BGE Pizza Stones and Pizza setups

Carolina Q

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

Carolina Q said:

I've had my egg for over 7 years. I do not need or have an AR. If you already have a platesetter, you don't need an AR either (not for pizza anyway). I have done many pizzas on the egg though I no longer do so (I like my oven better-same or better result, much easier)). I used parchment in the egg twice. No thanks. I don't think the crust is nearly as good, even if I pull it out after a couple of minutes. Something about the initial contact of the dough with the stone. Get a wooden peel and learn to launch pies from that. It is not difficult. Have you ever seen parchment paper at a pizza joint? No? There are reasons for that.

how are you managing to cook these in fewer than three days?  i heard that's really the only proper way.  i just called my pizza joint and told them i would be ordering a pizza for monday night football, please start now.  too difficult to cook one myself.

Ah, but you don't know when I started!

SloppyJoe

Carolina Q said:

sjm1027 said:

I have an XL BGE  with a grid size of 24" I have been looking at pizza stones and see stones from 19", 17.5" and smaller. Then I see the Rig and Woo combo with a 17.5" stone... so now I am confused. Why wouldn't I buy a stone as close to 24" as I could? Why is the Rig and Woo smaller? Is there a reason, maybe air flow? Since the accessories are expensive I really want to make sure I get the best option I could get at the time of purchase. Why wouldn't I use the heat deflector AKA ConvEGGtor (don't like that name) flipped over to cook pizza? Has anyone tried that?

I've had my egg for over 7 years. I do not need or have an AR. If you already have a platesetter, you don't need an AR either (not for pizza anyway). I have done many pizzas on the egg though I no longer do so (I like my oven better-same or better result, much easier)). I used parchment in the egg twice. No thanks. I don't think the crust is nearly as good, even if I pull it out after a couple of minutes. Something about the initial contact of the dough with the stone. Get a wooden peel and learn to launch pies from that. It is not difficult. Have you ever seen parchment paper at a pizza joint? No? There are reasons for that.

I have a large and purchased a 14" BGE stone with my egg. It is large enough for my needs and leaves plenty of air flow room. I raise it about 4" above the platesetter using assorted parts (anything heat proof is fine) like this...


I use just a pinch of semolina on my peel. Acts like ball bearings to allow the pie to slide off. Note, it goes on the peel, not the stone. Flour works too, or cornmeal (my least favorite). This is how little semolina you need...


I have posted this video several times. Watch as much or as little as you want, but if you scroll to 3:12, you will see that he barely dusts his peel with flour, builds the pie on his table and drags it onto the peel. 


Good luck!!

What's wrong with dusting the peel and the stone with cornmeal?

Carolina Q

Why would you put cornmeal on the stone? The reason people use cornmeal is to make it easier for the pie to slide off of the peel onto the stone without sticking. A pizza will not stick to a hot stone so there is no reason to put any there. All it will do there is burn. The less cornmeal that winds up on the stone, the better.

dgaddis1

Pizza will stick to a brand new stone at least.  Or maybe I didn't have it hot enough that first time...

I tried the parchment paper method last night and loved it.  Couldn't tell any difference in taste and it made my life easier.  Will do again.

satman

I personally use a baking steel in my oven and it makes the best pizza I've ever had. Now that I have a BGE I may get a round steel but the oven seems easier and I can't imagine the pie being better.
What I really would like to know is what kind of pepperoni Carolina Q is using.
It's cupping perfectly.

