Cooking at 600 - 700 Degrees

Craig

Hi,
I'm interested in cooking pizzas at about 700 degrees, but I have concerns about getting the Egg so hot.  My car's speedometer goes to 120 mph, but I'm sure it's not good for the car (or me) to make it go that fast routinely.  For those of you that have cooked many times at high temperatures have you seen any negative effects?  I'm concerned less with normal wear and tear, but more for instantaneous effects such as a gasket getting destroyed or something. Thanks!

dmourati

Torched a gasket and had to tighten/reset my bands making pizzas like that.

Dondgc

Be very careful opening the dome at those temps as the damage might be to your flesh if you trigger a significant flashback. It can be avoided. But use caution. 

Lit

Make sure your bands are tight and be careful lifting the dome. The bands can flex a little at these temps and have seen plenty of peoples domes fall right out of the band. Pretty sure the new bands have something to stop this but if you have an older egg watch out. I have also cracked a base going up to 700 degrees but the bases even crack on low temp cooks sometimes and if you bought it new who cares its under warranty.

cookingdude555

When I cook that hot, I like to use 13"-14" stones (only small pies, they cook real quick at that temp) and skip the platesetter all together.  This usually requires an adjustable rig or something that facilitates getting two or three stones above gasket level, with an air gap between the one you are cooking on, and any others meant as a deflector below.  All of the band and dome advice you have been given is accurate.  Get a laser thermometer, you will want to know the stone temp before launching your pie.  Air temp in the cooker is only one variable, you need to know what the stone temp is.  Stone cooks much faster than air too, so the egg suffers a heat imbalance by nature.  Learn the optimal time to add your cooking stone while your egg and deflector stone heat up so that you do not overshoot.  One trick to cool the stone is running a damp rag across it to bring it down.  Good stone quality will allow this, don't bother with cheap thin stones.  BGE and ceramicgrillstore.com stones work really well.

dmchicago

My last Pizza Cook:

JohnInCarolina

@dmchicago - pepperoni?

dmchicago

JohnInCarolina said:

@dmchicago - pepperoni?

Sour puss. 

Craig

Wow! Thank you for the great advice and the powerful photos.  It seems to me that temperature is pushing the limits of the Egg.  It's not worth it to me to try.  I'll stick to keeping it at around 500 or 550.  Thanks again!

Craig

So, dmchicago, what happened? The high temp loosened the bands? That's scary!

dmchicago

Craig said:

So, dmchicago, what happened? The high temp loosened the bands? That's scary!

The bands were loose and I knew it. I had already purchased the new bands but had not gotten around to replacing them.

I believe I cooked 3 pizzas that night. After the second one, I felt the bands really getting loose. 

During the third and final pizza, I was very carefully opening the egg and all seemed well.

I lifted the lid to remove the final pizza and away she went!

Cracked in 4 pieces. 

I have the new bands on now and am considering the Ooni or similar for pizzas.

I said bad words....

fishlessman

Craig said:

Wow! Thank you for the great advice and the powerful photos.  It seems to me that temperature is pushing the limits of the Egg.  It's not worth it to me to try.  I'll stick to keeping it at around 500 or 550.  Thanks again!

the newer eggs have built in dome clips that hold the dome down when the bands expand.ive gone as high as 12oo f dome temps for pizza and it was a 325 degree turkey cook that cracked one of my bases. im routinely in the 800 degree range searing steaks.  the base will eventually crack because of the design of the lower vent

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Craig said:

Wow! Thank you for the great advice and the powerful photos.  It seems to me that temperature is pushing the limits of the Egg.  It's not worth it to me to try.  I'll stick to keeping it at around 500 or 550.  Thanks again!

you can absolutely do it; just make sure your bands are tight. It's not great for your egg to roll that hot for a long time. It will eventually (if not immediately) crack your fire ring and/or box but, that's what warranties are for I guess. Last time I did a multi pizza cook at high temps my table burned down in the middle of the night after I shut it down.  I have it in a nest now but I got a pizza oven to cook at high temps.

The main thing with cooking pizza that high is having the right dough to do it. Most dough is not made to cook at 700. Neapolitan style dough is made to cook higher (like 900) and most other home recipes are for ovens at like 500-550. 700 is a kind of a tweener temp for pizza so make sure you know what you are working with as far as the dough goes, then plan your temps accordingly.

Mark_B_Good

That's why I have a pizza oven ...

sabretooth04

425 for 2 mins longer.  Same outcome.

mkevenson

Interesting thread! Coming from a WFO ( wood fired oven), now with an older L BGE, I am wondering how to get the flames coming over my stone? Even with temps > 600F, the coals don't flame, much.  I am changing stone size from 16" to 14" in an attempt to not block the air flow . I also will check my band tightness , AGAIN. Don't want no broken domes! 

Hoster05

no need to go above the 500 - 550.  Get a pizza steel and let it pre-heat at the 500 temp for 45 minutes and you'll get crispy crust cooked all the way through every time.  

SciAggie

You've been given good advice. Running an egg that hot can be done but it's asking for trouble.
Good pies can be made at 500-550 degrees.
If you really want hotter, then a Roccbox is way easier.
If you are really into it build a wood fired oven oven.

CPARKTX2

I cook pizzas at 700-800 all the time.  Above about 800, really watch for flash back (lost some arm hair with 1,000 cooks!).  IMO More important than absolute temperature is absorption...how much heat the egg has absorbed and is radiating back...I pre-heat 90-120 minutes -- about an hour coming up and stabilizing at say 375-425 range, then the last 30-45 min at close to final temperature.  Makes a huge difference in results when I don't rush it.

PigBeanUs

600-700 is not hot for a BGE

just make sure the bands are secured properly and fire away.