pizza problems

bgarbee

My pizza bottom is burning. I really like cooking at the high temperatures but feel like I just can't get the top brown with the bottom not being burnt. I work at a Brick oven pizza place and they lift the pizza into the dome with a peel to brown the top for the last 30 seconds or so but this seems impossible on the egg. I was thinking about buying one of those pizza screens and putting it on that for the last minute or so. I am using a plate setter, the feet, and the BGE pizza stone and like to cook it around 600. Also I am letting my pizza stone heat up for at least 30 minutes, but could I be getting it too hot? I've also tried wiping the stone with a damp cloth, which seems to do very little.

civil eggineer

I have the best pizza success cooking at 400 dome temps. You need to have a spacer between your platesetter and pizza stone and should be using very wet dough to help eliminate burning. I have tried higher temperature cooks but the 400 dome temp gives me the best results.

fishlessman

everybodys pizza is different, first thing i might try is getting the pizza stone closer to the dome for that radiant heat. this is how i do it but not everyone wants to go this high with the heat, its dangerous this high in temp but i like the results
http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=411252

Panhandle Smoker

What kind of set up are you using? Creating a little space between the plate setter and stone may help. I personaly use the plate setter legs up then the grid and the stone on a raised grid to use the heat in the dome I cook at 450-500. Like Fishless said, I use the heat in the dome. My pizzas come out perfect every time. Some people on here like the plate setter legs down and green feet set up. What ever works for you.

BobS

You did not talk about the dough you are using, but it needs to be pretty wet for the high temps.

I really recommend a scale for ingredients and 60-65% hydration.

You might also try something to push the stone farther up into the dome. I use copper pipe couplings that are about 1 1/2" long.

I was shooting for 700, but have backed off to 600, because the cook time is just too critical at the higher temp.

Unknown

That's what I do, too: plateseter, feet up, then the grid, with the stone on the grid.

Haven't had a problem, except for when I don't clean it out well first and allow air space in the coals. Then, with restricted air flow, it doesn't get above about 450 on my medium. If I do it right, 650 is obtainable and anything in between makes great pizza.
.

JB

I put mine on parchment paper until almost done, not sure if that makes any difference in burnt crust or not. Mine is the typical legs down, feet, stone set up and my best results are at 650, done in 4-5 mins.

Fidel

Go the other way around. Start on the pizza screen for the first five minutes until the crust sets up. Then yank the screen out and finish it.

Works great for me this way.

Kitarkus

I'd look hard at your temps. There are always those that cook at these super hot pizza temps....but I'm not sure that the results vs. the difficulty/attention to timing which is required makes it better than a 500-600 degree 7-10 minute cook time pizza.

I make a variety of doughs...and the 500-600 degree 7-10 minute cook always seems to play well on both bottom and top of the pizza. I ALWAYS make sure that the egg has been stable at 500+ for 30 minutes with the stone inside prior to cooking pizza. I've had the stone on the platesetter directly and raised above it...I don't see a HUGE difference. It seems that if you are consistently burning....lower the temps friend.

handle?

By far the best pies I make are 800-900 degrees.
You just can't make the same product at lower
temp. I'm talking thin but chewy, and really light,
i.e. highly risen.

Unfortunately the high heat requires dough wet
enough to be pretty hard to handle, to keep char
in check, and a minimum amount of topping for
the best finish results, just like the great pizzas
of New York, New Haven, and Naples.

I do wish I could do what they do in wood fire
ovens and 'lift' the pie into the top of the oven
to finish the top when required, but we can't
have everything.

Makes me think I'd like to try fire bricks on the
platesetter to lift the stone into the dome. Hmm...

I'm jazzed a contraption in my backyard can make
a better pizza than any place in town!
(Except House Pizzeria ATX)

[Deleted User]

There is a correlation between thickness of crust, density of toppings and optimum cooking temperature. (But I don't know what it is).

Experiment with temperature(and time as the time will vary depending on the temp).

I started out cooking pizza at 650 or so, but it seemed that my crust cooked too fast.

I have found 500-550 works best for the dough and toppings I use.

Believe it or not, thinner crusts do better at high temps than thicker crusts. My opinion is that with thicker crust the mass to be cooked is greater and therefore takes longer to heat through. Using a higher temp could burn the outside before the interior was cooked.

I have never tried cooking the Pizza higher in the dome, but I would think that would cook your top faster than when cooking lower in the dome.