Evolution of a table, enter the Blackstone

Zippylip

Bought a mini BGE in 2008 & built a plain table for it to match the existing large table:




Then I had a brick table built so the old wooden table became extra prep space:




Then around 2011 I happened upon a second Large BGE so I cut the hole out larger, dropped the shelf down a good bit, & sunk her in:




Added some removable side shelves to get back the prep space I lost:



Then they put this thing on sale & made it irresistible:



I’ve never been a fan of these kind of skinny metal legs & small wheels so, after contemplation, decided to evict the second egg from the table & get rid of it in favor of the Blackstone. Of course, it didn’t fit into the existing hole & there was no way of reusing the same wood up top so off it came, 2 ten foot lengths of new cedar deck & some cutting later we have this:



Stained to match the rest of itself:



And in with the new:





The metal base sits on some 2x3’s:



I had to lower the shelf another couple of inches to accommodate the propane tank:



Side shelves back on, though I have to trim some off the rails, they’re now hitting the new 2x3’s:



A quick test burn, probably should’ve done this before I pissed away a whole day retrofitting things :



We’re ready for a party on the porch:



Have some dough rising now, we’ll see how this thing works today

__________________

Spaightlabs

That is very slick!

DMW

Nice setup! I started a batch of dough last night. Not sure when my first pizza bake will be. Plan to test fire this afternoon.

tulocay

Nice

NibbleMeThis

Nice job on the set up! 

I have one of their flat top grills (griddle) and it is extremely well made and cooks like a commercial flat top.  If this pizza cooker is as good as that flat top I know you'll be happy with it.

Eggcelsior

How big is it? I have limited outdoor storage space and it doesn't seem too bad. Could I stick it in the corner of my garage?

Little Steven

We expect this kind of heresy from an egg hater. Everyone knows the best pizza comes from an egg.

smokeyj

I'm not an egg hater but my egg will never see another pizza.

Zippylip

Little Steven said:

We expect this kind of heresy from an egg hater. Everyone knows the best pizza comes from an egg.

simply evolution my lad

WeberWho

I believe @focker picked up a Black Stone 6-8 months ago

Bojangles

NibbleMeThis said:

Nice job on the set up! 

I have one of their flat top grills (griddle) and it is extremely well made and cooks like a commercial flat top.  If this pizza cooker is as good as that flat top I know you'll be happy with it.

Ditto

caliking

Nice setup and efficient repurposing of the table x2! Did you make those chairs add well?

Zippylip

Did a test run on the Blackstone, wanted the most basic of pies to see what the oven brought to the mix, if anything, over the egg.  Made a quick batch of warm rise dough this morning, was kind of cold today so it took a good 6 hours to double in size but when it did I tossed it on the peel:




simple tomato sauce:



shredded mozzarella:




total pre-heat time was about 15 minutes:




had a little snafu, first pie wasn’t on 10 seconds when my propane tank kicked, was about a minute or so in the change-over. Still cooked ok:







second pie seemed to perk up more quickly:




after 3 minutes I pulled it, was getting real dark real fast, though probably should’ve given it another 30 seconds & I probably would’ve had some nice char. Regardless, it was delicious:








I started baking pizza over 20 years ago in a crappy electric oven in my first house. First significant upgrade was 13 years ago when I installed gas in my current house & with it a gas stove. Next bump up was 10 years ago when I began baking them outdoors on the egg. I have to say this, the Blackstone once again has increased the quality of my pizza.   Now, over the last 10 years I've probably baked over a thousand pies on the egg and in every conceivable way (different doughs, different temps, different configurations...) so the control group is substantial.  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, this thing did in 3 minutes what no setup I’ve ever used before it has done, including the egg.  Not really sure how to explain the difference, but for my first time out to eat a pie this good was pretty cool.  If even after playing around with this thing for a few months the pies don't get any better than what I just ate I'd still pick this over the egg for this job any day of the week.

DMW

@Zippylip

Thanks so much for posting the review. I slow fermented dough overnight, divided it this morning and it is waiting in the fridge. I'm planning to give it a test run tomorrow night. Without even firing it, I'm glad I bought it based on your review. Can't wait.

I know there will be a pizza party in the future where I will have both the egg and Blackstone running together, wonder if anyone other than me will be able to tell the difference...

 

Carolina Q

That's okay, Marc... I pick my crappy old electric oven over the egg any day of the week. For pizza I mean. Blackstone sure is tempting though. Nice job on the table btw.

Zippylip

DMW said:

@Zippylip

Thanks so much for posting the review. I slow fermented dough overnight, divided it this morning and it is waiting in the fridge. I'm planning to give it a test run tomorrow night. Without even firing it, I'm glad I bought it based on your review. Can't wait.

