Need a hand with pizza

kindaquick

I own a MBGE and just got my XLBGE delivered earlier this week.  I have a 12" stone for the MBGE and the 21" for the XL.  Here's the question that I have.  In the past, I had cooked pizzas with the platesetter legs down and the stone on the setter.  After reading many posts about that setup wreaking havoc on the gasket, I decided to go legs up with grid and un-elevated stone on that.  The last few pies that I have made I have had trouble with the crust getting burnt.  My guess is that I need to elevate the stone, but I am unsure what to use to do so. 

I have read quite a few posts suggesting to use the "legs" to elevate the stone from the grid.  My guess is the "legs" refers to the Egg legs that came with my egg for setting into a table.  Is that correct?  if so, is that high enough off the grid to not only save my gasket, but to make sure the crust doesn't burn before the cheese is melted?

To further that question, would that same setup work on the XL with the 21" stone?  Or should I buy the grill grid extender?

Thanks in advance!

Wanasmoke

This has been discussed on a few other threads but using some kind of fire brick on top of the grid and setting the stone on top of that will get the pizza elevated to brown the top before the bottom burns.  Works great

TexanOfTheNorth

Your legs up setup sounds okay. If you want more elevation, put a grid on the platesetter and use some fire bricks or pavers to raise the stone. 

Burned crust could mean you are cooking too hot for your particular dough

fishlessman

upgrade the gasket and get the pie higher works for me, your going to toast the gasket anyways

kindaquick

Well, the gasket is the original one that was on the Egg when I bought it home in 2012.  No issues yet.  Temperature of my typical pizza cook is around 450 degrees nominal - give or take 20 degrees.  Store bought pizza dough.

fishlessman

kindaquick said:

Well, the gasket is the original one that was on the Egg when I bought it home in 2012.  No issues yet.  Temperature of my typical pizza cook is around 450 degrees nominal - give or take 20 degrees.  Store bought pizza dough.

raise the pie up and see what happens cook wise, the guys burning gaskets are cooking 600 to 750 on average, my last one went at 1200 dome cooking a pizza

TexanOfTheNorth

Yeah, 450* is not excessively high.  Like @fishlessman says try raising your stone higher in the dome

kindaquick

Thanks guys.  As I'm sure the size of fire bricks vary, any idea of how high I want above the grid?  3 to 4 inches?

TexanOfTheNorth

kindaquick said:

Thanks guys.  As I'm sure the size of fire bricks vary, any idea of how high I want above the grid?  3 to 4 inches?

Depends on your stone diameter. You don't want to get it so high that it cuts off air flow. The smaller the stone the higher you can go. Couple of inches might be okay but, I have a large so cannot say for sure

kindaquick

TexanOfTheNorth said:

kindaquick said:

Thanks guys.  As I'm sure the size of fire bricks vary, any idea of how high I want above the grid?  3 to 4 inches?

Depends on your stone diameter. You don't want to get it so high that it cuts off air flow. The smaller the stone the higher you can go. Couple of inches might be okay but, I have a large so cannot say for sure

The dome height is what has me concerned with the height of the fire brick, obviously.  As mentioned, I have a 12" stone for the MBGE (15" cooking grid), and I have the 21" stone for the XL (24" cooking grid).  I'm thinking between 2 to 4 inches, but again, not sure.

TexanOfTheNorth

kindaquick said:

TexanOfTheNorth said:

kindaquick said:

Thanks guys.  As I'm sure the size of fire bricks vary, any idea of how high I want above the grid?  3 to 4 inches?

Depends on your stone diameter. You don't want to get it so high that it cuts off air flow. The smaller the stone the higher you can go. Couple of inches might be okay but, I have a large so cannot say for sure

The dome height is what has me concerned with the height of the fire brick, obviously.  As mentioned, I have a 12" stone for the MBGE (15" cooking grid), and I have the 21" stone for the XL (24" cooking grid).  I'm thinking between 2 to 4 inches, but again, not sure.

You'll just have to try (unless someone had a m or xl and chimes in) the point I was making is that the dome may close but there may not be a sufficient gap between the stone and the dome to allow adequate air flow, thus, you're not trying to raise to the highest possible level

ChokeOnSmoke

TexanOfTheNorth said:

Burned crust could mean you are cooking too hot for your particular dough

Exactly this.  I started out using bought crusts and frequently burnt them.  You gotta make your own "wetter" dough to go above 450 or more.  High in the dome helps get the top done faster for higher heat pizzas.

Grillmagic

 Everything is relevant in a pizza cook, temperature, how high in the dome and what your dough will handle.  Here is my set up.

kindaquick

Thanks for all the input on this, guys.  I appreciate it!  I went out to a masonry and picked up some fire bricks that are 2 1/4" thick.  I'll have to play around with it a bit.  Made a lot of really good pies with legs down.  Just not used to the legs being up on the PS - yet. 

fishlessman

kindaquick said:

Thanks for all the input on this, guys.  I appreciate it!  I went out to a masonry and picked up some fire bricks that are 2 1/4" thick.  I'll have to play around with it a bit.  Made a lot of really good pies with legs down.  Just not used to the legs being up on the PS - yet. 

just play around with the setup until you find what you like, then maybe experiment with the dough. when i posted 1200 dome i was serious, and i was using generic storebought supermarket dough. 53 seconds max. i was going for the simplest thin crust i could, 3 pies per dough ball. pizza needs to be experimented with, we all have different likes and dislikes

kindaquick

53 seconds to a done pie?  Are you kidding??  That's awesome!