The Stromboli, The Pizza, and The Ugly Truth...

KiterTodd

Got home a little late tonight with the kids and they were out back playing before coming in to ask what's for dinner.  "I dunno, what do you want?" 
"Can we make pizza?"
"Well, I don't have any dough so we have to go and buy some, can you wait that long?"
"Yes!  You make the best pizza!!!"

So, usually hungry kids don't want to wait but they were set on pizza so I lit the grill and let it warm up during the 15-20 minute round trip to the HT.  (one benefit of suburban sprawl is the Teeter they built in the middle of what used to be a beautiful farm behind our house).

Now, people here always ask what kind of dough I make, but I don't make dough no matter how simple you tell me it is.  Usually, pizza is a last minute decision and I pick it up on the way home and leave it out on the counter while I'm making the rest.  Harris Teeter carries a store brand and for $.50 cents more they have the below dough which is really good.  It is made with that "00" flour and is very elastic which makes it nice for thin crisp crusts with few holes;


THE STROMBOLI!
So, we decide to do stromboli (first time, fun for the kids) and 1 pizza.  I figure if one is a bust, we can eat the other.   The kids have done pizzas many times, but stromboli seems like another great way for them to create their own thing and see what happens.

So, they make some pepperoni and cheese strombolis, and I make this epic roll with last nights BGE leftovers.  I put some olive oil and garlic on the dough and then grilled salmon, grilled shitake mushrooms, spinach and some parm/mozz mix.  It's awesome.

I give them a quick egg wash, and onto the grill they go.

They cooked incredibly fast.  I was shocked.  Details below on that.


cooked in less than 5 minutes to this...


And a slice down the middle to look at the insides...



Had those off and then made the pizza...

THE PIZZA
Just did my usual quick pie here.  Kids put what they want on one half and I put some more of those leftover grilled mushrooms on my half...



I dropped the temp a little bit, but damn if this didn't cook fast as well.   The top was a little under cooked (kids didn't complain)..


but the crust was perfect -


The kids actually called it the best meal we've ever made (they're 4 and 7) and I enjoyed a couple fine beers.  I have to say, the kids like cooking with me.  So anytime I do breakfast, fried rice, or pizza with them it ends up being a meal they rave about.

Spring in Maryland....


Wait, did I forget to tell the UGLY TRUTH???

KiterTodd

THE UGLY TRUTH...

The damn temp got away from me.
This was also my first time cooking with the AR, I usually cook at the felt line.   Now that I think of it, I also forgot to put the AR stone on the bottom, as I usually have a legs up platesetter, with a grate, and then my stone on top of the grate.  Darn...

Anyway, we get home from the store and the grill is around 400 (I didn't leave it full open unattended) so I open the vents and start the rest of the prep.  Have my son check the temp for me and he comes back in and tells me it's at 700!  Crap!  I'm not too concerned because some of you report very high temp pizza cooks, but I do cut the grate back a notch attempting to get down around 600 or so while we're prepping the stromboli.

In hindsight, that fire was burning so hot I should have choked it down a lot to get off some heat and maybe even taken out the stone for a few minutes.  ?  

But, we make strombolis, I put them on the grill (it's still close to 700 even with reduced airflow and these damn things cook in just over 4 minutes.  But they look great!  Until you see the bottoms...



...that is the ugly truth.  

That stone was so hot that it fried the bottom of these suckers, the tops were golden brown, all the cheese was melted inside but in some places the dough was still raw.  Mine was mostly edible (enough to tell it was a great ingredient combination) but the kids were probably only about 1/3 edible.  Any place the dough was thick it was just plain raw.  Not good.  Such a shame because where it was good there was cheesey awesomeness.

So, what temp should you cook stromboli at on the egg?  Knowing that a thick inside will need more time to cook but you don't want to burn the bottoms in the process?   550?

The pizza was pretty good.  That saved the evening.

Kids didn't seem to care either way but I was hoping the stromboli would be a slam dunk!  Oh well.  Happens.   I've made some great pizza on the egg but I have to admit I'm only 50/50 for perfection.  