I know there will be a pizza party in the future where I will have both the egg and Blackstone running together, wonder if anyone other than me will be able to tell the difference...

 

I'm sure with better quality dough the possibilities are endless.  I'm lazy, although I bake pie about every Sunday I never manage to think far enough in advance to make cold rise.  You will be very glad you bought it after you use it.

Carolina Q said:

That's okay, Marc... I pick my crappy old electric oven over the egg any day of the week. For pizza I mean. Blackstone sure is tempting though. Nice job on the table btw.

Michael, I wasn't blessed with that nuclear freak machine you seem to have in your kitchen, mine was truly a 'burn everything you put in it except the part that somehow stays frozen' crappy electric oven, hated that thing, hated it. 

Although I still do a good amount of my pies inside (Sicilians, many cast irons...), the regular & thin crusts all went on the egg.  With the Weber replacing the egg for most grilling a long time ago, the Blackstone taking the pizza job, truthfully I'm not all that sure what I'm doing with the egg anymore.  Maybe I'll grow tomatoes in it next summer

cookingdude555

@Zippylip‌, great looking pies. How hot were your upper and lower stones? I have been launching them at 800 upper and 700 lower. I think I might actually dial it back as I am coming to realize NY style is more to my liking.

I like your setup BTW.

Carolina Q

So Steve was right? Haha

I grew mildew in mine this summer. Was unexpectedly out of town for about 10 weeks. No egg, just an electric stove and a Weber. Stove was easier. Weber tasted better.

Zippylip

cookingdude555 said:

@Zippylip‌, great looking pies. How hot were your upper and lower stones? I have been launching them at 800 upper and 700 lower. I think I might actually dial it back as I am coming to realize NY style is more to my liking. I like your setup BTW.

I have no idea, no thermometer to read it, but then again I also have no thermapen or scale either, more of a fly by the seat type.  But I'm a big fan of NY pie too, the texture and flavor of this was right there. 

cookingdude555

@Zippylip‌ , thanks.

grege345

Awesome job with that table. Got your money worth

bigguy136

I use your pizza dough recipes all the time. I love your new set-up. If you feel like making extra, give me a call.....

henapple

@Zippylip‌. ..sweet.

Griffin

If you don't mind, where did you get your Blackstone on sale and how much?

Zippylip

Griffin said:

If you don't mind, where did you get your Blackstone on sale and how much?

$269 at Lowe's, according to the website this is the price until December.  The one I go to however had only 2 in stock, not sure if it's one of those 'while supplies last' sales but if it is & you're contemplating it I'd go grab one today, you won't be sorry.

Actually I bought mine online & clicked off 'store pickup', I did it for convenience only & had no idea they were down to two.  You may want to consider doing that

caliking

@Zippylip - great looking pies! The crust has some nice spring to it. Could I bother you for your dough recipe?

Zippylip

Sure, my warm rise is pretty simple.  Start with 4 cups of bread flour, add a teaspoon each of salt & yeast, mix it around, then 1.5 cups of water, knead for about 6 minutes.  Separate into 3 balls (for large egg sized pies) or 2 balls for larger 16 inch pies, cover & let rise until it doubles. 

Depending on the temperature in your house, the dough will rise anywhere from an hour or so to half a day.  You can speed this up by popping it in your warming drawer at 100 degrees, then it'll double in about 30 or so minutes.

I wrote about this & a cold-rise method extensively in this post a while back:

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/987401/stage-two-pizza-dough-with-o-verbose-commentary

caliking

Thanks!

MO_Eggin

Those pizzas look fantastic.  Congrats on the Blackstone.

TTC

Great looking pies, and love the "take what you've got and make it better" mindset you applied to the table.

Cheers

Zippylip

Turns out the table was too big for my purposes & took up too much valuable real estate in the porch ultimately conflicting with my new hammock zone.  While the table was mobile it was nevertheless unwieldy so I decided to chop about a foot off of it & essentially have the entire design replicate a hand truck so I could keep it in the garage & easily zip it out when needed.

Into the garage & off with the top:

make the cut:



Add the new rails:



Put the chopped top back on:



Screw in the bottle openers & pop in the unit:



To solve the leverage problem & give something to hold onto to drag this thing around, also doubles as a brace to hold the oven in place:



Fortunately I have questionable carpentry skills so the rail that suspends the oven above is at a somewhat significant sloping grade, turns out it's perfect to jam the propane tank in to keep it from moving when I lean the table back to move it around:



Here she is in one of her cooking spots in the hut, next to the other hammock zone:



And finally, a shot of the spot that prompted me to suck up nearly an entire Saturday retromangling this table for the 4th time:



Now I just have to fire this thing up