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Question about the Lodge Pro Pizza pan

Duganboy
Duganboy Posts: 1,118
edited May 2012 in EggHead Forum
Do you preheat the Lodge CI pan in the egg, like you do a regular pizza stone or do you just put the pizza on it and then put in BGE?

TIA

Comments

  • B&BKnox
    B&BKnox Posts: 283
    I haven't used one but assume you have to preheat, CI takes a while to get warm, if no preheating then toppings will get done and crust would be doughy
    Be Well

    Knoxville TN
  • Duganboy
    Duganboy Posts: 1,118
    Lodge website just gives instructions for conventional oven and they just put it in the oven.  Somebody will know.
  • Cowdogs
    Cowdogs Posts: 491
    No point comparing it to a pizza stone. It won't do that same thing, preheated or not.
  • I let it preheat, while cooking oiled mushrooms on it, while preparing the crust. I try to get the youngster's pizza on the pan when it is 350°-450° because they like a Papa John's style crust. I let it get up to 700°-900° before I put the grown up's pizza on. We like a chewy, crusty, Neapolitan style (wood fired brick oven for 90-120 seconds) crust. It take less than 3 minutes. Putting $0.58 red clay bricks from Home Depot under the pan gets the pizza higher in the dome so the convection melts the cheese.

    Setup

    • LBGE firebox filled into the fire ring with lump
    • platesetter legs up (BGE says this is the only way to use it)
    • CI grate
    • red clay bricks
    • 14" Lodge CI Pizza pan
    • Publix pizza dough on parchment paper trimmed tight to the shape of the crust

    I remove the parchment paper in less than 1 minute on the hotter cooks
    I finally took the plunge and bought my large Big Green Easter Egg from Roswell Hardware in Roswell, GA 03/31/2012
  • No point comparing it to a pizza stone. It won't do that same thing, preheated or not.
    I had a pizza stone for 10 years prior to buying this. What do you expect to be different? The cast iron conducts a little bit more efficiently than a stone so it will char the crust quicker... which is what you want for a Neapolitan or NY style pizza.
    I finally took the plunge and bought my large Big Green Easter Egg from Roswell Hardware in Roswell, GA 03/31/2012
  • Cowdogs
    Cowdogs Posts: 491
    No point comparing it to a pizza stone. It won't do that same thing, preheated or not.
    I had a pizza stone for 10 years prior to buying this. What do you expect to be different? The cast iron conducts a little bit more efficiently than a stone so it will char the crust quicker... which is what you want for a Neapolitan or NY style pizza.


    I agree it would get hotter faster, but it seems it would be more prone to uneven heating because it's thin. I suppose that if you strike the right balance between dome temp and pan temp, you'll get a good pizza.
  • tgkleman
    tgkleman Posts: 216
    I let it preheat, while cooking oiled mushrooms on it, while preparing the crust. I try to get the youngster's pizza on the pan when it is 350°-450° because they like a Papa John's style crust. I let it get up to 700°-900° before I put the grown up's pizza on. We like a chewy, crusty, Neapolitan style (wood fired brick oven for 90-120 seconds) crust. It take less than 3 minutes. Putting $0.58 red clay bricks from Home Depot under the pan gets the pizza higher in the dome so the convection melts the cheese.

    Setup

    • LBGE firebox filled into the fire ring with lump
    • platesetter legs up (BGE says this is the only way to use it)
    • CI grate
    • red clay bricks
    • 14" Lodge CI Pizza pan
    • Publix pizza dough on parchment paper trimmed tight to the shape of the crust

    I remove the parchment paper in less than 1 minute on the hotter cooks

    I was under the impression you should use fire bricks inside the egg, in that a regular brick could crack / explode.  Any thoughts?

  • Duganboy
    Duganboy Posts: 1,118
    I let it preheat, while cooking oiled mushrooms on it, while preparing the crust. I try to get the youngster's pizza on the pan when it is 350°-450° because they like a Papa John's style crust. I let it get up to 700°-900° before I put the grown up's pizza on. We like a chewy, crusty, Neapolitan style (wood fired brick oven for 90-120 seconds) crust. It take less than 3 minutes. Putting $0.58 red clay bricks from Home Depot under the pan gets the pizza higher in the dome so the convection melts the cheese.

