another pie shot

Animal Eater

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This pie employed the following- [p]sauce: béchamel[p]cheese: mozzarella, asiago and a couple ounces of crumbled bleu cheese (underneath the other two cheeses)[p]toppings: strips of prosciutto, marinated sun-dried tomatoes (romas), marinated artichokes and black olives [p]BGEs RULE!

DrEgg

Animal Eater,[p]Do you make your own dough? It looks great! I haven't been able to get the crust just right on my pizza's. Do you preheat the stone? What temp?[p]Any help would be appreciated.[p]DrEgg[p]PS - My mouth is watering looking at your picture.

Animal Eater

DrEgg,
You must make your own dough! It's too easy. Getting it perfect is difficult… but here are a few things that may help.[p]Keys to good dough:
1) Knead the hell out of it. I go at least 15 minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook.
2) Chill it in the fridge at least 24 hours.
3) Add corn meal. I usually use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of corn meal to every 2 cups of flour.
4) Use hard flour. All-purpose is marginal.[p]I always preheat the stone. I've never made a pie without preheating it so I can’t say exactly how a cold stone would affect the crust.
I like my cheese to turn slightly brown and the crust to be crispy and supple but not burned. To do this, I use a buffer in the form of a terra cotta plate (like those used under large outdoor planting pots). The terra cotta plate goes on the lower grate and the pizza stone goes on the upper grate. Dome temp is usually around 400 to 425. This is a tad lower than most would recommend but I like a thick crust. I've learned that the thinner the crust is, the higher the temp should be. One other thing… most folks that eat my pies feel that a smoke flavor is objectionable. I like a little smoke flavor personally but in an effort to appease them, I make sure to burn the lump clean… which is to say that most of the coals are either red or gray with almost no black portions. [p]good luck[p]

DrEgg

Animal Eater,[p]Wow, thank you for taking the time to give the details. You rule![p]I had pretty much given up on making my own dough, but you have inspired me to try again. I don't have a mixer, so I'll plan to get a work out in while kneading.[p]I use an inverted plate setter on my BGE for indirect. So I guess I will put the stone on top of the grate on top of the plate setter (inverted). Do you preheat the stone fully? Some people talk about putting the stone on ten minutes prior to the pie. [p]Thanks again,[p]DrEgg