Burning my frigging pizza

erikjs71

Ok.. so new to the egg. 

Just bought a Large egg yesterday and did some steaks.  They came out perfect.

Tonight I literally RUINED 2 pizzas.. So if I could pick this thing up and throw it, I would.

I got the egg hot to 600 degrees, put a plate setter in legs up.. with the grate and my pizza stone.

The first pizza I put in for 6 minutes.. a little burnt on top, and black on the bottom.. I literally had to use 2 hands on a metal spatula to get the pizza off.. so I thought it was too long.

I scraped off the burnt crust, and tried another. (I only had 2 doughs.)  This time 3 minutes.. perfect on top, but again BURNT TO A CRISP on the bottom.. 

Trust me.. I like crispy well done pizzas.. but this in literally inedible... I could barely cut the pizza with a pizza cutter is was so burnt.

I got this whole recipe from a BGE video.. (600 degrees.. 6-7 minutes).. and it came out perfect.

I've been cooking pizza on a pizza stone 10 years.. in the oven on the bottom shelf at 550..  8 minutes is perfect.

What gives????

2nd day on the egg and 2 crap pizzas.

Lit

Is the stone you are using larger than the protection the platesetter gives from direct heat? Also not all doughs can handle heat that high when I get publix dough I preheat at 500 then open it wide open once the pizza is on and they come out great. 

pescadorzih

Did you calibrate your thermo?
I usually cook my pizzas at 550. You can leave them in a little longer to get the toppings done. My recipe has no sugar in it. Not sure on the BGE  dough recipe.
I make my crusts thin, 1/8". How thick were your crusts?
At 550 I cook mine for 6 minutes.

erikjs71

Lit said:

Is the stone you are using larger than the protection the platesetter gives from direct heat? Also not all doughs can handle heat that high when I get publix dough I preheat at 500 then open it wide open once the pizza is on and they come out great. 

Thanks for the comment but I don't understand your first sentence.. "If the stone you are using larger than the protection..."  

I used Publix dough for 6 minutes.. and 3 minutes on the 2nd pizza.. both burnt to a crisp

The Cen-Tex Smoker

erikjs71 said:

Lit said:

Is the stone you are using larger than the protection the platesetter gives from direct heat? Also not all doughs can handle heat that high when I get publix dough I preheat at 500 then open it wide open once the pizza is on and they come out great. 

Thanks for the comment but I don't understand your first sentence.. "If the stone you are using larger than the protection..."  

I used Publix dough for 6 minutes.. and 3 minutes on the 2nd pizza.. both burnt to a crisp

Publix dough from the pizza station or from the fridge? Any time you buy fresh dough from a store, ask them at which temp they cook them. Whole Foods dough is 550. It burns above that. All dough is different. Neoplatonism dough is made to cook at 900 for 90 seconds. Others are made to cook at 450 for much longer. 

Know your dough, bro

stick with it, you will make great pies on your bge

northGAcock

Pizza is not the easiest thing to master on the egg. When you do, you will find great joy. There is a significant learning curve. Don't be discouraged.....many of us have had large fail with pizza..,,there are many variables. Read and learn with the search feature. I will tell you my biggest jump came when I began to use oo flour and made my own dough. I have had decent results with Publix dough on calzones....but not pizza. Get back on that horse. It is worth the effort to learn the cook. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

All that said- it sounds like you are running really hot. Check your thermo (put the tip in boiling water and see if it reads roughly 212)

SandyHookEgger

northGAcock said:

Pizza is not the easiest thing to master on the egg. When you do, you will find great joy. There is a significant learning curve. Don't be discouraged.....many of us have had large fail with pizza..,,there are many variables. Read and learn with the search feature. I will tell you my biggest jump came when I began to use oo flour and made my own dough. I have had decent results with Publix dough on calzones....but not pizza. Get back on that horse. It is worth the effort to learn the cook. 

This is the answer. Especially using 00 flour and making your own crust.

Carolina Q

@Lit is saying that, if your pizza stone is larger than your platesetter, the part of your pie that overhangs the PS may burn because it is unprotected from the direct heat. Sounds to me like more than the outer edges burned.

You had too much heat on the bottom and not enough on top. You looked in the hole and saw that the top wasn't done so you left it on longer. Once the top was done, the bottom was burnt. Raise the pizza stone higher in the dome. It's hotter up there. You just need to balance the heat above and below.

