Pizza Help

Unknown

I need to know where I made my pizza mistake!!! Last Friday I attempted to make my first "egg pizza", and although the top was cooked perfectly, the bottom was scorched- should the stone be heated or not??? The recipe in the box says no, but the recipes on this board say yes- I heated my stone. It could be that I only had the stone on top of the grlll face--- I'm not sure what the "bricks" are.....thanks in advance for any tips!!!

Char-Woody

92 Vol, The firebricks allow a high temperature (500F) cook of pizza without overheating the actual stone the pizza rests on. A bit different from oven cooks. If you don't have firebricks..try a round pie tin with some (a cup or so) of water in it to act as a heat deflector. Preheat your stone to your cooking level. I use a raised grill over the regular grill to place my stone on. This may be why you scorch the bottom also..Too close to the fire. Get the stone up to at least the lower casting edge so the stone is a easy slide in and out of the pizza. Use your deflector down on the lower grill.
I think TimM and Spin have some good photos of Pizza set ups as well as GFW...Maybe they will respond in kind.
C~W[p]

Unknown

92 Vol,[p]Bricks or a BGE pizza setter should take care of your problem. I use the setter and stone combination. At first, I had only the setter without the stone and got results much like yours. Now, I follow Spin's recipe and get perfecto pizzas with my setter inverted (legs up), my grill on top of the legs, and my stone on top of the grill. [p]Regards,
E1

Bordello

Eggcitable One,
Hi,
What is the purpose of the grill between the plate setter and the pizza stone. More support for the stone maybe???? Thanks,
New Bob

bdavidson

92 Vol,
Been there, done that. It's frustrating to have a great top, but charred bottom.
As C~W said, it would help to have more ceramic mass below the stone. That way you can cook at those high temps, but won't char your pizza bottoms. The addition of a heat deflector of some kind, be it a pan of water, a plate setter, fire bricks or another stone will help. Elevating the stone above the grill surface will also help in sliding the pizza in and out...that way you don't have to try to set or remove the pizza at an angle, you simply slide it on and off at the gasket level.
bd

Tim M

92 Vol,[p]Simple -- if the crust cooks too fast - don't preheat the stone. If the toppings are done before the crust - then preheat the stone next time. I use a plate setter and bge stone and I let the setter come up to 575-600 and then add the stone 4-5 min prior to the pies. Keep track of temps and times and adjust nest time.[p]I would suggest less preheat on the stone.[p]Tim

Unknown

New Bob,[p]Oooops...upon further review, I recall having done pizzas both ways (with grill on setter legs, and with setter rightside up on top of grill and stone directly on setter). I have no good reason for one or the other, and both have worked fine. If I had to choose, however, I would use the stone directly on top of the setter with grill below setter. The primary reason to prefer this set up is because it makes for a good way to clean the grill while cooking pizza ;-)[p]Regards,
E1

Bordello

Eggcitable One,
Thanks, one more question because I'm such a slowwwwwwww learner, when using the plate setter with the grate and then the stone, should the plate setter have the legs up or down??????? I do appreciate your input.
New Bob
P.S. The salmon is about 1 and 1/4 inch in the thickest part, 20 minuets still sound about right??? It's lemon peppered and ready to cook. (tonight)

Bordello

Eggcitable One,
Please disregard the part of my post below about the salmon, I got confused with two post at the same time. How stupid.
My question does remain about the pizza set up.
Thanks, an embarrassed,
New Bob

Spin

92 Vol,[p]A hearty welcome to the forum. Several basics need to covered before making great pizza on your Egg becomes easily repeatable.[p]The first requirement is that the cooking level of the pie needs to be raised to at or just above the opening lip level of your Egg. This solves two problems. The first is that the pie becomes easy to insert and then remove when cooked. The second is that this level is the widest part of your Egg, allowing the maximum airflow to maintain (and quickly regain) cooking temperature. The BGE plate setter or three (3) firebricks used as spacers under the pizza stone will accomplish the job nicely. Firebricks are fire proof bricks used to line fireplaces and are available from most brickyards. Search the yellow pages for Brickyards or fireplace supply stores.[p]Success in learning Egg pizza is to understand that the first goal is to cook a great crust. Everything else is then adjusted to provide this great crust and perfect toppings. A pizza cook is two cooks done at once. The dough cooks from the stone and the toppings cook from the heat in the dome of the Egg.[p]The dough cooks a lot like meat. It contains only so much moisture and can be dried out - and then burns. A higher pizza stone temperature sears the surface of the dough, allowing a longer cook before burning. A cold stone will delay the burning of the crust, but a cold stone doesn't provide the sear of the crust, resulting in a dry crust.[p]Setting your pizza stone directly on the grill moved your pizza well down in your Egg, and much closer to the fire. The stone heated much hotter than your dome temperature indicated, thus the burning of the crust. You didn't mention cooking time - I would guess cooking was done by peeking at the toppings ;-). Cooking to make the crust is strickly a timing cook, the heat is adjusted to allow the toppings to finish with the crust and then the whole cook is strictly timing.[p]Space your stone up and preheat with your Egg. A second pizza stone on top of the first will allow a many pie repeat cook with no adjustments to cooking time or temp. Cook smaller pies to get the feel of the dough cooking. All pies, nomatter the diameter, cook the same when done at the same temp and cooking time.[p]The pies will only get better and you will love it.[p]Spin

Unknown

New Bob,
Either way will work, but I prefer doing it with the legs down (sitting on top of the grill). In this configuration, with your stone on top of the setter, you get the ceramic mass needed to control the temperature of the stone, and the side benefit of cleaning your grill while you cook.[p]Keep asking questions until you get it. I will try to answer any I can.[p]Regards,
E1

Shelby

Spin,
Thanks for the excellent pizza lesson.
In this configuration, what would you recommend as time and temps?

Unknown

I just want to thank everyone for the tips- I'm planning to try them out this weekend!!

Spin

Shelby,[p]I like a well heated 550°F and 6-8 minutes. Control your Egg temp using the top vent only - bottom vent stays wide open. When you insert the pie, open the top wide open to quickly regain cooking temp.[p]Spin