Pizza: best results with or without place setter

Cstorm

Good morning, I’m looking for advice about whether best results come from using the place setter in conjunction with a pizza stone or the pizza stone only? I am a relatively new large owner and have had trouble getting my pizza stone to heat up with the place setter on prior pizza cooks. I’m wondering if, besides underestimating the amount of warm-up/prep time that is needed, that is partly the fault of using both. I have the PS Woo so I do pizza at the gasket level. I appreciate any and all advice. 

Foghorn

Welcome aboard.

I do not have a PS Woo or a large but I'll tell you what I think anyway.

I had the same problem the first time I cooked pizza on my XL.  I wondered the same thing that you are wondering - Does the PS and a pizza stone block air flow so much that it won't heat up?

Eventually I figured out that it is all about airflow - assuming that you have enough charcoal in the egg.

My problem was that I loaded the firebox too full of charcoal and blocked the flow of air at the front of the egg near the front vent.  I couldn't get my egg over 350 until I got in the habit of clearing out a little space in the front of the loaded lump right in the front near the air vent.  After that I have no problem getting to 700.

The only other possibility I've heard of is that the pizza stone can be too big for the kamado - but if there's an inch or more for airflow all the way around you should be good.  

I hope that helps.  Let us know how it goes.

fishlessman

never had a platesetter and my pizza stone was a 15.5 inch diameter. used it over firebricks. theres a point where blocking the flow with a big stone and flat surface doesnt work, it refects the heat downward instead of letting it rise up into the dome. with the 15.5 inch stone, 550 was as high as you could go before there were problems. i added a wok shaped barrier filled with sand under the stone which fixed the heat flow, 1200 f degree cooks were then possible but the pizza was still better up to 850/900 degree max cooks. i know your not going extreme, but a flat platesetter isnt the best option. i do know folks with your setup were putting a space between the stone and platesetter for a more even heat, other than that, it just may need more time at start up for the heat to sink in.

Foghorn

I should have added that I use the Platesetter/ConvEGGtor with the legs up - than a cooking grate - then the pizza stone on the cooking grate.

The optimum cooking temperature for your pies will depend on how thick they are.  Really thin pizzas can be cooked at 1000+ degrees.  Chicago pies are cooked at 350 for 45 minutes.

I found the my pizzas are in-between and do best at 450-550.

fishlessman

Foghorn said:

I should have added that I use the Platesetter/ConvEGGtor with the legs up - than a cooking grate - then the pizza stone on the cooking grate.

The optimum cooking temperature for your pies will depend on how thick they are.  Really thin pizzas can be cooked at 1000+ degrees.  Chicago pies are cooked at 350 for 45 minutes.

I found the my pizzas are in-between and do best at 450-550.

350 for deep dish, 550for a standard pizza with standard setup works fine. Other than that the egg is not the best cooker for pizza

Cstorm

Thank you for the comments from those that weighed in. Tonight I cooked pizza at gasket height on a smaller, 14 inch pizza stone to solve the airflow issues Foghorn mentioned, and did not use the place setter.  I cooked between 500-550 dome temp. If anything, the pizza stone got a little too hot for my store bought dough so I will experiment again with the place setter next time. Still happy with the results. Thanks to you all and happy holidays. 

Foghorn

That's a good looking pie.  Glad it worked out.  Your plan to play around with your setup is good.  You'll find a system you like and never turn back.

fishlessman

Good cupping on the Roni. Airspace over the platesetter and or wiping the stone with a slightly damp to well to slightly cool it down helps with the bottom crust helps especially with back to backpies

WoodworkerBED

I use the following method adopted from Outdoor Home on my large.  Place setter legs down.  1/2 inch thick spacers 3 required.(I use pieces of red tile)  Pizza stone.  I learned the hard way to heat everything up to temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes at target temperature,  it takes a while for the stone to reach equilibrium.

Cstorm

@WoodworkerBED never would have occurred to me not to use a grate.  Is it tough to get your pies off the stone with them below gasket level?

WoodworkerBED

I have found that on a lBGE with the place setter legs down, 1/2 inch spacers and pizza stone, the stone is at or nearly at the gasket line.  Should not be an issue.

jetman96

Here's my method I wrote up a couple of years ago. The BGE is great for making pizzas, as I could nail this recipe every time. The downside is the ceramics will crack if you don't let it heat up slowly and you make pizza once a week like I was doing. I ended up going to an Ooni, which I'm still trying to dial in.