PIZZA

msfgroup

Good evening fellow Eggers

I am going to do my first pizzas tomorrow on the BGE and have a few questions.  I want to make pepperoni and sausage with the typical vegetables and sauce plan on cooking at about 600 degrees with plate setter and pizza stone directly on it with corn meal etc.  My question is should I pre-cook the sausage before I put it on the pizza or will it cook in the BGE appropriately?  I have an XL BGE and pizza stone approximately how long should I cook the pizza.  I would appreciate all comments and help
Love the BGE

KennyLee

Definitely cook the sausage ahead of time.   As far as time, I cook mine with an indirect setup, meaning plate setter legs up, rack on plate setter, and stone.....or in my case cast iron pizza pan.....on the rack.  My best results have been 500-550* for about 8 minutes.

Good luck!!  Once you get pizza down on the Egg, it's hard to find anything better. 

Hoov

I would cook the sausage ahead of time. I don't have an XL, but on my large, I use platesetter legs down, three green feet on top of that for an air gap, then the pizza stone. Let us know what your dough recipe is and we can better help you decide what temp and time to cook at. I go with a higher hydration dough at 650-700 dome temp for about 4 min. Best to you!

Shiff

Make sure you give the pizza stone plenty of time to warm up.  I have an IR thermometer that I use to make sure it is over 500 degrees on the stone before putting on the pizza.  Also, definitely precook the meat for the pizza.

msfgroup

thanks everyone this is a big help I did not get to do the pizza today due to some conflicts.  I kind of thought I should cook the sausage but glad to hear from the eggsperts!  Thanks so much!

Hoov, What are Green Feet?  I am new to the egg and this is a new term.  I am assuming its some kind of spacer between the plate setter and the pizza stone. Are they a BGE product?

I have not seen them.

Thanks Again Everyone

msfgroup

Hoov

I am getting some pizza dough from a local pizza shop that has fabulous crusts but I am not sure about he hydration factor ..................beyond my skill set. I am planning for a thin crispy crust if that will help. 

Thanks Again

Firemanyz

I also do not have the green feet for under my pizza stone. I went to Walmart and bought four 2" teracotta baby flower pots. I use these to get the pizza stone raised up off of the platesetter. Also this allows air flow under the stone while it cooks the pizza. Good luck as once you have a pizza on your egg you will not want to go out for pizza anymore.

pantsypants

you can also use copper pipe pieces which i use and work perfectly instead of the green feet

matthethamm

Did my first pizza on the egg yesterday.  Italian turkey sausage (pre-cooked), mushroom, onion and peppers.  The crust was thin.  SMOG is the wife's favorite pizza.
I cook mine with an indirect setup, plate setter legs down, foil balls on plate setter, and stone.  The cook was about 550* for about 11 minutes.  Pizza was on parchment for 9 minutes, then removed for last 2 minutes.
Wife was impressed, so this was a screaming success!!  Will be doing this again, soon.  Maybe lunch on Thursday.

Skiddymarker

@matthethamm and @msfgroup - try the setter with legs up, cooking grid on the setter legs and then something to raise the stone above the felt line an inch or two. With the setter legs up, the flames will circle the setter and save some wear and tear on your gasket. A setter legs down directs too much heat at the gasket. 

When you raise the stone in the dome, make sure there is at least an inch around the stone to allow the heat and air to flow. A 15" stone is fine sitting at the felt line in a LBGE (18" at felt line). If you raise it 2" above the felt line you might start to restrict the air flow, and the edges of your pies will burn. 

matthethamm

Thanks, will give it a shot that way next time.

papasmurf2

I have done several pizza nights now and here are some of my thoughts! I have the set as most with plate setter feet down the I place a piece of a fire brick (cut into 1/3 ) at the corners where the place setter legs are, Then I place my pizza stone on top of these pieces of fire brick to give a space between the plate setter and the pizza stone. This prevents the pizza from sticking or burning on thin crust pizza'a I start the Egg ahead of time heating up to about 500F . Next I make my pizzas ahead of time using 3/4 of the pound of dough- thin crust,(1 lbs for thick crust) .Use the spaceship method of creating your pizza never roll your dough.Look online for the "Necessary Indulgences" used this method and the crust was perfect.I made 4 different one's ahead of time.  when I make my pizza'a I put parchment paper,cut the parchment paper 1 in extra around the pizza then cornmeal the the parchment paper . the Pizza won's stick to the paper. when you are ready with your pizza's ( more than one) crank your egg up to 600-700F , Put cornmeal on the pizza stone and cook for about 5 min. Then slide the parchment paper out and finish pizza  directly on the stone, about another 5 min. The crust comes out perfect every time. Good luck you will be very impressed with the EGG's pizza 

