What did I do wrong? Pizza and not enough heat

Unknown

My first attemp at pizza with my new egg was a disaster. I don't have a plate setter yet, so I used 2 bricks to set the 12" pizza stone up a little higher. I assumed there would be enough room to get the oxygen moving inside the egg. Wrong. With the stone in there (not a regulation BGE stone) I could not get the temp above 450. I'm trying to get the temp as high as possibl(750 at least) to cook the pizza as quick as possible. Any suggestions or tips?
Thanks,
Steve
Walla Walla

katman

triodesteve,
Do you have plenty of lump in there and are you giving it enough time to come up to temp? The bricks and stone will take a while to warm. Also, you probably don't need the bricks. Before I got my platesetter I put my stone on the grid. I do my pizza between 450 and 500. BTW, hope the bricks are for fireplaces and not regular construction grade.

Mark Backer

katman,[p]If you're using bricks, the inside will take forever to get to that high a temp. Katman is right. Take the bricks out and you'll be fine.

Citizen Q

triodesteve,
750 is too hot for pizza, if you get the stone preheated to that temp, you'll burn the crust long before the cheese starts to melt. Commercial kitchens that cook at 750 or higher do the pies in shallow pans, not direct on a 750 surface. 500 is the optimal temp for pizza in the EGG, and DO use the firebricks as it will make using a pizza peel much easier. Load the firebox halfway up the fire ring, once you've got a good fire going, place your setup, main grid, fire bricks, pizza stone and let them heat up for an hour or more if needed, you'll get there. I don't know what size Egg you have, but I use a 16" stone in my large so I have to use firebricks to get the air circulating and on past attempts, I have had no problem burning the bejeezus out of my pizza at 750 degrees.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

Puj

triodesteve,[p]Baking pizza at high temps (the 750F to 800F) requires a little "journey" with the Egg. I do bake pizza on the Egg at these high temps, but it took me a couple of years to figure out the "hearth" setup and how to manage the heat.[p]I recommend that you focus on baking pizza in the 550F range first, get that under your belt, and then start the journey to high temps. I'll be glad to help you out in anyway that I can.[p]Puj