Another pizza question- frustration abounds!

Jski

Tried pizza with my new stone tonight... complete failure!  Crust was burning at 4 minutes into the cook.  I was running temp at 550-650.  Used cornmeal to get the pizza from sticking on the wheel, but that burned almost within two minutes on the stone (the bits that came off the peel with the pizza, on the side of the pizza).  Usually am pretty decent with the BGE- this has me baffled.  Homemade crust.  Maybe too much residual olive oil from proofing the dough?  One of the other posts talks about getting the stone up to temp, which I did not do well, but then it burned quickly.  I also just had it sitting on the rack, so maybe too close to the fire?

Frustration was quite high when the third try wound up being three minutes on the egg and then finishing under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Any suggestions appreciated!

jtcBoynton

Please explain your set up in more detail.  Sounds like you may not have used an indirect setup but just a pizza stone on the cooking grate.

Mikee

Think of Egg as an oven when cooking something like a pizza. You do not want the pizza stone significantly hotter than the area above the stone. If the pizza stone is very hot, then it will cook the dough in just a few minutes while the top will take longer. I had much better results cooking pizza in the oven at 500*.

NJ_BBQ

Get an IR thermometer ($30) to know the temperature of the stone

Stormbringer

Sounds like a direct setup, same thing happened to me with direct. I personally found indirect much better for pizza. The setup I pictured in this thread works well.

MaC122

buy 00 flour as it will handle the high heat better or lower your heat and bake at 400-450. Also, I use parchment paper instead of cornmeal during the first few minutes of the bake and then pull it off during the last half of the cook. I completely understand your frustrations with pizza. I have ruined many of pies

EggNorth

Indirect for me - platesetter legs up, grill, old egg ceramic feet spacer, pizza stone.  I start my pizza on a standard pizza pan, when the top looks done in remove and put it on the pizza stone to finish.

reload

Indirect with feet down.  I made three balls out of aluminum foil to create space between the plate setter and the pizza stone.  Place the pizza stone in the egg as the temperature begins to rise.  Once the temp reaches 600, spread your cornmeal on the pizza stone and you are ready to roll.  I turn the pie about 3-4 minutes into the cook.  I check it again around the 8 minute mark.  Be careful,  they will burn quickly.   Good luck and dont give up on pizza cooks.  

stichrunner

I Just did pizza for the first time the other night and it came out great. I took my plate setter feet up and feet not in fire ring groves so it sat up another 1" I then put the ss grill on and the pizza stone on top that. I brought the temp up to 450 to 500 and let sit for a while as we prepped the pizzas. I used parchment paper instead of cornmeal and it worked very well. Took about 11 mins. I opened the egg a lot on the first pizza but the next two I left alone till about 10 min before I checked. 

flynnbob

I do direct with the stone on top of the AR rig and the D extender to get high in the dome.  You can use parchment paper to prevent sticking and pull it after the dough sets (a few minutes)

Shiff

I use semolina rather than cornmeal since it doesn't burn as much. I also use indirect with the Platesetter legs down, the BGE ceramic wedges under the pizza stone on top of the platesetter.  around 500 degrees at the dome and let the stone preheat for about 45 minutes.

steelcityegger

Did pizza for family Sunday dinner.  Made 6 pies.  1 Margherita, 1 white, 2 meat (pepperoni, sweet / hot sausage, bacon, ricotta cheese), 2 prosciutto, arugula,  mozz.

Set up is plate setter legs up, rack, raised grid, then pizza stone.

My beautiful wife made the dough, mix of "00" and bread flour.  Cooked around 600 degrees.  I started using parchment paper to get off of peel.  had trouble a few times so switched to this.  Just take the parchment off after a minute or 2.  

here are pics of meat and arugala pizzas.

Keep trying.  it takes awhile to get it to be what you like.  once you find what you like you won't want pizza any other way.

 

Jski

I appreciate the comments!  Yes, I think I was just too close to the fire and it was too hot.  I do not have a platesetter- I do have a rig from the ceramic grill store which can get it much higher into the dome.  I am going to give things a new try on Thursday night.  I will keep you posted.

DMW

Jski said:

I appreciate the comments!  Yes, I think I was just too close to the fire and it was too hot.  I do not have a platesetter- I do have a rig from the ceramic grill store which can get it much higher into the dome.  I am going to give things a new try on Thursday night.  I will keep you posted.

