Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Youtube | Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.
Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch
First thread from a n00b... thin crust pizza.
Options
caliking
Posts: 18,731
Decided to go for it and get the 1st pizza cook done. This is my first thread about one of my BGE cooks.
I have been giving the BGE a workout since I brought it home a few weeks, so now it was time for thin crust pizzas. Its been a bit of a learnign curve, but I think I am making progress.
Used Alton Brown's recipe for the pizza dough. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight so that i would have one less thing to worry about during the cook today.
Fired up the egg with B&B, my current fav lump charcoal. Good size pieces which work well in my homebrewed tandoor. I found this humongous piece in the bag today when I filled up the egg. It was as thick as my forearm! There were 2-3 other pieces almost as big. By far the biggest pieces of lump I have found to date.
Here is what a virgin BGE pizza stone looks like! I set the platesetter legs down, then the stock grid, then the pizza stone. I don't have any ceramic feet. The stone was almost at the level of the gasket but not quite. I hear that the pizzas come out better if rasied higher in the dome, so I will try and figure out a way to get it higher.
Dough sitting for the final rise/rest. The recipe makes two 12-14" pieces, but i divided itinto three balls (about 120g each).
Leftover toppings from when we made pizzas in my stacked brick WFO over the holidays. Homemade sauce, bufala mozz, pepperoni, basil, onions, red bell peppers, and elk sausage I smoked a few days ago.
First pie rolled out. Had to work on it a little bit, adding flour until it stopped shrinking back. About 10" in diameter.
Almost hit 600°F. I could have gone higher if I had paid more attention to packing the lump in, wiggling, and lighting more lump when I started, but this was good enough. I was a little worried about frying the gasket, so didn't want to go nuclear the first time. Temps probably averaged 550°ish.
First pie was a margherita - my favorite!
View from the top vent. Cooked 3-4mins then turned 180° and cooked for another 3-4mins.
First BGE pie! [Sorry the pic is blurry].
Gratuitous upskirt shot.
2nd pie - sauce, pepperoni, bell pepper, parmesan, red onions.
The crust was thin, crispy, and flavorful. The best pizza I have made yet.
Last pie was a garbage pizza - put on whatever we had left. Sauce, basil, parmesan, bufala mozz, bell peppers, red onions, elk sausage.
Overall, it was a resounding success!! When I fire up my stacked brick WFO, it ends up being over a half-day affair. With the egg, we could enjoy pizza on a weeknight. The sauce was made before hand, and frozen in an ice cube tray, so I just took out 2 cubes per pie.
I have been giving the BGE a workout since I brought it home a few weeks, so now it was time for thin crust pizzas. Its been a bit of a learnign curve, but I think I am making progress.
Used Alton Brown's recipe for the pizza dough. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight so that i would have one less thing to worry about during the cook today.
Fired up the egg with B&B, my current fav lump charcoal. Good size pieces which work well in my homebrewed tandoor. I found this humongous piece in the bag today when I filled up the egg. It was as thick as my forearm! There were 2-3 other pieces almost as big. By far the biggest pieces of lump I have found to date.
Here is what a virgin BGE pizza stone looks like! I set the platesetter legs down, then the stock grid, then the pizza stone. I don't have any ceramic feet. The stone was almost at the level of the gasket but not quite. I hear that the pizzas come out better if rasied higher in the dome, so I will try and figure out a way to get it higher.
Dough sitting for the final rise/rest. The recipe makes two 12-14" pieces, but i divided itinto three balls (about 120g each).
Leftover toppings from when we made pizzas in my stacked brick WFO over the holidays. Homemade sauce, bufala mozz, pepperoni, basil, onions, red bell peppers, and elk sausage I smoked a few days ago.
First pie rolled out. Had to work on it a little bit, adding flour until it stopped shrinking back. About 10" in diameter.
Almost hit 600°F. I could have gone higher if I had paid more attention to packing the lump in, wiggling, and lighting more lump when I started, but this was good enough. I was a little worried about frying the gasket, so didn't want to go nuclear the first time. Temps probably averaged 550°ish.
First pie was a margherita - my favorite!
View from the top vent. Cooked 3-4mins then turned 180° and cooked for another 3-4mins.
First BGE pie! [Sorry the pic is blurry].
Gratuitous upskirt shot.
2nd pie - sauce, pepperoni, bell pepper, parmesan, red onions.
The crust was thin, crispy, and flavorful. The best pizza I have made yet.
Last pie was a garbage pizza - put on whatever we had left. Sauce, basil, parmesan, bufala mozz, bell peppers, red onions, elk sausage.
Overall, it was a resounding success!! When I fire up my stacked brick WFO, it ends up being over a half-day affair. With the egg, we could enjoy pizza on a weeknight. The sauce was made before hand, and frozen in an ice cube tray, so I just took out 2 cubes per pie.
Improvement for future cooks will include making the sauce more garlicky, not using 2 cured meats on the same pie (too salty for us), and experimenting with the dough to add some other flavors to it. I will also learn how to tend the fire better so I can maybe hit higher temps, but I don't see the need to really. Unless someone thinks there is some benefit to higher temps. I thoght I smelled the gasket vaporizing a few times, but it seems to have withstood the temps well.
Thanks for looking!
Thanks for looking!
A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
Comments
-
I'm sorry if the pics are too big - I don't know how to resize them.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
-
Nice pies, nice pics. When I first tried pizza I went down the high heat road, now we get better results at 500-550. Great cook.Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
-
-
Awesome post with great looking pizza!
-
Awesome pics. How did the flavor compare to the WFO?
