Burnt Pizza Crust

mapfrancel

Hi to all pizza on a big green egg experts! Would appreciate some answers/feedback on what i've probably done wrong why some pizzas I made on an XL BGE burned completely at the crust bottom. I had temperatures higher than 350C (700+F) and had the pizza inside for a quite a short time only (around 5 mins). Less time than that didn't cook the toppings enough. In retrospect, in spite of the high heat, it seemed like the grill was not hot enough on the upper dome of the grill, the top of the pizza. Could that be the problem? The top was not equally hot? Acc. to available info, at those temps, it shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to get a pizza ready.

My vents were wide open, without the wheel even, on top.  Not too much charcoal. Pizzas on top of a platesetter with the legs down. I figured making a pizza on top of a ceramic pizza stone on top of the grill rack is, in principle, the same. 

Should i have waited for the egg to get equally hot on the upper dome? if so, how long do I have to wait? Wouldn't the bottom just get hotter while the top lags behind? 

I am interested in buying a steel pizza plate for the grill. Is it really better? i feel that i need to understand first the issues from my last attempt before I go buying anything new. Actually, if not for the burnt bottom, the pizzas were quite good. 

Comments and suggestions welcome. Thanks a lot in advance. 

JethroBodeen

I don't have any exp. Cooking one that low in the egg. Seems like essentially you are cooking at the felt line. Others probably do and are successful albeit probably at a lower temperature. I cook mine higher in the dome and I think it gets the bottom further from the heat source and the top closer to the reflective heat off the dome. I would try getting your rig higher in the dome and/or a lower temperature....

ColtsFan

mapfrancel said:

Hi to all pizza on a big green egg experts! Would appreciate some answers/feedback on what i've probably done wrong why some pizzas I made on an XL BGE burned completely at the crust bottom. I had temperatures higher than 350C (700+F) and had the pizza inside for a quite a short time only (around 5 mins). Less time than that didn't cook the toppings enough. In retrospect, in spite of the high heat, it seemed like the grill was not hot enough on the upper dome of the grill, the top of the pizza. Could that be the problem? The top was not equally hot? Acc. to available info, at those temps, it shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to get a pizza ready.

My vents were wide open, without the wheel even, on top.  Not too much charcoal. Pizzas on top of a platesetter with the legs down. I figured making a pizza on top of a ceramic pizza stone on top of the grill rack is, in principle, the same. 

Should i have waited for the egg to get equally hot on the upper dome? if so, how long do I have to wait? Wouldn't the bottom just get hotter while the top lags behind? 

I am interested in buying a steel pizza plate for the grill. Is it really better? i feel that i need to understand first the issues from my last attempt before I go buying anything new. Actually, if not for the burnt bottom, the pizzas were quite good. 

Comments and suggestions welcome. Thanks a lot in advance. 

In bold is where you went wrong. You need to have an air gap between your platesetter and the stone you cook your pizza on, not directly on the platestter.

Raising the grid will help get more reflective heat. There are a lot of ways to achieve this, including cheap nut/bolt solutions.

mapfrancel

Makes sense, lifting it up.  Yes, I was cooking at felt level. How high from that level you think I should go?  How do you lift yours up? i have a BGE large plate setter which I considered using but then it would be two platesetters on top of each other and would feel more like an indirect cooking on high heat. I'm not too keen on lower temps as it would be longer waiting time for people. Doesn't feel like we're eating together. We can't share either as everyone has their specific preferences - vegan, allergies etc... Thanks for commenting.  

dstearn

This is my setup on the XL. My dome temp is 425-450. Cook time is 14-15 minutes. I use a lower temp to insure that the sausage renders down and is fully cooked. The folks at CGS recommended this setup and my results have been spot on each Pizza cook.

mapfrancel

Thanks ColtsFan. i will do as you suggested. I guess my smaller platesetter on top of the other will be enough air gap. Will start with that. Nice weekend to you.

JohnInCarolina

Can you tell us about the dough you’re using?  Is it made from scratch at home, or store bought?

CornfedMA

I’m no expert, but some great advice above. If you want to cook that hot, you should be cooking your pies higher in the dome. I have a 2nd elevated grid that I put my stone or steel on. Before I have that I used whatever I had around the house- nuts & bolts, granite cobblestones, all kinds of stuff. Comes out great every time! 

jtcBoynton

My vents were wide open, without the wheel even, on top.  Not too much charcoal. Pizzas on top of a platesetter with the legs down. I figured making a pizza on top of a ceramic pizza stone on top of the grill rack is, in principle, the same. 

