Pizza Question

bschroed · October 2011

Hello friends! Well, we did our first made from scratch pizza in the BGE. Put in the plate setter and the baking stone when it reached around 300. I put in the dough to cook for 5-8 minutes after it reached 500, and then removed the dough and put on the toppings, and then placed back on stone and cooked for 15 minutes at 500.The pizza taste was great, but the dough on the bottom was a little undone or soggy. What did I do wrong.

gerhardk · October 2011

Did you put the pizza on the stone as soon as the thermometer indicated 500º? That may have been too soon I would wait for a while to make sure that the stone is hot rather than just the dome thermometer. I found the first few times I made pizza I put too many toppings on which also effects the baking time.

Gerhard

Squeezy · October 2011

I think in this case, you just took it off too soon. Was the bottom of the crust browned?

chrisnjenn · October 2011

I cook my pizza between 500-550 with great results.

I do some high temp cooks 800 plus and my gasket is fine. The Egg can handle high, high temps..

BBQMaven · October 2011

Did you put the pizza on the stone as soon as the thermometer indicated 500º? That may have been too soon I would wait for a while to make sure that the stone is hot rather than just the dome thermometer. I found the first few times I made pizza I put too many toppings on which also effects the baking time.

Gerhard

From what you've posted, it seem you didn't let the stone "come up to temp"... After the dome reads 500, it can take up to an hour of "hot soak" for the stone to reach the same temp as the dome....

bschroed · October 2011

Thanks for all the help. I came to the conclusion that I did not let the stone get hot enough. Wow, it takes an hour for the stone to heat up to the egg temperature. Man, I don`t think I have the patience to wait that long.

Hungry Joe · October 2011

Your better off heating the pizza stone up while the egg is getting up
to temperature. I just don't make sense to wait to put it in. It takes
time for all that mass to come up to a stable temperature. I recommend
at least 40 minutes. I find it less likely to burn the bottom if you
use the plate setter with the pizza stone. With this setup I get
consistent results when doing more then one pizza. 550 to 600 dome themperature works for me.

Hungry Joe · October 2011

Although you can do it, cooking pizza more than 550 or so is a lot of work and can fry your gasket.

I make great pizza at 550F.

Keep this in mind:

Why would you show a pressure gauge when you you are talking about temperature?

Squeezy · October 2011

It doesn't take that long. I blast the dome (no stone) for the first 20 minutes while the fire is establishing itself and then I put the stone in for about 10.

I do, however, just used a raised direct pizza stone. None of that stacked on a plate setter silliness.

Nothing silly about something that works!

tunaman2008 · November 2011

Hey All, Just wondered how a stone compares to possibly using the plate setter as a pizza cooking stone. Arn't they both ceramic? The plate setter seems very high quality. Has any one tried it?

gerhardk · November 2011

I think the plate setter is too hot and you will end up burning the bottom before the rest is cooked.

Gerhard

Griffin · November 2011

Man, I don`t think I have the patience to wait that long.

You could always start preheating the stone in that oversized box in your kitchen that I just use as a clock.

miketop · November 2011

Get that stone at 700f to make a great pizza like anywhere in Italy . 300 will never get you a dry crust ,hot pizza

Villa Egg · January 2012

I put the dough in for 5 minutes let it darken then flip it. Good stuff.

Hillbilly-Hightech · January 2012

Tunaman - some folks do use the platesetter as a pizza stone. The only reason I do not is that my platesetter is pretty "scrungy" looking (dirty) from all the soot & stuff (yeah, I know, I can clean it, but I'm too lazy).

Also, I broke one of the legs off it, and whenever I use it now, I have to prop it up w/ the broken leg (again, one of these days I may JB-Weld it, but for now, it still works for me).

cann · March 2012

I have found preheating the pizza stone in my stove/oven works best. I preheat it to at least 350 then put it on the green egg as the egg is getting hot with the lid down. I cook the pizza at around 450. Doesn't take as long to heat pizza stone in egg by preheating. Use parchment paper on the pizza peal and pizza will slip off the peal easily -- won't affect taste. It's a baker's secret. Can plate setter legs down or put stone on grill. Preference on crust. Real crisp crust when stone is drectly on grill.

xraypat23 · March 2012

I fill my large egg up with fresh coals and blast it with the weed burner, give it a good 20-30 second blast, gets everything going nicely. Than I put in the adjustable rig and the stock grill on top of that. On that grill goes the egg feet and the 13" stone. Let the whole thing come up to 550 dome and stay there for at least 30 minutes so everything is heated evenly. I put an oven thermo on the stone and it usually reads 500 when the dome is 550. That's perfect pizza temp. I do traditional new york thin crust pizza. It's a 9oz dough ball stretched to 12" no more than 3 tbs of sauce and light cheese and toppings. High heat is not conducive to thick pizzas. You can cook faster, but it better be a super thin crust with minimal toppings.

NightwingXP · March 2012

It was a joke about going above 550. Yeesh - tough room!

