Pizza stone set up and temperature.

Abarnette

I cooked up pizza for the first time on the egg and its probably the best pizza i have ever tasted.  That being said the 3rd and 4th pizza burned more and more on the bottom.
I have seen three basic setups for cooking pizza.
The first one is the one i used which is legs down with the stone directly on the platesetter. 
The second variation i have seen is basically the same with the grid being a spacer between the platesetter and stone.  
3rd and final setup legs up, grid on top of the legs and pizza stone on top of the grid.

I also put cornmeal on top of the stone to keep it from sticking i think i will discontinue this habit because most videos didnt show this and i felt like it burned a lot making for a dirty pizza stone for the 3rd and 4th pizza.  

I also seen temperatures between 500 and 700 i think next time i will shoot closer to 500 degrees.

If anyone wants to put their 2 cents in feel free.

Photo Egg

I would go with your #1 but add a 2"-3" spacer between platesetter and pizza stone. You are getting to much high heat transfer placing your pizza stone directly on your platesetter.
Your cooking temp will vary depending on type of dough and how thick or thin you make your crust.

chuckytheegghead

I use option 3. As for the temperature it depends on what dough you are using. 

Focker

I'm with Darian.

Learned that from a pizzaiolo Zippylip, when I first started out.  Shoot for 550 after a nice long preheat, seems to be the sweet spot for me and just about any dough in the egg.

Foil balls, egg feet, 1" Copper Ts, have all worked well creating an air gap.

slovelad

Don't put anything on the stone! Nothing sticks to a good hot stone (preheat for about an hour)

that being said i use exclusively parchment paper method for my pizzas. 

Have funnwith it! And ... pics or it didn't happen

jtcBoynton

Definitely a space between the indirect plate and the pizza stone.  

Setup:The 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 to have 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.

Cornmeal:  The corn meal / semolina / flour / parchment use is for providing a slick surface between the raw dough and the peel (not the stone). Raw dough directly on a peel will not slide off onto the cooking surface.  Do not put any of these on the pizza stone.  Once the pizza dough cooks a bit, it will set and release from the pizza stone (it will however stick when first put on the stone - so make sure your placement is accurate, because you cannot move it until it sets).   Corn meal is used a lot - it works well for allowing the dough to slide and is a common pantry item.  Semolina works just as well and matches the flavor profile of the pizza dough better than corn meal, but it is not a common pantry item so many people are not familiar with it.  Parchment is great if you are prepping multiple pizzas (allows you to move them around on the kitchen counter as you want). It slides off the peel nicely. You do need to remove it part way through the cook.  Flour is the best in matching the taste and texture of the dough. You do need to work quickly because it will adsorb moisture from the dough and stick to the peel.

Temperature:  There are various styles of pizzas and different dough recipes. Some are best cooked in the 450-550º range. Some are better cooked at 700º and above.  Match your cooking temps to what the recipe calls for.  In general, I think of the differences in terms of "thin crust/high temp/short time/high hydration dough'" vs "thick crust/lower temp/longer time/lower hydration dough".

Stormbringer

So many setups to cook pizza, some good advice in this thread for options. FWIW this is how I do it:

https://ww.thecooksdigest.co.uk/2016/08/24/cooking-pizza-with-a-big-green-egg/

TL;DR - cook on pizza stone raised into dome on fire bricks between 600F and 700F depending on pizza thickness, PS legs down, no cornmeal (it just burns), use Superpeel to transfer the pizza on and off.

Good luck, maybe some pics?

Abarnette

Abarnette

Above is the picture of the first pizza. The toppings and shape are a little misplaced because of technical difficulties transferring the pizza. But it does taste good

OhioEgger

@jtcBoynton pretty much covered it all above. The cornmeal is for sliding it off the peel, not the stone.

FWIW, I use the platesetter legs down. I put three s/s nuts on it, they're about ⅝" thick, then the stone on the nuts. I've never seen a reason to go above 600°F for any pizza, usually around 550°F is the sweet spot for me.

ChuckR

I cooked 6 pizzas and 1 stromboli on the 4th. I did them all with plate setter legs down, and a spacer between the plate setter and my pizza stone. I used 5 3/4 coper elbows from Lowes as the spacers. I cooked all the pizzas at 450 and they turned out great. As far as sticking i used the parchment paper method. I built the pizza on Parchment paper that was on top of my pizza peel. Slide it off on the stone and let it cook for about 3 minutes then go slide the paper out from under the pizza. Let it cook until the crust looked good and the top of the za looked the way I wanted it. That will depend on how thick your dough is. Turned out perfectly.

Abarnette

Well I dropped the temp to between 550 and 600, scrapped the cornmeal on the stone, reviewed some pizza peel use videos and was more patient with my dough stretching showed great improvement. When I get a chance to go by home depot I will get something for a spacer. Thanks for all the advice. 

Focker

Abarnette said:

Well I dropped the temp to between 550 and 600, scrapped the cornmeal on the stone, reviewed some pizza peel use videos and was more patient with my dough stretching showed great improvement. When I get a chance to go by home depot I will get something for a spacer. Thanks for all the advice. 

Nice lookin' pie.
Have fun dialing things in.

Diesel_Hokie

jtcBoynton said:

Definitely a space between the indirect plate and the pizza stone.  

Setup:The 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 to have 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.

Cornmeal:  The corn meal / semolina / flour / parchment use is for providing a slick surface between the raw dough and the peel (not the stone). Raw dough directly on a peel will not slide off onto the cooking surface.  Do not put any of these on the pizza stone.  Once the pizza dough cooks a bit, it will set and release from the pizza stone (it will however stick when first put on the stone - so make sure your placement is accurate, because you cannot move it until it sets).   Corn meal is used a lot - it works well for allowing the dough to slide and is a common pantry item.  Semolina works just as well and matches the flavor profile of the pizza dough better than corn meal, but it is not a common pantry item so many people are not familiar with it.  Parchment is great if you are prepping multiple pizzas (allows you to move them around on the kitchen counter as you want). It slides off the peel nicely. You do need to remove it part way through the cook.  Flour is the best in matching the taste and texture of the dough. You do need to work quickly because it will adsorb moisture from the dough and stick to the peel.

Temperature:  There are various styles of pizzas and different dough recipes. Some are best cooked in the 450-550º range. Some are better cooked at 700º and above.  Match your cooking temps to what the recipe calls for.  In general, I think of the differences in terms of "thin crust/high temp/short time/high hydration dough'" vs "thick crust/lower temp/longer time/lower hydration dough".

Thanks, jctboynton...  I've skimmed the forums several times before but your recommendation to raise the grid several inches above the felt line using bricks was money for me.

Hoster05

I go plate setter legs down, 2 bricks that raise a pizza stone.  Temp between 550 and 600.  I make the pizzas on parchment paper, put on the stone for 2 minutes, then remove the parchment paper and let the pizza go for another 8-10 minutes.  I do find that pulling the dough out of the fridge 1-2 hours before cooking time finds it much easier to work with.  We made the lies below this evening.