First Pizza

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

The pizza was really good...We should have cooked it a little longer but it is really hard to know that you are not buring it when there are flames everywhere.

I do have one question - The pizza was sticking to the pizza stone and I was wondering if there is any prep done to the stone before using it or could it have been the dough I used. I have never made pizza dough before so I used the jiffy mix. :unsure:

Grandpas Grub · May 2009

On the stone use corn meal. Too much meat will burn corn meal and the smell/taste isn't all that pleasant.

I have gone to building the pizza on parchment paper and transferring the pizza on the parchment paper right on to the stone. That works well.

With that much flame the parchment paper might catch fire.

I would suggest you put the plate setter in eggs up then the grid & stone.

OR

Put the plate setter in legs down, a spacer then the stone.

Why do you have so much flame?

GG

Boxerpapa · May 2009

Looks very nice. You could use parchment paper and after a few minutes, remove the paper or use corn meal on the stone. I prefer the parchment paper, but either way will work to prevent the dough from sticking.

Panhandle Smoker · May 2009

That does look like a direct cook I am suprised the bottom wasn't burn't. Like GG said you need a plate setter or some other configuration to get indirect heat and yes why all the flames? :ohmy:

Car Wash Mike · May 2009

Corn meal, parchment paper. You need to stablize at 500 with no flames.

Mike

Beanie-Bean · May 2009

Good job! My kids helped me with my first one, and it looked amoeba-shaped but tasted really nice!

I used a platesetter (legs down config) along with some BGE feet and a pizza stone and some corn meal on the stone.

JLOCKHART29 · May 2009

Great pic!! However like the others I use indirect heat at 450-500. I have tryed corn meal and parchment paper both and like the paper trimmed to pizza size the best.

Florida Grillin Girl · May 2009

Definitely try the parchment. It may look like it is getting burnt, but it isn't. It looks like you already have a pizza stone, try a lower temp and work your way up.

Good luck and keep trying. I promise it gets easier. The last pic was after several tries.

Faith
Tampa, FL

OttawaEgg · May 2009

This is a recipe my mother obtained (and was shown how to do it) from an Italian neighbour of ours years ago:

Ingredients:
2 envelopes yeast (just the regular stuff)
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 5lb bag all-purpose flour
1/4 cup melted shortening
5-6 cups lukewarm water.

Mix yeast and sugar with 1 cup lukewarm water, and let it rest (starting the yeast)

I use a big (and I mean BIG) bowl for this:

Put most of the flour in the bowl - I'd say around 3/4 of the bag.

Add the salt and mix it in.

Add the prepared yeast from the cup, melted shortening and about 4 cups of water.

Mix and knead, adding water / flour as necessary until dough is smooth and elastic. You probably won't use all the flour or water. You'll know its close when it doesn't stick to your fingers so much.

Form it into a big ball (a glob really LOL), and drizzle some olive oil on it to cover the exposed part.

Cover the bowl with a towel (not touching the dough) and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.

The dough should about double in size.

Whack the puppy down , and press out as many bubbles as you can. You should be pretty much back to the original size.

Hit it with the olive oil again (as above), cover again and let rise 2nd time for 1 1/2 hours.

Now you can dump it onto a floured surface. Give it a quick knead to get the bubbles out again and cut it into portions for your zaza.

I usually get 8-10 zazas out of it, depending on how large and how thick you like your crust.

You're ready to go!

It freezes very well - I pop it into zip loc baggies, and take it out a few hours before using.

Enjoy !

OttawaEgg · May 2009

I did nothing to my stone.

I did use a well-floured paddle though, and the pizza slid on and off the stone quite nicely.

Here's my first pizza (pepperoni / pancetta):

(See my other post for a great dough recipe - been using it for years)

Cheers!
:cheer:

Golfnut · May 2009

:blink:

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

Thanks again for all of the helpful tips...They make the BGE learning curve much easier to overcome :silly:

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

I am not sure why there is so much flame. This is my first with higher heat than the usual 300-350. After we brought the temp. up there were flames coming out of the top sometimes and when we opened the egg slowly the flames seemed to grow more than expected. We weren't sure how big the flames should be or what to expect when bringing up the temp. :unsure:

I guess we had a little too much fire

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

We cooked indirect with the plate setter feet up with the grate on top then the pizza stone. With all the flames I am sure it is hard to see what is going on...

Not sure on the flames, they were even coming out of the top. Any suggestions on taming the flames?!?

Grandpas Grub · May 2009

Just looked at the picture again, I sure can't see the plate setter but I do see a center area without flame.

That is an unusual amount of flame with the plate setter in the egg. I can understand flame up but what is in the picture is very unusual IMO.

What are you burning for lump?
How long had the lump been burning when you took the picture?
What temperature was the dome and has the dome thermometer been calibrated?
What is your bottom bent settings?

GG

OttawaEgg · May 2009

What temp were you at?

I did mine at around 550-600. I had a bit of flame when I opened (after burping) the lid to take the pie off.

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

Thanks for the encouragement...The pizza looks great. Even though it was our first pizza and it wasn't perfect, the kids still told us that it was egg-celent :laugh: They love the BGE and now anything I cook inside they say this is good but....I wonder how much better it would be on the BGE.

General-Lee Eggin' · May 2009

This dough recipe looks like fun. Thanks for the recipe, the kids and I will have to make some up to have on reserve in the freezer. What a great idea...

SGT BBQ · May 2009

Use parchment paper -- it will stop the pizza from sticking. When your cooking pizza you should have removed the daisy wheel. You should be able to check the pizza from loooking down into the egg. This way the only reason why you would be opening the egg is to check the bottom of the crust to check for your desired "crispiness".

Teresa · May 2009

Great pictures! How did you get the bottom of the crust so nice? I used parchment paper myself, and the top edges of the crust are nearly burnt but the bottom was nasty - doughy and not done at all. Can anyone please give me hints on how to get the bottom crisper? I pre-heat the stone for 10 minutes and cook the pizza for 15 at 550.

Florida Grillin Girl · May 2009

Thersa, I started cooking pizza on a lower temp. The pizza crust pic from above was cooked at 400 - 425 degrees. It takes a little longer, but I like it that the pizza has a more wood grilled flavor because it is left on longer. It just depends on your thickness - you have to play around with it.

Faith
Tampa, FL

Panhandle Smoker · May 2009

Let the stone heat up with the Egg. I started using a raised grid on my XL because the crust particularly in the middle was still soft (only an inch between the plate setter and stone). on the large not much of a problem but I still use the raised grid. Worked out great, I got more heat under the stone. I cook at 450-500 Dome.

Rib Bones · May 2009

Thought it was ribs last night?? Soooooo......How's the gasket? Are you still thinking the BGE is ok so close to the house? Would have loved to see the kids' expressions on this one!!!!! Sorry we missed it.

LOL

First Pizza

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