Still, on your second cook, pizza no less, you're ready to start throwing things?! Pizza is one of the more difficult things to do on an egg. Also, IMO, one of the things that benefits least from egg cooking. Which is why I haven't done a pie there in nearly 4 years. Go back to your oven. Sounds like you had it figured out.

There are many cooks that are hands down better on the egg. Most of them, in fact. Pizza is not one of them. 

Let the Kool Aid drinking bashers begin.

erikjs71

northGAcock said:

Pizza is not the easiest thing to master on the egg. When you do, you will find great joy. There is a significant learning curve. Don't be discouraged.....many of us have had large fail with pizza..,,there are many variables. Read and learn with the search feature. I will tell you my biggest jump came when I began to use oo flour and made my own dough. I have had decent results with Publix dough on calzones....but not pizza. Get back on that horse. It is worth the effort to learn the cook. 

Thanks for the comment..  I figured there'd be a learning curve, but not a total disaster..  I've been making pizza on a stone in a 550 oven for 10 years.. I think the Publix dough really through me off.. I always make my own and let it cold ferment for 2-3 days.  I didn't love the Publix dough when I was shaping it.. it was way too thick. But actually I was thinking that would allow for more time.  Who knows. I'll figure it out.

erikjs71

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

All that said- it sounds like you are running really hot. Check your thermo (put the tip in boiling water and see if it reads roughly 212)

Thanks Tex.. I'm gonna do that in the morning when its cool.

outrageous

Try using a air bake pizza pan, put spacers between pan n stone, when top looks almost done, slide pizza off pan n onto stone to brown bottom of pizza.

erikjs71

TO ALL!!  Thanks for all the comments and help!!

I think I need to

A. I need to calibrate my thermometer.

B. Get a different stone, since the one I'm using is 10 years old, and about 1/2" thick.

C.Never use Publix dough again.  I always make my own that makes a very thin dough with 00 flour.  I just picked up some dough because I wanted to cook TONIGHT, and not wait 3 days for my dough to be ready.

Just frustrating after spending the money I did, and totally slaughtering only my 2nd meal.. 

Carolina Q

erikjs71 said:

TO ALL!!  Thanks for all the comments and help!!

I think I need to

A. I need to calibrate my thermometer. YEP

B. Get a different stone, since the one I'm using is 10 years old, and about 1/2" thick. MAYBE, BUT THAT'S NOT YOUR PROBLEM

C.Never use Publix dough again.  I always make my own that makes a very thin dough with 00 flour.  I just picked up some dough because I wanted to cook TONIGHT, and not wait 3 days for my dough to be ready. LOT'S OF EGGERS USE PUBLIX DOUGH.

Just frustrating after spending the money I did, and totally slaughtering only my 2nd meal.. THERE'S A LEARNING CURVE. SPENDING MONEY DOESN'T FIX THAT.

northGAcock

erikjs71 said:

TO ALL!!  Thanks for all the comments and help!!

I think I need to

A. I need to calibrate my thermometer.

B. Get a different stone, since the one I'm using is 10 years old, and about 1/2" thick.

C.Never use Publix dough again.  I always make my own that makes a very thin dough with 00 flour.  I just picked up some dough because I wanted to cook TONIGHT, and not wait 3 days for my dough to be ready.

Just frustrating after spending the money I did, and totally slaughtering only my 2nd meal.. 

for the record, I have made many good pizza' in the oven with Publix dough. There dough doesn't suck.....just doesn't pair well with the egg in my opinion. 

UncleBilly

Don't give up!  I burned my first pizzas too.  But we cook pizza 2-3 time a month on the Egg now using home made dough.  +1 on getting the stone higher in the dome.  My pizza setup is PS legs up, grid with 3 fire bricks standing on their long sides and then the stone on top of the bricks.  Egg at 500-510 degrees for 5-6 minutes.  I also put the dough on parchment paper.  I doubt that does anything to protect the dough, but it does make it easier to slide the pie onto the stone.  You also might want to get an IR thermometer to check to temp of your stone.  I picked one up at Harbor Freight for $15.  

Check out the Naked Whiz website.  He has lots of good info.  

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/pizza.htm

jtcBoynton

Publix pizza dough is designed for max of 450°.  You are pushing it at 600°.

