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BGE Newbie Tries Hand at Pizza

krb
krb Posts: 10
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
My range of expectations was anywhere from catastrophy to perfect. The pizza fell right between (not bad for a first experiment). I started with a virgin Papa Murphy's pizza crust, prego sauce, some pepperonis and cheese. (Don't laugh you expert pizza makers out there, baby steps!)

Removed from cardboard sheet, placed on cornmeal sprinkled peel. Assembled, placed on my granite slab preheated to 650 (the transfer from peel to stone was easer than I anticipated). Peeked at about 3:30 and the crust had several softball sized bubbles. I popped them, and again after another minute, then removed the pie at about 5 minutes. Despite the deformation and scattering of toppings from the bubbles, it was quite good. I'm not sure if the bubbles can be prevented with Papa Murphy's crust, I suspect it's formulated to be cooked at much lower temperature.

Next try will be with dough from a local pizza joint. Any suggestions for sources of pizza dough in the Kansas City area? I'm not quite up for making my own yet.

Of interest (to me anyway)
-- Brand new XL egg, only been fired up three times (at much lower temps). Sustained 650 for quite a while, no gasket issues at all (other than discoloration which I expect).
-- My Pizza Stone is a slab of granite, polished on one side 16" square and 1 1/8" thick. The thing weighs almost 30lbs. This evening I took it out of the egg, about 9 hours after snuffing the egg. It was still warm!

Comments

  • Boxerpapa
    Boxerpapa Posts: 989
    Well, let me be the one to give you congratulations. My pizza comes out good, but seeing other's pizza, mine doesn't compare. The more you do, the better they come out. I've made my own dough, but prefer going to the local Italian joint to use theirs.
  • Haven't done pizza on the BGE yet, but I've done homemade pizza for years--mostly Chicago-style deep dish. Crust isn't too hard to do once you get used to getting the yeast at the right temp so the dough rises properly. I use a cornmeal crust frequently 'cuz it's like Gino's East, my favorite Chicago 'za.

    Interesting choice for pizza stone. Got me thinking that it'd look cool to have a granite stone--couple of granite showrooms nearby. Maybe something with some green in it. Probably doesn't affect the taste, however, right?
  • krb
    krb Posts: 10
    Egg-on-Medford wrote:
    Interesting choice for pizza stone. Got me thinking that it'd look cool to have a granite stone--couple of granite showrooms nearby. Maybe something with some green in it. Probably doesn't affect the taste, however, right?

    If you're asking if the stone itself imparts taste to the food, no, it won't.

    If, on the other hand, you're asking the difference between the polished granite and a more traditional ceramic stone, I'm not sure. It's possible that there could be a difference... Anyone with experience here?
  • Broc
    Broc Posts: 1,398
    Congrats on the Piz-a-speriment!

    I ain't an expert at pizza -- but I no longer attemp to do pizza at high temps -- no matter what they do in hi-end pizzerias. They nuke pizzas so they can turn over their ovens quickly, to serve more customers.

    I drop temps down to the 400F-450F range and they come out just fine-'n-dandy. Although the Egg will handle lots of hi temps, plate setters, pizza stones, fire boxes and fire rings don't last nearly as long when they must sustain lots of hi temps -- as you can tell immediately when peering inside my crumbling interior ceramics.

    Good Luck -- Post often!

    ~ Broc

    :);):)
  • krb
    krb Posts: 10
    Broc wrote:
    I ain't an expert at pizza -- but I no longer attemp to do pizza at high temps -- no matter what they do in hi-end pizzerias. They nuke pizzas so they can turn over their ovens quickly, to serve more customers.

    Thanks! Turning my oven, er... egg, over quickly is exactly what I want. I'd like to be able to have a party and whip out a bunch of pizzas quickly.

    It's also pretty cool to have an "oven" that can cook anything at 700* ;-)

    -K

    Ours go to eleven.
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    Having the ability to make awesome pizza is one of the beauties of being an egg owner. I didnt know that when I bought my first one, so its an added bonus for me.
    FWIW, crusts from a good local pizzarei are hard to beat. They are conveninet, reasonably priced, & delicious.