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First Pizza Cook

I cooked several pizzas tonight, bought dough from Publix (3 pre rolled out, and 1 dough ball), cooked them like the directions said, at 400 for about 20 minutes each. First one is italian sausage and pepperoni (dough ball we worked into a pie). 2nd picture is a buffalo chicken pizza, took a rotisserie chicken from publix, pulled the meat off and put hot sauce on it, ranch base for pizza then chicken and mozarell/provolone for cheese. Sorry for bad picture quality, hopefully will get better at that. Split party on the dough we worked into a pie and the pre rolled out dough, I personally like the dough you have to work. I cooked 7 pizzas total but forgot to keep getting pictures of each.

My only question is my sister brought over dough from a restaurant to cook as well, and these needed to be cooked at 600 for 5-8 minutes. I had already cooked 4 pizzas at 400 for 20 minutes each and then tried to crank the heat up to 600 to cook 3 more pizzas, closest I got to was 570. Cooked all 3 anyways and they still turned out pretty good I think. Was this simply a result of running out of charcoal or have I done something wrong?  Cooked on a large egg, plate setter legs up with a raised pizza stone, cleaned out the egg before the cooks started and put fresh BGE lump for cook and poured some smaller left over lump pieces from the clean out on top.

Overall pleasantly surprised with how it all turned out, I continue to learn and improve using the egg with each cook, I'm hooked!!

Thanks for looking. 



LBGE- North of Atlanta, Georgia.

Hail Southern

Comments

  • bgebrent
    bgebrent Posts: 19,636
    Well, congrats on the good pizzas.  Your final temp is only a function of fuel (sounds like you had enough lump) and fuel (air flow).  Given a clean egg, your temps were likely better than you think.  After opening the dome, you fuel the fire but drop the dome temp on the thermometer.  The internal temp is higher than reflected on the dome thermo given all the opening.  You were cooking hotter than you think I'd guess.
    Sandy Springs & Dawsonville Ga
  • SouthernEagle
    SouthernEagle Posts: 47
    edited August 2017
    Thanks @bgebrent ! I figured/hoped it was simply running out of fuel, good to know it wasn't user error. The pizza I put on at the 550-575 range after constant opening to figure out a possible way to add more lump (unsuccessfully) turned out great so I got the final pizzas in there quick after to finish it off.
    LBGE- North of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Hail Southern
  • Stormbringer
    Stormbringer Posts: 2,007
    Great looking pizzas, nice going.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Cooking and blogging with a Large and Minimax in deepest, darkest England-shire
    | My food blog ... BGE and other stuff ... http://www.thecooksdigest.co.uk
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  • That's a great first attempt!
  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    Did you remove the daisy wheel (DFMT)?  It limits airflow even when open all the way. