Pizza and Pitt control

KRod

So the wife and kids asked me what I wanted for Father’s Day.  I what BGE 21” pizza stone and accessories which they are just as excited about as I am.

I know most cook pizza between 450 and 600, with that said, do you typically use your pit controller to maintain the heat or is that too high for the controller?  Second my XL BGE is a year old and only been used 5 times.  Is it to early still to go up to 600 or should it be fine?  I’ve cooked at 350 a few times and the rest in 250 range.

thanks I’m advance!

Langner91

Your egg is fine to go to 600°F  No problem.

Good luck!

Use that egg more!  Burgers, dogs, chicken, just light it and use it.  You will be more confident maintaining temps and won't feel the need for the pit controller for a few pizzas.  But, you probably need to use it more than 5 times a year to gain that confidence.

I think opening the dome to launch pizzas, turn them, etc. would make it hard for the pit controller to do a good job.  Open the vents and let her rip.  When she starts to climb, choke the fire back, bottom vent first.  

KRod

Langner91 said:

Your egg is fine to go to 600°F  No problem.

Good luck!

Use that egg more!  Burgers, dogs, chicken, just light it and use it.  You will be more confident maintaining temps and won't feel the need for the pit controller for a few pizzas.  But, you probably need to use it more than 5 times a year to gain that confidence.

I think opening the dome to launch pizzas, turn them, etc. would make it hard for the pit controller to do a good job.  Open the vents and let her rip.  When she starts to climb, choke the fire back, bottom vent first.  

Thanks for responding!  I have a medium egg for the day to day cooks and the XL for bigger cooks, the bigger cooks will happen more this summer.

I figured it would be difficult with the controller.  I need to calibrate my dome thermometer today. 

JohnInCarolina

Langner91 said:

Your egg is fine to go to 600°F  No problem.

Good luck!

Use that egg more!  Burgers, dogs, chicken, just light it and use it.  You will be more confident maintaining temps and won't feel the need for the pit controller for a few pizzas.  But, you probably need to use it more than 5 times a year to gain that confidence.

I think opening the dome to launch pizzas, turn them, etc. would make it hard for the pit controller to do a good job.  Open the vents and let her rip.  When she starts to climb, choke the fire back, bottom vent first.  

Great advice here.

I would recommend an IR thermometer if you don't have one.  What matters most in pizza cooks at these temps is the temperature of the stone surface itself.  Once you get it up to around 550 or so, you're good to go and it's unlikely to swing too much in one direction or another within the 8-10 minutes (give or take) it will take the pizza to cook.  

danhoo

IMO,  No need for the top vent or a controller at pizza temp.

An IR gun that goes to 750F is worth it to measure temp of the stone. 

Photo Egg

Definitely no on trying to use controllers for high temp pizza cooks. Or anything above 350. IMO

RyanStl

Already answered, but controllers are for low and slow.

cookingdude555

Congrats on starting your egg pizza journey.  I would recommend a smaller stone.  You wont make any pizza near 21" (I could be wrong, my pizzas are 12"-14"), and the smaller diameter allows you to get the stone higher up in the dome, which you will want.  You want as much heat as possible reflecting down from the dome to the top of the pizza.  This is difficult to accomplish compared to a pizza oven because the heat in an egg is aimed directly at the bottom of your pizza.  The heat imbalance is working against you.  When I did pizza in my XL, I would put the XL platesetter legs down, the medium platesetter legs down on top of that, and then a large stone on top of that (maybe it was a medium stone, I dont recall).  This gave me the best chance to avoid the scorched under crust and raw upper crust.  I did this until finally getting a purpose built pizza oven, havent used the egg for pizza since.

paqman

The temperature of the egg should be driven by your dough recipe.  If the recipe contains oil and/or sugar, the temperature should be lower than normal if only using flour, water, salt, and yeast.

Finish the top (crust, cheese) with a blowtorch, if needed, to avoid overcooking the dough.

Don’t bother with a controller.

stlcharcoal

Do not use a controller above 400F or you'll burn the probes and render it useless.  Any BGE is super easy to regulate at any temp above 350F, so no need for it anyway.  Controllers are for low and slow where the tiny adjusts and changes in the environment translate to temp swings.

Don't worry about going hot, it's fine.  Get cooking on that thing.