Pizza cooking

Unknown · May 2003

I bought a large ceramic stone at my local egg supply store to try pizza. Not wanting to put too much effort into making my own just yet, I bought two frozen pizzas. The first effort was cooked on the stone with the thermometer temp at 400 or so & needless to say it burnt quite quickly. I cut the temp in half for the second one, but it still burns on the bottom at 200 degrees. What's the pizza cooking secret that doesn't blacken/burn the bottom? Thanks.

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

mark in msp,
There is definitely something wrong. Pizza won't cook at 200 degrees, let alone burn. I've found that frozen pizza (I used DiGiorno) does best at 450 on a preheated stone. Either your thermometer is in another altered state of reality and showing 200 degrees lower than the real temperature, or something is dreadfully wrong. Most people can't keep an egg at 200 degrees. [p]Did you thaw the frozen pizza? When I cook them at 450 degrees, I put them in straight from the freezer, no thawing. [p]But whatever, there must be something major wrong that you haven't mentioned or your thermometer is way off. Put a frozen pizza in your oven at 200 degrees and see if you can burn it.[p]TNW

Unknown · May 2003

The Naked Whiz,
I know my thermometer is correct. I verified with an instant read in the hole also. I did not thaw them. It took about 45 minutes to cook at the 200 temp. Perhaps my stone should be oiled or floured? So I should get the egg to 450, while preheating the stone, then put the frozen pizza on for how long? Does fresh cook different? Should I get it to 450 & then extinguish flames? Should the stone be elevated above the grill with bricks? My stone is directly on grill.

Jeff J · May 2003

mark in msp,
When I'm doing pizza, which is our favorite egg food at the moment, I heat up egg to 550, put pizza stone in for 10 min to heat up, then pizza in for somewhere around 12 min, just have to keep looking at the crust and the toppings to see when its done. Of course these are not frozen pizzas I'm doing so don't know how what would effect, also I using a plate setter with the pizza stone, whats your set up? Plate setter or pizza stone on top of grate?

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

mark in msp,
No, don't oil and flour the stone. First of all, here is a link to my webpage of pizza tips:[p][li]Pizza Tips[p]Most people cook "fresh" pizzas at 550 to 650 degrees. I found that doing frozen is best done according to the instructions on the box, typically 450. I preheat the stone for about 20-30 minutes and then just slide the frozen pizza on. If the crust is burning, see the webpage for the hint about wiping the stone with a damp rag. Another thing that Spin has suggested is putting a grid (like a cooling rack maybe?) on the stone and put the pizza on the grid. My basis setup is that I use a plate setter on the fire ring legs down, and then the pizza stone on top of the plate setter. So, yes, putting some fire brick under the stone will help with burning. The nice thing about the plate setter is that it gets the stone up to the level of the opening in the egg so you can slide the pizza on and off the stone without having to reach down into the egg.[p]TNW

Steve-O · May 2003

mark in msp,
Are you settiing your pizza stone directly on the cooking grate or do you use a plate setter? Most of us who do pizzas on our eggs use both. That doubles the amount of ceramic mass between the very hot fire and the pizza crust. If you don't have a plate setter, I think that will help your pizza cooks a lot.

Spring Chicken · May 2003

The Naked Whiz,
I do mine like you do yours, only I bump the temperature up to 500 or so. I let my plate setter and stone heat up along with the Egg. I don't thaw the frozen DiGiorno pizza. In fact, it is usually out of the freezer no more than one to three minutes before going on the stone. I keep a good eye on it and rotate it half around to even the crust baking and I never have a problem with it being over cooked or under cooked or burned on the bottom. I suspect a long cook is worse on the pizza dough than a short one because a long cook will dry out the dough. Like everything else, keep trying until you get it just like you want it and stick with that plan. Good Pizzaing to you.[p]Spring Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Unknown · May 2003

Jeff J,
I have not used a plate setter. Not quite sure what everyone means by plate setter either. I'm assuming that you mean to raise the stone above the grill. I use nothing as of now. I could use a brick or two to raise it up. Would that work? Also, 550 is quite warm. No-one is burning the bottoms either huh?

Kip · May 2003

mark in msp,
You need a plate setter. Take a look at The BGE website for info. They are useful for much more than just pizza and will fix your current problem.[p]Kip

Mr. Hyde · May 2003

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

mark in msp,
Check out the BGE accessories catalog, linked below. It has a photo of the plate setter. It is made of ceramic so having it beneath the pizza stone adds more mass. 550 isn't all that hot for pizza. Most people here cook home made pizzas at 650. [p]TNW

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

Mr. Hyde,
...and to answer the inevitable question, you can get pizza screens from restaurant supply stores. I used to have a link to a website that sold them, but if you search on pizza screen, I think you should be able to find them. Lots of pizza joints use them.[p]TNW

djm5x9 · May 2003

djm5x9 · May 2003

Sorry . . .

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TRex · May 2003

The Naked Whiz,[p]Yeah, Papa John's for one uses them - last time I was in one of their stores a saw a big bin that held three different sizes of the screens. I think next time I will ask them if they have some used ones they'll let me have, or see how much they would sell them for. What do the restaurant supply stores usually sell them for, do you know?[p]TRex

The Naked Whiz · May 2003

TRex,
I haven't looked in about 20 years! I still have some I bought back then. But I'm sure you can find them on the web by searching on pizza screen.[p]TNW

Mr. Hyde · May 2003

The Naked Whiz,
I just ordered a new one from fantes.com. I think that it was about $15.00, but I am not sure...too many other toys in the same order. BTW, if you decide to get one, it has to be seasoned first, much like you do cast iron.[p]I think that they are great. I used them when I threw pizzas in my college days.[/b]

djm5x9 · May 2003

TRex:[p]This site has a nice collection of pizza gear. This is one of several pages with products they carry. See the Pizza Supplies link on the left.

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Pizza cooking

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