Get another stone to put below the pizza stone in the rig. You need a deflector between the fire and the pizza stone.

Jski

DMW said:

Jski said:

I appreciate the comments!  Yes, I think I was just too close to the fire and it was too hot.  I do not have a platesetter- I do have a rig from the ceramic grill store which can get it much higher into the dome.  I am going to give things a new try on Thursday night.  I will keep you posted.

Get another stone to put below the pizza stone in the rig. You need a deflector between the fire and the pizza stone.

I will look to do just that.  Thanks!

dougcrann

Not a big fan of 650+* pizza cooks. Since getting the AR/right extender have found no reason to go over 500*

jtcBoynton

@Jski  500-600º is not too hot for pizza.  It is very difficult to get everything properly balanced without an indirect setup.  Moving the pizza stone higher will help, but don't expect it to solve the problem much.  Try to get something to use as the indirect piece (another pizza stone, fire bricks, even a cast iron griddle). Make sure there is space between the indirect piece and the pizza stone. Try to get the pizza stone 2-3" above the felt line - this seems to be a spot that many find provides a good balance of heat from below and above.

victor1

Don't feel bad about burning one.  I did what I call my "brainfadepizza" some time ago.  After doing several store bought unbaked, which came out very well, I did one with the stone on the grid, no plate setter.  Looked perfect from the top, nuclear from the bottom.  Stuck to the pizza stone.   Total disaster.  All of this bragging to my wife's cousin how great it would be.  Good thing she has a good sense of humor.  Made up for my goof the following day with chicken breasts that were out of this world.

Stormbringer

@Jski - starting at a low temp and getting hotter if needed is good advice. By doing this you (a) don't burn pizzas early on and (b) get to know the egg and your pizza style. As a general rule of thumb, the thicker the pizza/amount of ingredients the less hot the temperature needs to be and the longer the cook is. Chicago pizza is normally cooked at around 425F, whereas a thin neapolitan pizza is cooked at around 750F.

Peter Reinhart wrote an excellent book called "American Pie" where he covers this topic. In the middle of the book there is a 2 page description about what happens in the dough making process which described concisely what other books fail to get across in multiple chapters. If you're into pizza or bread making in general, the book is worth buying just for those two pages alone.

Grillmagic

Take a peek at several of my pizza bakes (search grillmagic) 

JacksDad

Great thread, learned a lot from these posts.. I just did my first real pizza cook, with a total of 6 pies for the family. Here's some notes, what worked for me...

* Got the dough from local baker. $2 got me enough dough for three personal size pies.
* Set up was plate setter with legs down, then grill, then pizza stone. I didn't let the whole thing preheat enough. After getting going, with my bottom and top vents wide open and with frequently opening the egg, the dome temp was consistently between 500 and 600.
* Used parchment paper instead of corn meal. Wife didn't like the texture of the corn meal. Surprised that there was almost no sticking at all...

* Learned a new trick: we rolled out the dough on parchment paper, then baked it plain for a few minutes to firm up the dough/crust. Then took it off the egg, flipped it over, and then put the toppings on it. Then back on the egg to cook.  Seemed to hold up much better than trying to cook the whole thing at once, as the first few ended up with soggy crusts in the middle. 

Here's a few pics:

 

We made 4 more, more interesting than just plain cheese, including one with gorgonzola, fig spread, and arugala, and another with bbq sauce, red onions, and leftover pulled pork from yesterday's cook... Too hungry  to grab pictures of them all though! 

Thanks everyone! 

Jski

Attempt #2!

Thanks to all of the help from everyone here!!  Three pizzas all turned out great.  

billt01

I use the place setter legs up and then put my pizza stone (http://www.brookstone.com/pizzacraft-15-round-pizza-stone-with-wire-frame/880518p.html?bkeid=compare|mercent|googlebaseads|search&adpos=1o5&creative=99234470724&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CP2-w868_80CFZEvgQodc5wKHA)directly on the rack...cook between 500 and 550, and depending on the thickness of the pizza, done between 9 to 12 minutes...no burning, but I have crispy on the outside and soft in the middle...

Stormbringer

@Jski - looks good, well done!

Maybe a little longer on the egg next time to crisp up the edges and cook them a little more. To get a crunchier edge you can brush it with olive oil and sprinkle some cornmeal/polenta over the oil.