jfm0830

My set up is platesetter legs down, four 1/2" copper plumbing T's on top of the platesetter and the BGE pizza stone on top of that. I light the egg and put all the paraphernalia inside it as soon as it is lit. Once the Egg gets to 650° I let it sit there for about 30 minutes before I put my first pizza on. I cook my pizzas at 650° for 4 minutes and about 15 or 20 seconds.

Both of my Eggs have high temperature gaskets in them and I don't sweat pizza cooks like I used to. My first pizza cook ever took out the factory installed wool gasket and I replaced it with a High-Que high temperature gasket. It looks about as good as the day I put it on there. Any discoloration is due to charcoal dust that may have spilled on the gasket when I was pouring charcoal in. My second Egg came with the factory installed high temperature gasket and it looks as good as new too. Oh that reminds me: cook the sausage.

CTsmokin

Hello all,

 I do things a bit differently and think it is by far the best way to cook pizza on the egg.  

I put a LOT of coal in the egg and then place an older grate that I don't cook on.  On top of the grate I place white firebrick.... they are about 4 inches wide, 8 inches long, and the key... 2 1/2 inches thick. I arrange them in a square (it takes 5 and a half of them) tightly together in the center of the egg and actually cook directly on the bricks (you will want to scrub the brick with a brush and lots of water when you purchase them from the masonry supply).  The trick is to burn the fire HOT for about half an hour to heat the brick through.

Make your pizza on a wooden peel with plenty of cornmeal.  We like it thinner so I stretch (never roll) about a half pound of dough, plenty of crushed tomatoes, fresh pealed and crushed garlic, sliced mozzarella (the shredded stuff doesn't melt well), and plenty of extra virgin olive oil plus any of your favorite toppings.  Do NOT cook the meat first, but adjust the oil accordingly. 

The hot temp is key.... the pie will be a bit blistered and charred.

 

The egg should be at 700 degrees.  Once you are heated up the pies come off every 5 to 6 minutes.  I'm in CT, home of the world famous Pepes Pizza... Trust me, follow my directions and you will have a seriously awesome pie.

CTsmokin

i should point out that you do have a couple inches of air on all 4 sides of the square for the heat to get above the pie into the dome.  less at the corners.

Miked125

Good luck! Pizza is awesome on the egg!

biggreentom

I know I'm late to this party but I thought I would add my 2 cents anyhow.  I regularly do pizza on the egg and my family will all but refuse to order in now because of how great it is.

I make my own dough most of the time, or in a pinch will pick up some from Longo's.

I really find the home made dough gives a better pizza and it's not that hard to make at all.

When cooking I use the plate setter, legs down, and a stone on top of it.  I put the stone on right after lighting and let it heat up with the egg. 

I have found 550 to be the sweet spot for cooking pizza.  Especially with store bought dough.  Anywhere between 500 - 600 is good though.  I have tried to go higher and not had much success.

I have also found that the easiest way to do the pizza is to use parchment paper, build the pie on that and put it right on the stone, after cooking for about a minute pull out the paper.  It's so much easier and cleaner than using corn meal or flour. 

Sometimes there is a bit of flare up and the paper will get singed but it's never a big problem.  I am going to try flipping the plate setter and using the grill to hold the stone and see if that helps, I hadn't thought of doing it that way before seeing this thread.

A recipe that I got from a friend has become everyone's favourite around my place.  It's ranch pizza.  Instead of pizza sauce us your favorite ranch dressing.  Add mozzarella and then sprinkle cooked bacon over the pie.  You can kick it up a notch with some torn basil too. 

I subscribe to The Carnivore Club and get a box of meat every month.  I normally use that to make a meat lovers pizza of some kind.  I post the pics to my Instagram feed.  You can check them out here:
http://instagram.com/cahillsolutions/

I suggest trying everyone's suggestions and see what works best for you.