Pizza

WJS

Has anybody ever tried one of the pre-made pizzas (I know, I know!) on the Egg? (i.e. DiGiorno or similar). If so, any thoughts on technique - temps, times, indirect, wood chips?[p]I've done one before that bombed, but I keep thinking about trying it again. The only time I tried in the past I've ended up burning the bottom of the pizza.[p]Thanks in advance.

Tim M

WJS,[p]I have only done 5-6 of the premade crusts and never ruined one yet. I do mine just as I do the regular pies -- no difference. You can see pics, times, temps on the link below that should help.[p]Burnt bottoms mean the ceramic under the pie is too hot or has become too preheated or there is not enough ceramic to shield the bottom. I have never had a problem with too burnt of a bottom so I can't say more than to use a setter and a pizza stone or firebricks and a stone. Either alone will not guarentee no burnt crust. [p]No wood chips for me!! The pie will accept a slight hearth oven taste with just the lump charcoal. Make sure all smoke has stopped before adding the pie or it can be smokey tasting - yuck. If you do it at 550-600 deg there is very little smoke and your pie will be smoke free.[p]Good luck, yell if you need more specific help. [p]Tim
[ul][li]Tim M's website and cookbook[/ul]

Spin

WJS,[p]Follow the directions from the manufacturer for cooking time and temperature. Cook the pie on a wire rack set on the pizza stone to avoid burning the crust.[p]To create the hearth baking oven environment in your Egg, add the setter with pizza stone or two stacked pizza stones with spacers to have the top of the pizza stone equal to or just above the opening lip of the Egg. Heat all of this together with your Egg to cooking temperature. Control the temp using the top vent only (bottom vent wide open), starting the cook when you have to aggressively limit the airflow to hold the temp down. Open the top vent wide to quickly regain cooking temperature after a dome opening.[p]The slight hint of smoke taste from the charcoal is all I really enjoy.[p]Best of luck,
Spin

The Naked Whiz

WJS,
Some folks don't like smoke on their pizzas, but I love it. I get unbaked pies from a pizza place such as BBQ chicken, red onion, cheese and ground black pepper. I put a couple of fistfuls of hickory chips on the fire as I put the pie and let the mother smoke! It's unbelievable.[p]I tried a bunch of DiGiorno pies, and like Spin says, use the times and temps on the box. Cooking them at 600 degrees will burn the crust if you allow the ceramics to come up to temperature with the egg. I'd rather preheat everything and know the stone is at 450 degrees in a 450 degree egg, than try to guess when the stone hits 450 in a 600 degree egg. And of course, if you want to do lots of pies, say at a party, you may find it difficult to keep the stone at a lower temperature than the egg. One suggestion was to wipe the stone down with a damp rag before you put the pie on. Aw what the heck, the small pies are cheap, so experiment!![p]TNW [p]

ColoradoCook

Spin,[p]Many of the these rising crust, frozen pizza brands direct you to put the frozen pizza in a cold oven and bring the oven to 425. The dough probably has a specific yeast in it that reacts quickly to the warming enviroment in the oven. I noticed that putting them in a preheated Egg limits the rise, you get a great tasting pizza but more on the thin side. [p]I just bought some Freschetta rising crust pizzas (I've tried in the oven and they're very good) that direct you to let the pizza sit out on the counter while the oven preheats to 425. I hoping I'll have more success with these over DiGiorno.[p]If you have a Papa Murphy's Take and Bake pizza joint in your area, you can't go wrong with pre-made pies. I know you love to make your own pizza (saw you on the video tape) but for $6.99 to $8.99 someone else does all the work and my kitchen stays clean. I will have to break down someday and try your recipe though, your pies looked awesome.[p]CC

Spin

ColoradoCook,[p]Once you try a completely homemade pizza cooked in a charcoal heated Egg, you will never go back. The prep is actually easier than you may think and gets much easier (and cleaner) as you do more.[p]I tried the frozen pizzas only because people were having problems with the cook and the advice offered just didn't make good sense to me. I bought 20 DiGiorno (rising crust, four cheese) pies and cooked them using various temps and setups in the Egg (the first in the oven) and haven't tried any other brands. My cooks tended to over rise until I raised the cooking temperature 50°F above the recommended temp. The cooking time dropped only a couple of minutes. Raising the cooking temp to 500°F or above produced a pretty pie, but with the dough undercooked unless I ran longer and then the crust top edges were dried out.[p]All of the frozen pies have several ingredients used to cause the dough to rise with yeast and lots of other things that may cause the dough to burn vs. cooking a homemade yeast dough. They are two entirely different animals.[p]I believe the Freschetta requires a 2 hour thaw. That is one hour short of making the pie from scratch :-).[p]Spin