Lit

erikjs71 said:

Lit said:

Is the stone you are using larger than the protection the platesetter gives from direct heat? Also not all doughs can handle heat that high when I get publix dough I preheat at 500 then open it wide open once the pizza is on and they come out great. 

Thanks for the comment but I don't understand your first sentence.. "If the stone you are using larger than the protection..."  

I used Publix dough for 6 minutes.. and 3 minutes on the 2nd pizza.. both burnt to a crisp

If your stone is getting direct heat it will be much hotter than if it was all protected from the direct heat. I had this issue with my mini max BGE doesn't sell a stone for that size so I got the medium stone and it hung past the platesetter and I was burning the bottom. I cut the stone down and it fixed the problem. 

erikjs71

jtcBoynton said:

Publix pizza dough is designed for max of 450°.  You are pushing it at 600°.

I've used Publix before in the oven at 550.  Takes about 9 minutes.

jeponline

erikjs71 said:

TO ALL!!  Thanks for all the comments and help!!

I think I need to

A. I need to calibrate my thermometer.

B. Get a different stone, since the one I'm using is 10 years old, and about 1/2" thick.

C.Never use Publix dough again.  I always make my own that makes a very thin dough with 00 flour.  I just picked up some dough because I wanted to cook TONIGHT, and not wait 3 days for my dough to be ready.

Just frustrating after spending the money I did, and totally slaughtering only my 2nd meal.. 

I'm a big fan of the bge stone and I think it's 5/8" thick. Makes it a bit sturdier than what most people use indoors. 

I also use an infrared thermometer I got off amazon for $12 and check the temp on the stone before throwing the pizza on. Know the stone is heated to the same temp as the egg seems to help insure both the top and bottom of the pizza cook. 

erikjs71

This was the video I was going by.  I've seen people cook pizzas at higher and lower temps..

You can forward to 8:53 to get to the cooking part.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCDaPxywJ-w

600 degrees.. plate setter legs up / grate / stone.

Then 7-8 minutes later.  Perfect Pizza.  

Bluedemon1999

erikjs71 said:

Ok.. so new to the egg. 

Just bought a Large egg yesterday and did some steaks.  They came out perfect.

Tonight I literally RUINED 2 pizzas.. So if I could pick this thing up and throw it, I would.

I got the egg hot to 600 degrees, put a plate setter in legs up.. with the grate and my pizza stone.

The first pizza I put in for 6 minutes.. a little burnt on top, and black on the bottom.. I literally had to use 2 hands on a metal spatula to get the pizza off.. so I thought it was too long.

I scraped off the burnt crust, and tried another. (I only had 2 doughs.)  This time 3 minutes.. perfect on top, but again BURNT TO A CRISP on the bottom.. 

Trust me.. I like crispy well done pizzas.. but this in literally inedible... I could barely cut the pizza with a pizza cutter is was so burnt.

I got this whole recipe from a BGE video.. (600 degrees.. 6-7 minutes).. and it came out perfect.

I've been cooking pizza on a pizza stone 10 years.. in the oven on the bottom shelf at 550..  8 minutes is perfect.

What gives????

2nd day on the egg and 2 crap pizzas.

Don't preheat the stone, or if you must, use another pizza stone that is not preheated and lay it on top of the preheated stone.  I did the same thing when I got my egg.  Decided to use a room temp stone and it was perfect.

Tony_T

"Legs Up" ?
I always do pizza with the legs down, pizza stone on top so that the Pizza is level with the opening of the Egg.    Some more pizza tips here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/pizza.htm

jtcBoynton

Bluedemon1999 said:

erikjs71 said:

Ok.. so new to the egg. 

Just bought a Large egg yesterday and did some steaks.  They came out perfect.

Tonight I literally RUINED 2 pizzas.. So if I could pick this thing up and throw it, I would.

I got the egg hot to 600 degrees, put a plate setter in legs up.. with the grate and my pizza stone.

The first pizza I put in for 6 minutes.. a little burnt on top, and black on the bottom.. I literally had to use 2 hands on a metal spatula to get the pizza off.. so I thought it was too long.

I scraped off the burnt crust, and tried another. (I only had 2 doughs.)  This time 3 minutes.. perfect on top, but again BURNT TO A CRISP on the bottom.. 

Trust me.. I like crispy well done pizzas.. but this in literally inedible... I could barely cut the pizza with a pizza cutter is was so burnt.

I got this whole recipe from a BGE video.. (600 degrees.. 6-7 minutes).. and it came out perfect.

