Burned Pizza

Unknown

My first attempt at BGE 'za was a flop :-( I used a combination of recipes from Spin and Anthony UpNorth. No complaints about those; I can tell they are terrific. My problem was that I badly burned the bottom of the pizza. I used a pizza setter (without stone). BGE got up to about 650 before I brought it back down to 550. After about 5 mins at 550, I put the pizza on the setter and closed BGE for 8 mins. When I took pizza out, the top was terrific, but the bottom was charred black. Did this happen because I was too cheap to heed the advice of some who said I must use a stone with the setter? Or because I let the Egg get to 650? Or let the pizza sit too long? Or something else?[p]Thanks for any help...
E1

Tim M

Eggcitable One,[p]You need a stone and a setter or two stones or a stone and firebricks. Don't preheat the stone more than a few minutes and cook at 575-600 deg. Its too hard to bring down so just add the slide/daisy top and make it wide open. It will max out at 650 but it takes a long time to get there so shut it down a little at 575 deg. Try another - its worth it.[p]Tim

Spin

Eggcitable One,[p]I assume you made the pie from scratch (good for you). A second stone on the setter adds the benefit of extra insulation from the heat of the fire.[p]Heating your Egg to 650F is not a problem when cooking over a preheated stone. I often preheat the doubled stones to 700F for 10 minutes.[p]Eight minutes is way too long on a single stone. A double stone will allow a better finish of the topping without burning the dough. Look to finish in 5-7 minutes.[p]Spin[p]