SGH

I can't make a decent pizza for the life of me. But I can hold my own with Stromboli. That said, I run mine considerably lower at 425 degrees. Cook time is extended but the out come is spectacular. I'm sure that you can probably get good results with numerous differnt time and temp combos, but the 425 keeps the cook at a pace that I can control and keep up with.

KiterTodd

SGH said:

I can't make a decent pizza for the life of me. But I can hold my own with Stromboli. That said, I run mine considerably lower at 425 degrees. Cook time is extended but the out come is spectacular. I'm sure that you can probably get good results with numerous differnt time and temp combos, but the 425 keeps the cook at a pace that I can control and keep up with.

Thanks @SGH!   I've seen your strombolis and they look great.
About how long do you cook them for at 425?

Clearly 700 was a bit much. 

blind99

HAH!!! What a great post!  Haven't seen one of your cooks in awhile, good to see you're firing up the egg. 

Strombolis take me at least 35 minutes at around 400. 

Man the bottom of those really took a beating!  

SGH

KiterTodd said:

About how long do you cook them for at 425?

To be perfectly honest with you, it's never the same because I do not take the time to make all the Stromboli uniform. But that said, I have never had one run longer than about 30 minutes. Depending on their size and how well you hold temp, it could be a little longer or much shorter. Next time I make them, I will actually time them so I can give exacting times. I usually pull them by there color so I haven't troubled with trying to get a set time down. 

nolaegghead

You want to cook Stromboli on a pizza stone above an indirect setup until the internal temp is around 190.  You can also cook right on a grill indirect.   If you do the stone, raising it higher in the dome helps as the part contacting the stone cooks fast, and you want the radiant heat high to cook the top on par with that. 

The tipo dough can handle higher temps than dough made with general purpose or bread flour, provided it doesn't have any sugar in it.  Since the stromboli is thick, I would keep it under 600F.  500 is a good temp.  If you use other doughs or want to cook the inside more relative to the outside, cook at a lower temp 350F or so.

Learn the general trends, like cooking at a lower temp cooks more evenly, higher temps favor the outside cooking faster.  Anything touching a stone cooks really fast.  Then adjust for the size, dough type, etc. that you're cooking.

paqman

Rule of thumb is to follow the recommended dough baking temp and maybe go 25-50F higher.  Nice story

Eggaroo

Yes, this Egging thing of ours is a learning experience isn't it? Nice story and great bonding time with the kids.

KiterTodd

Good feedback.

I'll make them again and try for 500.  And I'll remember to put a indirect stone somewhere below the pizza stone.   Good to know the AR raise should only have positive effects.

At least the mistakes are still fun to make and eat.  And it's much cheaper then screwing up a brisket!   

mgd_egg

Great post!  I've never tried Stromboli thanks for posting your lessons learned. 

KiterTodd

mgd_egg said:

Great post!  I've never tried Stromboli thanks for posting your lessons learned. 

Yeah, I think a nice thin crust pizza can stand up to a quick high temp cook, but that rolled dough needs a longer soak at a lower temp.    Lesson learned...

I also forget how quick an egg can shoot up in temp!   It was at 400 and then a few minutes later after opening the vents, a raging 700 degree BBQ!   

SGH

I failed to mention the indirect set up that Nola mentioned above. I assumed you were already using it. That said, he is correct that it helps a lot. If memory serves, it was DMW that gave me a heads up some time back about it. The two best set ups for me are either plate setter legs up, grid, and then a stone on grid. Or plate setter legs down with a stone sitting on the setter. I like the latter the best. It's much easier to hit and maintain the high temps. This post has got me to wanting Stromboli again!!

KiterTodd

Interesting....stone sitting on the leg down plate setter.  That's a thick piece of rock under the stromboli when you do that.  I had ruled that out as taking too long to heat up, but the benefit is a really great mass holding the temp.

Hmmmm....  you're a wealth of though provoking knowledge as always, @SGH !

SGH

KiterTodd said:

Hmmmm....  you're a wealth of though provoking knowledge as always, @SGH !

Again, I can't take credit for that one. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that it was DMW who shared it with me.