I've been cooking pizza on a pizza stone 10 years.. in the oven on the bottom shelf at 550..  8 minutes is perfect.

What gives????

2nd day on the egg and 2 crap pizzas.

Don't preheat the stone, or if you must, use another pizza stone that is not preheated and lay it on top of the preheated stone.  I did the same thing when I got my egg.  Decided to use a room temp stone and it was perfect.

Sorry, but preheating the stone is the whole point of using a pizza stone. You use a stone to create as reservoir of heat that can then be used to transfer to the dough quickly by conduction.

If your dough is burning, the stone may be hotter than you think it is, the pizza is being left on too long, or the dough recipe is not suitable for the temperature being used.  Figure out which it is and then make the appropriate adjustment.

jeponline

Bluedemon1999 said:

erikjs71 said:

Ok.. so new to the egg. 

Just bought a Large egg yesterday and did some steaks.  They came out perfect.

Tonight I literally RUINED 2 pizzas.. So if I could pick this thing up and throw it, I would.

I got the egg hot to 600 degrees, put a plate setter in legs up.. with the grate and my pizza stone.

The first pizza I put in for 6 minutes.. a little burnt on top, and black on the bottom.. I literally had to use 2 hands on a metal spatula to get the pizza off.. so I thought it was too long.

I scraped off the burnt crust, and tried another. (I only had 2 doughs.)  This time 3 minutes.. perfect on top, but again BURNT TO A CRISP on the bottom.. 

Trust me.. I like crispy well done pizzas.. but this in literally inedible... I could barely cut the pizza with a pizza cutter is was so burnt.

I got this whole recipe from a BGE video.. (600 degrees.. 6-7 minutes).. and it came out perfect.

I've been cooking pizza on a pizza stone 10 years.. in the oven on the bottom shelf at 550..  8 minutes is perfect.

What gives????

2nd day on the egg and 2 crap pizzas.

Don't preheat the stone, or if you must, use another pizza stone that is not preheated and lay it on top of the preheated stone.  I did the same thing when I got my egg.  Decided to use a room temp stone and it was perfect.

If you don't preheat you'll get inconsistent results and potentially have your pizza stick to the stone. Part of the advantage of a stone is its ability to store heat and quickly transfer it to the bottom of your pizza. Just like a pizza oven would do. 

JohnInCarolina

It's the sugar in the dough at too high a temp.  Just lower the temp to what you'd use in the oven, make sure your thermo is calibrated, and you'll be fine.

jtcBoynton

Tony_T said:

"Legs Up" ?
I always do pizza with the legs down, pizza stone on top so that the Pizza is level with the opening of the Egg.    Some more pizza tips here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/pizza.htm

When deciding how to set up your egg for pizza, one key is to get the stone close enough to the dome to get the right amount of radiant heat coming off the dome. If the stone is too far from the dome, the toppings will not be done by the time the dough is cooked. If the stone is too close to the dome, the toppings will burn by the time the dough is cooked. The proper height will depend on the dough recipe, cooking temp, dough thickness, and amount of toppings. Many find the sweet spot is with the stone 2-3" above the felt line - but remember you will need to dial it in for yourself. We all make our pizzas a little different so take all the advice as a starting point and make adjustments for your personal style.

fishepa

I have found using Publix dough it requires a lower temperature.  Like 450-500.

dgordon2nc

I had similar problem. What helped me was to raise the stone higher in the egg. So my setup is plate setter legs down, 3 red regular bricks and then stone. Haven't had a burnt episode since. I know that frustration 

Focker

I'm with Q 100%, but I don't want to ruin your egg high.

I too, started out buying pizza joint dough.
Best thing I ever did was to start making my own.  Super easy, and you can control it to get a higher bake temp.

You could try inverting the platesetter, squish 3 foil balls, and place stone on top of them, creating about an inch or so of an air gap.  If you like this setup, I use 1" copper Ts from the plumbing dept.

This setup does a few things.  It gets you a little higher in the dome, and minimizes the wrap around heat blasting the bottom of your stone with too much of an air gap.  Makes launch, spins, removal easier.

For most pies, and dough for the egg, 500-550 is the sweet spot.

stantrb

Sorry bro, but it's not the dough.  This was Publix pizza dough at 600F for about 4 minutes.  Something's wrong with your setup or your technique, not your ingredients.