YankinOz

I've done pizza on the BGE several times now, using a pizza stone (not the BGE one sadly), and it's been the best homemade pizza I've ever had. A friend recently said that true pizza ovens get up to 1000F, so I thought I would try and let my BGE get as hot as it could to see how the pizzas turned out. I let the fire go and the thermometer maxed out at 750F, so it was definitely hotter than that. How much hotter I don't know, but I had blue flames coming up around the edges of the place setter and the cast iron grid turned grey. I only left the pizzas on the stone for 3 minutes each, but the bottom was entirely scorched, solid black, and the toppings weren't quite done enough, though the cheese was melted. I guess I learned that there's an ideal temp to cook pizzas on a BGE and simply letting it go full throttle doesn't work so well. Is 650F or so ideal?

jeponline

YankinOz said:

I've done pizza on the BGE several times now, using a pizza stone (not the BGE one sadly), and it's been the best homemade pizza I've ever had. A friend recently said that true pizza ovens get up to 1000F, so I thought I would try and let my BGE get as hot as it could to see how the pizzas turned out. I let the fire go and the thermometer maxed out at 750F, so it was definitely hotter than that. How much hotter I don't know, but I had blue flames coming up around the edges of the place setter and the cast iron grid turned grey. I only left the pizzas on the stone for 3 minutes each, but the bottom was entirely scorched, solid black, and the toppings weren't quite done enough, though the cheese was melted. I guess I learned that there's an ideal temp to cook pizzas on a BGE and simply letting it go full throttle doesn't work so well. Is 650F or so ideal?

A lot of that will depend on the dough as well as how much topping you use. If you use store bought dough, you often want to stick to their recommendation for temp. I use homemade dough and have found 600 to be perfect.  If you want to go higher, you probably need to use a thin crust dough, go light on the toppings, and cook higher in the dome. With those 3 factors you could cook a pizza in 2-3 minutes. 

sjm1027

dgaddis1 said:

I just bought some hardware to make an adjustable height raised rack, will use it for pizza tonight.  I've done pizza before but wanted to get it higher and closer to the dome. Set up is:
Platesetter legs up
cast iron grid (at gasket level)
raised rack (~4")
BGE pizza stone

I like this idea. Will allow me to save a good chunk of change in the AR and I could also get the cast iron rack as well. What size rack is the one your using. I have the XL and would like to raise it 3.5 inches. 
I found this set up on-line today

sjm1027

Some good looking pies everyone... It's getting me ready for breakfast!!

etherdome

I turn out phenomenal pizzas in the egg with about as archaic setup as you can possibly have.  PSwoo with platesetter in (grate at felt line) , 3 half bricks on grate, pizza on  a grocery store bought pizza pan sitting on the bricks. recently got a Woo extender which will likely replace the the bricks on the next go round.   I have only cooked pizza on the egg maybe 10 times ever so I am no pro but I have had zero problems and nothing but raving reviews. 
What is it that the stone would add to this? I have considered purchasing one simply because thats what people use but I now ask myself, why?

jtcBoynton

@etherdome  There are many styles of pizza and their cooking methods can vary.  The primary purpose of using a stone is to provide a source of heat that can be transferred to the dough rapidly by conduction.  This rapid heat transfer helps get the oven spring in the crust.   It also helps get the proper browning of the crust.

Since you are getting results that you are very happy with, there really is no need for you to get a stone.  The style of pizza you are making and the way you like it does not need a stone.  Don't get one just because "thats what people use".  

etherdome

Thanks for your response. At the current time, I have no plans to get one .  Just curious. 

da87

I'm a BGE pizza newbie and I wanted to get an AR to use with a stone, but the BGE pizza stone came for Christmas without an AR...  I was expected to use the stone immediately and do all I can to avoid pissing off SWMBO, so I improvised:
put the plate setter in legs up (I read somewhere on the forum that legs down just directed the fire to the gasket), put three bricks on the plate setter - standing long side vertically, put the standard grid on top of the bricks and the pizza stone on top of the grid (to get full airflow).  Worked great, stone well into the dome but the thermometer didn't hit the pizza. 

Sorry about the lack of pictures, if it wasn't raining I'd set it up again and photo..  Tried both lots of cornmeal and parchment, both worked well

jtcBoynton

@da87      Parchment and cornmeal are redundant.  You only need a little cornmeal, the less the better (semolina is even better).