Pizza Burn

MW

Made some great pizzas last weekend following Spin's recipe. Everything was fine but the bottom of the Pizzas burned. I am using a BGE raised grill that sits on the normal grill and a BGE Pizza stone. I am thinking I should plce some firebricks under the stone as it seems to be getting too much direct heat. Ideas?
MW

Mike Oelrich

MW,[p] Yes, you probably need a bit more shielding. Another pizza stone or firebricks should work just fine. I use the plate setter under my pizza stone (a kiln shelf I bought at a ceramics store).[p]MikeO

Trout Bum

MW,
You need more mass under the stone. Another stone or plate sitter.
B D

Tim M

<p />MW,[p]Crust burns -- add more ceramic or preheat the stone less.[p]Did you preheat? If so cut it way back to see if that helps. Not sure adding ceramic under the raised grid will help too much though. Experiment a little. If you have a BGE stone and bricks - make the |__| pattern with the bricks and lay the stone on top. That works very well. Play with the preheating of the stone. It shields the crust and transfers the heat to cook it at a reduced rate and preheating it gets it up to temp sooner - maybe too soon and that gives burnt crust. If the crust is underdone when the toppings are done, then more preheat is needed next time. After a couple pies you will see what works for you best.[p]Tim[p]

Spin

MW,[p]If the first pizza crust was burnt and the toppings were nicely done, try shortening the cooking time by a couple of minutes. Controlling the fire by using the top vent only (bottom vent wide open) will concentrate the heat in the dome and help the toppings cook in the shorter time.[p]If the first pie crust was OK (or not ;-}) and the next ones were progressively more burnt, you need to shield the pizza stone used to cook on from the direct heat of the fire as it is slowly overheating. Fire bricks on the grill will serve the purpose as will another pizza stone.[p]I prefer to use the smallest mass possible for a cook as mass requires time and fuel to fully heat to cooking temperature. Two pizza stones stacked directly on top of each other (or the BGE plate setter/pizza stone) work the best for the purpose of the cook.[p]Best of luck on the next,
Spin