blackstone - Greensboro!


  • +3 on Parchment. Remember to trim the excess parchment so it just hugs the pizza's outline. Excess may catch fire due to the extreme heat you are cooking at and will send ashes all over the place. With practice, your family will no longer want to order delivery pizza. You will be the envy of your friends and neighbors and will be expected to bring pies and ABTs to all neighborhood functions. \:D/
    In the  Hinterlands between Cumming and Gainesville, GA
    Med BGE, Weber Kettle, Weber Smokey Joe, Brinkman Dual Zone, Weber Genesis Gas Grill and portable gasser for boating
  • chashans
    chashans Posts: 418
    I roll out my homemade dough on a well floured poly cutting board. When I am ready to transfer it I flour the top then fold it in half and then half again (quarters) and pick it up with my hands laying it on the peal...where I then unfold it.  Piece of cake!
    LARGE, MINI BGE    SAN DIEGO, CA            An alcoholic with a barbecuing problem.

  • CANMAN1976
    CANMAN1976 Posts: 1,593
    I found keeping the dough at least an inch smaller than the stone size keeps it from burning.
    Hows ya gettin' on, me ol ****



    Kippens.Newfoundland and Labrador. (Canada).
  • I had the exact same problem about a month ago with store bought. The parchment paper idea helps, and run it at 450 degrees. I still havent made one yet that I'm proud enough to post, but atleast they are coming out edible now. 
  • Trim the parchment is a good callout...learned that one the hard way. One more thing...I never make just one pizza...sometimes 2 and sometimes 4...when I pull the parchment I save it and put the cooked pie on it between the cutting board...keeps it clean... If the stone is running hot towards the end and the browning cheese isn't staying caught up I sometimes grab a second sheet of parchment from a prior pie to slow the crust down more.
    Making the neighbors jealous in Pleasant Hill, Ia one cook at a time...