You need the second stone.  The platesetter to diffuse the heat and the second with an air gap between it and the platesetter to cook on.

Should i have waited for the egg to get equally hot on the upper dome? if so, how long do I have to wait? Wouldn't the bottom just get hotter while the top lags behind? 

Yes make sure all the ceramic is heat saturated.  A good 45-60 minutes of warm up.  More wouldn't hurt. Yes the bottom stone (platesetter) will get too hot, which is why you see the recommend for adding the second stone to cook on.

I am interested in buying a steel pizza plate for the grill. Is it really better? i feel that i need to understand first the issues from my last attempt before I go buying anything new. Actually, if not for the burnt bottom, the pizzas were quite good. 

Steels work fine.  They are different than stones. Crust will cook even faster.  You are correct that you need to understand the issues before adding new items.  A steel will not by itself fix your issue.  It would actually make it worse. You need to understand how to balance the heat inputs to the pizza. Once you get there, you can change to a steel if you want (will require rebalancing all over).

Remember you are cooking the pizza with heat from above and from below.  The heat inputs are and need to be different.  The dough gets cooked by conductive heat from the stone. The toppings get cooked/heated by convective and radiant heat from above.  

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.

mapfrancel

JohnInCarolina said:

Can you tell us about the dough you’re using?  Is it made from scratch at home, or store bought?

i made it from scratch, following this recipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q_9h6VKm9c&t=552s. But used only ordinary bread flour. It was good. 

buzd504

jtcBoynton said:

My vents were wide open, without the wheel even, on top.  Not too much charcoal. Pizzas on top of a platesetter with the legs down. I figured making a pizza on top of a ceramic pizza stone on top of the grill rack is, in principle, the same. 

You need the second stone.  The platesetter to diffuse the heat and the second with an air gap between it and the platesetter to cook on.

Yep, this is the main problem.  If your pizza stone is exposed to direct radiant heat, it's going to hit temps of 1000+ (F).  You want your stone closer to the ambient temp of your egg, so you need a deflector for that.

mapfrancel

dstearn said:

This is my setup on the XL. My dome temp is 425-450. Cook time is 14-15 minutes. I use a lower temp to insure that the sausage renders down and is fully cooked. The folks at CGS recommended this setup and my results have been spot on each Pizza cook.

I like to try it this way too when it is just me and my husband without the kids. Great idea if i want to use raw toppings. Thanks dstearn.  

mapfrancel

Thanks jtcBoynton for your comprehensive explanation. So the dough recipe also has a bearing on the ideal height. Hhmm... I have a lot to learn. Can't wait to make pizzas again on the BGE. 

rekameohs

JohnInCarolina said:

Can you tell us about the dough you’re using?  Is it made from scratch at home, or store bought?

When I first tried pizzas, I used Boboli crusts from the grocery store, only to end up with burnt crusts.  Switching to raw dough makes a world of difference!

jtcBoynton

mapfrancel said:

Thanks jtcBoynton for your comprehensive explanation. So the dough recipe also has a bearing on the ideal height. Hhmm... I have a lot to learn. Can't wait to make pizzas again on the BGE. 

All good dough recipes will tell you a recommended cooking temp range.  The doughs for Chicago style deep dish pizza are different from those for Neopolitan style pizza.  There are many types of pizza and they have differing cooking needs. 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".

dstearn

mapfrancel said:

dstearn said:

This is my setup on the XL. My dome temp is 425-450. Cook time is 14-15 minutes. I use a lower temp to insure that the sausage renders down and is fully cooked. The folks at CGS recommended this setup and my results have been spot on each Pizza cook.

I like to try it this way too when it is just me and my husband without the kids. Great idea if i want to use raw toppings. Thanks dstearn.  

It just 2 of us so we are in no rush. If we had a need to crank them out I would look at the Pizza Porta or a table top pizza maker. We do not make our own dough. I purchase 2 dough balls from our Pizzeria for $4.24.
They even rolled them out in their roller machine for us. 

GlennM

One other thing to mention, the addition of sugar will make it burn easier.