Roasted Pizza!!! Help!

Unknown · November 2007

Hi All![p]I had my first bad eggsperience last evening. Tried to do Pizza in the egg.[p]The setup: Large egg with natural lump charcoal. Set for direct cooking. Egg at 525 degrees. Pizza stone on stock porcelain grate and brought up to egg temp for 10 mnts.[p]Pizza #1: Regular pizza dough with sauce and fixings. On egg for 8 minutes. Top of pizza looked better than any brick oven place I have ever been – absolutely perfect. Bottom of Pizza – the same color, consistency, and taste of the lump charcoal. Gave a small piece to my dog. Dog dropped it in the floor and then licked his rear end (I guess to get the taste out of his mouth).[p]Pizza #2: Same setup. Cooked only 4 minutes. Bottom of crust – perfect. Top of pizza – somewhat similar to what might come from the deep freeze – cheese was not even slightly melted.[p]I am obviously doing something colossally wrong. Any suggestions?[p]Thanks![p]

hayhonker · November 2007

MorganR,
I believe you are cooking too close to the coals. You'll want to get the pizza up higher in the egg by using the pizza stone on top of the plate setter, or using an extended grate.
This will allow the heat from the dome to cook the top at a rate even with the bottom.

The Naked Whiz · November 2007

<p />MorganR,
You either need to put the stone on a raised grid to get it further from the fire, or get a plate setter or a second pizza stone to increase the amount of ceramic between the pie and the fire. Even on a raised grid you would probably do better two have a second stone. (You could also try a layer of fire brick splits under the stone.) I don't think you want to have a single stone on the grid down at the normal cooking level on the fire ring. Here's a link to my pizza hints and tips page. In the photo, I have the stone sitting on a plate setter. I preheat the Egg to 550 for 30 minutes and then the pie cooks for 7 minutes. This was using pizza dough from a pizza joint down the street. Different doughs can take different temperatures, but this is a good starting point. Good luck![p]TNW
[ul][li]Pizza hints and tips[/ul]

Luvs to shoot clay · November 2007

MorganR,
I had the same bad experience and I have 4 dogs that wouldn't eat it.
I tried it with out a pizza stone or plate setter (dumb egghead). To make it worse, I roasted my gasket as well. I am glad you posted so others of us could learn. I have since purchased a pizza stone and will soon purchase the plate setter.

icemncmth · November 2007

MorganR,[p]Two things you need to do when baking any type of bread..[p]1. let the lump stay at temp for 30 mins so that the
lump is burning clear..[p]2. Very important!!!...you need to make sure that the egg
is clean of grease... otherwise you will get a nasty
taste in your dough..
When I am going to bake bread or pizza on the egg..the
day before I will put some lump in and run the egg to
600 deg for a while to burn out any grease or build up
of crud..

Unknown · November 2007

If you have a plate setter Turn it so the feet are down and then put pizza stone on the plate setter.I always cook mine at 400-450 for about 15min.Good luck practice practice practice

JDub · November 2007

hayhonker,[p]You need to cook indirect with an air gap between the plate setter and the pizza stone. The radiant heat will cause the plate setter to be MUCH hotter than the dome temperature. If you put the pizza stone on the plate setter, that heat will conduct from the plate setter to the stone. If you set it up with the plate setter, and grid and put the stone on the grid, your crust will be perfect. My first pizza looked like yours did, now they look great both top and bottom.

Pace Yourself · November 2007

Hey MorganR,[p]My trip up the pizza learning curve included both scenarios you described so take heart in that you are not alone.[p]I am now making pizza's that are consistent from cook to cook and, in my family's view, work great for us. (We like thin, crunchy, and simple...)[p]I cook on a small but you can copy my set up on your large with a simple email to Chubby regarding GrateMates.[p]I use a full load of lump (up near the top of the fire ring), get the fire going without any thing in Egg, take it up to about 500ish then place an inverted plate setter, GrateMates, and a pizza stone. (Picture to follow...)[p]Now I wait until the dome is at least 600ish before cooking anything. (On the small, this can take a little while – I use that time to get things laid out in the kitchen – I make them as I go since I roll everything on the peel so I need to have things in order in the kitchen…) I use 1 lb of dough for three pizzas and they come out about 9-10 inches around and are done in 5 minutes.[p]I found consistency when I added the layer of air between the plate setter and the stone. I have no idea why but via a tip on this forum I went with it and have not looked back since.[p]I hope this helps![p]Cheers[p]

[p]

mikeb6109 · November 2007

MorganR,
here is my set up and i cook mine at 450 it takes about 10 to 15 minutes depending how thick the crust is.what i do for a set up is platesette then i add a pie cooling rack then my pizza stone on top of it. preheat the egg a food 20 minutes before adding the pie to it.i make my pies on parchement paper make it more easy to handle and slide off the peel to the egg! plus it allot easier to clean up.[p]

Unknown · November 2007

All - [p]Thanks for the overwhelming response!!! There are a bunch of great ideas here. I'm going to make another run at it tonight since after the next day or so I will be concentrating on egging up a Turkey. :-) Thanks again for the great tips. Once I succeed I'll post a follow-up here with some pics.[p]Thanks again!
Morgan

Fossil Frank · November 2007

The Naked Whiz,
When I make pizza the dough shrinks back after each time I roll it out.I have a heck of a time getting it out to the size I want. I don't think I can master throwing and spinning the dough. Any ideas on how to make it less difficult to get to the diameter I want? Thanks!
Frank

Unknown · November 2007

All - [p]Just a quick follow-up. I took many of these suggestions.
1) Used indirect with plate setter inverted.
2) could not find fire bricks and was in a jurry - got three medium sized rockes out of the yard and placed on the plate setter. (yea, I know it's lame but when you are in a hurry...)
3) Put the pizza stone on the rocks.
4) Let the egg get to 525 with the pizza stone inside for 30 mnts.
5) Cooked the best pizza I have had in a long time!!![p]Thanks again for all the suggestions![p]Morgan

Roasted Pizza!!! Help!

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