)

JerkChicken · March 2012

Why would you preheat the stone in an oven with a roaring fire blazing in the egg? Seems an unnecessary hassle to me, not to mention a little precarious.

SamFerrise · April 2012

I have 53 years pizza experience. I have discovered several important techniques to make sure your pies dont burn up. Of course, I let my stone soak for at least 45 minutes to make sure everything is stabilized. I put the plate setter down first, then the grill, and lastly I put the stone on top of the grill grate. This works well for thicker pizza. I use a piece of parchment paper when I first put the pie in the EGG and let that set up for about 4-5 minutes. Watch the bottom and if I need more time for the top I lift the pizza and put my perforated pan upside down to raise it off the stone. The top will continue to cook and the bottom will not get blackened.

Breads are tricky too. It just takes trial and error. Most EGGHEADS know what then is. I experiment a lot.

SamFerrise · April 2012

BTW, all you pizza fans, use 00 Italian style flour for the dough. You will be amazed at the difference.

RichardBronosky · April 2012

I have 53 years pizza experience. I have discovered several important techniques to make sure your pies dont burn up. Of course, I let my stone soak for at least 45 minutes to make sure everything is stabilized. I put the plate setter down first, then the grill, and lastly I put the stone on top of the grill grate. This works well for thicker pizza. I use a piece of parchment paper when I first put the pie in the EGG and let that set up for about 4-5 minutes. Watch the bottom and if I need more time for the top I lift the pizza and put my perforated pan upside down to raise it off the stone. The top will continue to cook and the bottom will not get blackened.
Breads are tricky too. It just takes trial and error. Most EGGHEADS know what then is. I experiment a lot.

This is sound advice. Very close to what I do as an amalgamation of all the advice I have read here over the past 4 weeks. I have never used the parchment paper idea. That is brilliant. Sticking is the worst problem I run into. I'll be adding that to my routine.

Here is what I do:

Replace the stock gasket. (Call BGE and complain, they will send you a Nomex for free.)
Clean your grill out with a shop vac.
Fill your firebox up with charcoal all the way up into the fire ring. Bigest pieces on bottom, smallest on top.
Light the grill and let it heat up until the whole firebox looks like a volcano. (red all over)
Plate Setter legs up. (BGE says this is the ONLY way to use a plate setter. Legs down diverts the heat straight into your gasket and it doesn't stand a chance.)
Grate (I use cast iron, but it shouldn't matter.)
Pizza Stone (Cheap 5/16 inch stone that lasted 10 years of oven use then 6 pizzas in the BGE.)
Stabilize the dome temperature at 650-700.
Bake pizzas for 2 to 4 minutes, checking the bottom every 30 seconds after the first 90 seconds.

That's it.

If I'm lucky enough to catch the stone at 350 while the dome is at 600+ I can put the first pizza (always for my daughters) in for 5-6 minutes so that the crust is less chewy. But my wife and I like a Neapolitan crust. I have never had the nerve to bake a pizza at 900°F even though I usually let my Egg get out of control and wrap the thermo around to the 200-300 mark when preparing the pizzas.

Mighty_Quinn · April 2012

RichardB--Go for the 800+ pizza cook....that's the only way I do it now!

SamFerrise · April 2012

Cooking pizza at anything over 450-500 in the EGG is basically useless unless you like cracker type crust. The old school brick ovens cook pizza at 900+ degrees and can never be duplicated on the EGG......... period!

With your fire box below the pizza it is very difficult to get brick oven results. Be happy with 500-600 degrees and adapt your recipes to that and you will be a hero on your block. If you melted your gasket you are going off the chart. Had my EGG 3 years and still have original. What are you guys smoking?

SamFerrise · April 2012

Cooking pizza at anything over 450-500 in the EGG is basically useless unless you like cracker type crust. The old school brick ovens cook pizza at 900+ degrees and can never be duplicated on the EGG......... period!

With your fire box below the pizza it is very difficult to get brick oven results. Be happy with 500-600 degrees and adapt your recipes to that and you will be a hero on your block. If you melted your gasket you are going off the chart. Had my EGG 3 years and still have original. What are you guys smoking?

CheeseheadIllinois · May 2012

What about cooking 2 pizzas simultaneously? I've got a grate extender so I can do 2 pizzas at once. Any special tips on cooking time or lessons learned?

Stoater · May 2012

I let my stone soak for at least 45 minutes to make sure everything is stabilized. I put the plate setter down first, then the grill, and lastly I put the stone on top of the grill grate.

Does this mean you soak your stone in water or you preheat the stone, thanks.

Stoater · May 2012

Shish don't know what happened there, nut my question was:

Does this mean you soak your stone in water or you preheat it for 45 minutes,

Thanks

Squeezy · May 2012

I like to go 500 to 600 so as to have enough baking time to give the pie some smoke flavor.

Rich_ie · May 2012

I do plate setter legs up then the grill then the BGE pizza stone. I let it heat up for 25 mins at 750 to 800. Close down the daisy. 6-8 mins and your in for some great pizza.

Rich_ie · May 2012

The bottom.

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