    Setup

    • LBGE firebox filled into the fire ring with lump
    • platesetter legs up (BGE says this is the only way to use it)
    • CI grate
    • red clay bricks
    • 14" Lodge CI Pizza pan
    • Publix pizza dough on parchment paper trimmed tight to the shape of the crust

    I remove the parchment paper in less than 1 minute on the hotter cooks
    Thanks Richard.  I have a great affinity for iron skillets, dutch overs, cornbread pans, etc.  Have gotten into having pizza every Friday night and I'm just sorta jonesing to try the CI pizza stone.
  • 70chevelle
    70chevelle Posts: 280
    I don't use the CI pizza pan, but I make pizza's in my #10 Griswold pan.  Occassionally it's warm from sauteing the toppings, but it's room temp most of the time.  I put it right in the oven or on the egg (@550*)and my crusts come out fine every time. 
  • Duganboy
    Duganboy Posts: 1,118
    Thanks Chevelle.  #10 Griswold is a collector's piece.
  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    Regular bricks are fine. I put them on the fire ring for a cheap raised direct solution. No problems.
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • I have the lodge pizza pan, and burned 3 pizzas to a crisp, out of 4.  The one that didn't burn to a crisp, I had cooled the pan as the second burned in a short as a minute.  The temp was high, and the pan was in from the beginning as it heated up.  After the second, I took the pan out, cooled it with water, then put it back and managed an OK pizza, but had to pull it before the cheese melted, and the dough wasn't as nice at the unburned top of the first pizza, which bubbled.  Those bubbles were great, even though there was some burned flavour.  The final pizza burned, because I guess the pan got too hot again.

    Will take some practice, and I'm open to suggestions.  I'd like it hot enough that it bubbles and the dough cooks well.  The unburned pizza was OK, but the dough didn't cook as well as it could have.
  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490

    I have the lodge pizza pan, and burned 3 pizzas to a crisp, out of 4.  The one that didn't burn to a crisp, I had cooled the pan as the second burned in a short as a minute.  The temp was high, and the pan was in from the beginning as it heated up.  After the second, I took the pan out, cooled it with water, then put it back and managed an OK pizza, but had to pull it before the cheese melted, and the dough wasn't as nice at the unburned top of the first pizza, which bubbled.  Those bubbles were great, even though there was some burned flavour.  The final pizza burned, because I guess the pan got too hot again.


    Will take some practice, and I'm open to suggestions.  I'd like it hot enough that it bubbles and the dough cooks well.  The unburned pizza was OK, but the dough didn't cook as well as it could have.
    A couple of thoughts:
    1) Are you using the plate setter or some other indirect barrier, and is there space between the CI pan and your indirect piece?  If the CI getting heated directly by the burning lump it will get really hot. 

    2) Also depends on the type of dough.  Some dough simply can't handle high temps so it will burn, so you simply need to cook at lower temp (400-500) for a longer time. 



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

  • mlamb01
    mlamb01 Posts: 210
    I have the lodge cast iron pizza pan and love it.  I let it preheat in the oven or egg.  Something to remember...  In a brick oven, the floor is cooler than the air temp..  If the cast iron pizza pan is exposed directly to the coals(the edges are on my large egg when using the platesetter), you will get the stone much hotter than the air temp, and burn the $hit out of the bottom of the crust before the top is done.  You can work around this by not preheating the stone very long, or put some sort of barrier underneath the cast iron pizza pan, with a small air gap between the two.  I use platesetter legs up, grid, 13" ceramic pizza stone, 3/4" copper elbows on their side as spacers, then the cast iron pizza pan.
  • @mlamb01 - why not just use the ceramic stone? I've used CI skillet for deep dish, it all goes in a 400-450 egg indirect for 30-40 minutes. Never thought about using a CI pizza pan, stone seems to work just fine. Am I missing something?
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • I contacted Lodge since it is a question that I have had myself. Their response was that it can be used either with preheating, or can be put in still cold.

    I would give the same advice about this piece of cookware as I would the baking stone... If you are going for a thin cracker like crust, sure preheat.   If you are going for a thicker crust, I would most certainly start with the pan cold. 
    Personally I think I would reserve the Cast Iron for thick crust pizza that will bake around 350-400 and continue to use my Baking Stone for thin crust at 600
  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
    I do not pre heat the CI pan.  I let the dough proof on it for an hour or so, stretching it out a couple of times to cover the pan.  Setup is Platesetter, legs up, grid, pizza stone.  I preheat all of that, then the CI pan goes on top of the hot stone.  Never burned a crust, except one time I forgot the platesetter.  Crust and toppings get done the same time.
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
  • mlamb01
    mlamb01 Posts: 210
    @Skiddymarker - the cast iron pan has more thermal mass... Imagine having a sheet of AF, a thin cookie sheet, and the cast iron pan in a 150 degree oven. What would happen if you tried to pull them out bare handed? The cast iron will put the heat into the dough the quickest, and give you the best rise(think hot air inside dough expands) before the dough sets up.
  • @mlamb01 - thanks, thought I understood it, but always nice to be sure. Ceramic stones are always preheated which gives as you note the spring in the dough when it first hits it. Just never thought of using CI for a regular pie. Thanks, might give it a try. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!