Pizza question

Cecil

I made a yummy Greek pizza and a cheeseburger calzone tonight (mustard/ketchup sauce, ground beef, dill chips and white American cheese).

The reason I made a calzone is because the pizza stuck to my peel. I have used cornmeal to make it slide but don't like the burned flavor I get from it. Tonight I used kosher salt. The second (Greek) slid right off because I used more salt, but the crust retained too much and it was too salty.

Any ideas or suggestions?

No pics as camera was stolen recently.


Thanks,
Walt

egret

Build 'em on parchment paper and your troubles will be over! Slide the PP right onto the pizza stone and let 'er rip. :laugh:

FlaPoolman

Maybe to obvious but have you tried parchment paper?

FlaPoolman

Your getting fast John :laugh:

Cecil

Thanks guys, just had an out loud "ah-ha" moment.(You can ask my family!)

Walt

Hitch

Use Parchment paper when rolling out your dough. Makes transfer to the egg very easy as well. I don't even have a legit peel because one of my wife's air bake cookie sheets makes it simple to transfer on and off the grill. Just cut the parchment paper around it once you are finished making the pizza.

My are beginning to come out perfect every time. At least for me and mine.

Regards,

Hitch

Dr. Eggstein

I'll throw out an alternative seggestion (suggestion, has that pun been played before?) to the parchment paper.

You mentioned cornmeal, which works for me. I put the cornmeal on the pizza stone, as you do, too, presumably. I put the pizza stone atop a pre-heated platesetter (legs down). I've found that I cannot ruin the pizza, cannot burn the crust (or cornmeal) because of the double layer of ceramics. The top of the pizza comes out a b-e-a-utiful golden brown with a dome temp of about 500 degrees F and patience fueled by the King of Beers.

That Big Green Egg makes it easy, doesn't it!

A great man, General Patton said, "If everybody's thinking the same thing, then no one's thinking."

Cecil

Egg do make it easy, I have found with multiple pizzas the cornmeal scortches, guess I could clean pizza stone off- another ah-ha moment.

Walt

stike

clam pizza cooked on a perforated aluminum pizza pan



here's the crust

UnConundrum

Cecil,
There's a lot of issues your post brings up. First you indicate you didn't like the burned taste of the cornmeal. I don't use cornmeal, but it shouldn't burn in one cook. What is your setup? Are you using a plate setter AND a pizza stone, or is pizza stone exposed directly to the fire? What temperature are you baking at? The cause of the burnt cornmeal is the first thing I think you should address.
Second, there are some tricks to spinning a pizza and getting it into the oven. First, peel prep. You want no, NO moisture on the peel. Do not let the sauce spill over, don't drip oil, nothing. Also, make sure you have ALL of your toppings ready to do. You don't want to leave the dough on the peel any longer than needed. Work quickly. Put a small amount of flour on your peel, and use a generous amount on your table while you pre-shape the dough. Once you pick up the dough to shape it with your hands, work it over the peel, allowing excess flour to drop down onto the peel. Flop your dough on the peel, shape it, and apply the toppings, quickly. Give the peel a shake. The pizza should move freely on it. If it doesn't, you have two potential fixes. First, you can set a pizza pan on top of your pizza, and turn the entire mass 180 degrees, depositing the pizza on the pan. You can then repair whatever is wrong with the peel (fix any wet spots, add flour, etc. Also inspect the dough on the pan... make sure there are no wet spots. When all is well, reverse your prior procedure, placing the peel on top of the pizza and reverse, placing the pizza back on the peel. If you cleaned up right, it should move freely. The 2nd repair option is to lift up an edge of the pizza and blow under the pizza like you're blowing up a balloon. The pizza should "float" a little and slide freely. This method works best just seconds before you put it into the egg. Don't worry about germs. Nothing will survive the egg temps....

Remember, the biggest cause of failure is a wet peel and putting too many toppings on the pizza. Work with only sauce and cheese till you have the knack of it.
Here's a pizza I did tonight....





Lots of luck.

Mike in Abita

I like these pizza screens. Easy clean up also, according to the wife. I cook, she cleans.

Cecil

I use the plate setter, spacer pizza stone setup. I think problems come from;
Making crust too thin for amount of toppings.
Working too slowly.
Last night was very warm and humid, combined with other mis-steps, this caused problems.

The good news, the calzone was very good and other than saltiness so was the pizza.

Walt

UnConundrum

I think problems come from;
Making crust too thin for amount of toppings.
Working too slowly.

Two big issues. Good thing is that practice makes perfect Good excuse to keep practicing

Rivermute

You can also try laying out your crust (drape it over the back of a rolling pin) on the preheated pizza stone for no more then a minute BEFORE topping. This adds some stability to the crust. If you are using an awkward oven or not quite used to the egg this is a great method. Depending on the style of crust and pizza you like you may have to play around with temps and the height of the stone in the egg to ensure your crust doesn't over cook before your toppings.. As I said 30 sec to 1min is all it should take to stabilize the crust.