Cincinnati
LBGE, Weber Kettle
-
Nicely done! I'll taka slice of each please. I do my pizzas at 600. I did a few experiments with higher and lower cooking temps and for me 600 degrees strikes a balance between flavor, control & cooking time. Whenever I do a high temp cook above about 500 degrees I do a more thorough clean out of the Egg before starting. Then it is easy to get the Egg to 600 or beyond if you aren't paying attention.
Jim -
Looks great. I wish my first few turned out like that. I went nuclear and blew away my gasket like "dust in the wind". Flipping your plate setter so it is in the "legs up" orientation may allow your gasket to fight another day, FWIW.I love your idea for the sauce. I have done that with stock, but this gives me more reason to convince SWMBO to allow me to invest in an extra "Egg" freezer for a 1/4 cow and what not.
-
Skiddymarker said:Nice pies, nice pics. When I first tried pizza I went down the high heat road, now we get better results at 500-550. Great cook.bodski said:Awesome pics. How did the flavor compare to the WFO?jfm0830 said:Nicely done! I'll taka slice of each please. I do my pizzas at 600. I did a few experiments with higher and lower cooking temps and for me 600 degrees strikes a balance between flavor, control & cooking time. Whenever I do a high temp cook above about 500 degrees I do a more thorough clean out of the Egg before starting. Then it is easy to get the Egg to 600 or beyond if you aren't paying attention.
JimEggcelsior said:Looks great. I wish my first few turned out like that. I went nuclear and blew away my gasket like "dust in the wind". Flipping your plate setter so it is in the "legs up" orientation may allow your gasket to fight another day, FWIW.I love your idea for the sauce. I have done that with stock, but this gives me more reason to convince SWMBO to allow me to invest in an extra "Egg" freezer for a 1/4 cow and what not.We used to have a 2nd chest freezer when we lived in Iowa. We called it the "animal freezer" because we bought meat from the farms and froze it. Had a goat and a hog butchered, and bought chickens from the Amish regularly. I miss those days. I can't find a decent butcher here in Houston.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX. -
Nice work! Great pics as well.
Steve
XL, Mini Max, and a 22" Blackstone in Cincinnati, Ohio -
Nice pies. Next time I do pizza, I'm going to use only oak (no lump). My thin crust takes around 7-8 minutes...I cook hot and I have a huge pile of oak. I'll report results.
______________________________________________I love lamp.. -
Welcome aboard the EggHead Forum caliking! You may be a n00b here but certainly not a n00b at cooking (I've seen your posts elsewhere ). Plate setter legs up is the way BGE is recommending these days to reduce the amount of heat deflected right at the gasket. At least your gasket looks like the new high heat variety. Nice job on the pizzas!XL, Large, Small, Mini Eggs, Shirley Fabrication 24x36 Patio, Humphrey's Weekender, Karubecue C-60, MAK 1-Star General, Hasty Bake Gourmet, Santa Maria Grill, Webers: 14" WSM, 22.5" OTG, 22.5" Kettle Premium, WGA Charcoal, Summit S-620 NG
Bay Area, CA -
R2Egg2Q said:Welcome aboard the EggHead Forum caliking! You may be a n00b here but certainly not a n00b at cooking (I've seen your posts elsewhere ). Plate setter legs up is the way BGE is recommending these days to reduce the amount of heat deflected right at the gasket. At least your gasket looks like the new high heat variety. Nice job on the pizzas!
-
Curious as to how you liked the elk sausage on the pizza? We did a garbage pizza the other night as well, and my kid threw some sliced bratwurst on his. Garbage is a pretty fitting word, because it was disgusting.
:-&
Aside from that, nice work. I've still yet to get the perfect crust, and it looks like yours are dead on.
LBGE since June 2012
Omaha, NE
-
nolaegghead said:Nice pies. Next time I do pizza, I'm going to use only oak (no lump). My thin crust takes around 7-8 minutes...I cook hot and I have a huge pile of oak. I'll report results.R2Egg2Q said:Welcome aboard the EggHead Forum caliking! You may be a n00b here but certainly not a n00b at cooking (I've seen your posts elsewhere ). Plate setter legs up is the way BGE is recommending these days to reduce the amount of heat deflected right at the gasket. At least your gasket looks like the new high heat variety. Nice job on the pizzas!Duganboy saidHis post said PS legs down, but the pic looked like he had it in there legs up.It was definitely legs down this time. Was taking pics with my phone, so the pics are not the best.SaltySam said:
Curious as to how you liked the elk sausage on the pizza? We did a garbage pizza the other night as well, and my kid threw some sliced bratwurst on his. Garbage is a pretty fitting word, because it was disgusting.
:-&
Aside from that, nice work. I've still yet to get the perfect crust, and it looks like yours are dead on.
Thanks for the kind words, folks. I would thank everyone individually, but I don't know if there is a feature on this forum that does that.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
Categories
- All Categories
- 182.7K EggHead Forum
- 15.7K Forum List
- 459 EGGtoberfest
- 1.9K Forum Feedback
- 10.3K Off Topic
- 2.2K EGG Table Forum
- 1 Rules & Disclaimer
- 9K Cookbook
- 12 Valentines Day
- 91 Holiday Recipes
- 223 Appetizers
- 516 Baking
- 2.4K Beef
- 88 Desserts
- 163 Lamb
- 2.4K Pork
- 1.5K Poultry
- 30 Salads and Dressings
- 320 Sauces, Rubs, Marinades
- 543 Seafood
- 175 Sides
- 121 Soups, Stews, Chilis
- 35 Vegetarian
- 100 Vegetables
- 313 Health
- 293 Weight Loss Forum