Cast iron skillet pizza help

pretzelb

I need some advice on time and temp for pizza in a cast iron skillet. I just made my second one and it was terrible. The crust was very burned on the bottom. I did 500 degrees and every 10: minutes I would peek and rotate. I cooked for 30 minutes. At 20 it looked fine but I kept going thinking the toppings needed more time. I think another issue was my sauce was too thin or I used too much. I'm wondering if 450 might have been better or maybe higher and less time.

DMW

Were you direct or indirect? When I do CI pan pizzas I go indirect, CI pan on cooking grid, platesetter underneath, around 425*-450*, depending on how thick I've made the pie.

NPHuskerFL

+1 indirect 425℉-450℉ dome. In addition I've also done that + raised grid indirect which seemed to help with the toppings a little bit. @DMW‌ do you or have you ever went raised grid indirect c.i. pan? To be honest I haven't made pizza period for like 3-4 months I believe. Which is sort of funny because I have dough balls already made up sitting in the deep freeze. Maybe on Sunday if I don't get slammed with service calls.

NPHuskerFL

@pretzelb‌...and one other important question. Did you make the dough or is it from a grocery store etc? Store bought dough tends to have a good amount of sugar. You're baking at a lower temp than on a stone say at 650℉-750℉. Although you're only rolling at 425℉-450℉ the c.i. will be much hotter than what you think. Just something to consider. Sugar will help with browning but, unfortunately will also cause premature burning.

DMW

@NPHuskerFL I have only done indirect CI pizza. The first time I put the CI pan directly on the platesetter legs down, which resulted in a burnt crust. After that, PS legs up, cooking grid, CI pan on the grid. 

Now I'm jonesing for a pan pizza...

NPHuskerFL

@DMW‌...me too! totally!!!

pretzelb

I tried again using some feedback from here and the results were much better (it couldn't get any worse) but we still need to adjust some things. 

This time I used the generic dough recipe found on the BGE site. I found it very tasty so I think we will stick with that. We used a sauce in a jar which wasn't that great and a blend of Italian cheese that I think was also mediocre. Then I added pepperoni. I had some left over dough so I threw it into a pan to make some bread. I added corn meal to the skillet and it really helped the pizza slide right out.

The method was 450 with plate setter feet up and grate on top. Then the CI went on grate. I did 5 minutes then turned the skillet 45 degrees. Total time was 19 minutes. I might have been able to do 25 but I didn't want to push it this time. 

Next time we look at different sauce and cheese. 

Cookinbob

Kenji on Seriouseats.com has a "Foolproof Pan Pizza"  recipe which is deep dish cooked in a cast iron skillet. I have not done it (it is on my list), but I have found his recipes to be spot on.  His cook temp is 550, it would definitely be an indirect cook with the PS.  Might want to check it out.

Carolina Q

Well, I HAVE done it. Worked great! Actually, as I recall, I did this one in my oven, but an indirect cook in the egg set up like this would work fine....

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2013/01/the-pizza-lab-the-worlds-easiest-pizza-no-knead-no-stretch-pan-pizza.html?ref=title

Here's mine...

NPHuskerFL

Drooling»»» Yup ya nailed it Michael!

Cookinbob

Oh Yeah!  Looks awesome, moved it ahead on my list!  Kenji seems to get it right before he posts.

Carolina Q

Cookinbob said:

Oh Yeah!  Looks awesome, moved it ahead on my list!  Kenji seems to get it right before he posts.

Yeah, he's pretty good. Nice guy too. Very helpful when I've emailed him. May be a bit slow at the moment as he's in the middle  of a move from Harlem to San Fran. Still with Serious Eats though.

Carolina Q

NPHuskerFL said:

Drooling»»» Yup ya nailed it Michael!

Thanks, Blake. Needed a bit more sauce for that much dough, but was still pretty good.

KiterTodd

Now...I've never been a fan of pan pizza (preferring traditional NY/NJ thin crust)...but cast iron pizza on the BGE...THAT LOOKS AWESOME!

Thanks for teaching me something new to cook!  Mmmmmm....can't wait to try it.

Big_Green_Craig

I'm not sure what's wrong. Try this-

http://www.biggreencraig.com/deep-dish-pizza.html

(not a plug, just helping an EGGer)

NDG

Very Nice.  I always reference this classic deep dish post.  Worked for me.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1144692/mushroom-lovers-deep-dish-pizza/p1

MO_Eggin

Use the recipe and set up in the post linked above by @NDG (with due props to @Zippylip for the original).  It is fantastic.

Griffin

Most time when people are having problems with pizza, its a result of using the wrong temperature for the type of dough they are using. Not sure what dough you are using, but fot he kind we use for CI Skillet Pizzas, we cook at 425F and it takes 30-35 minutes..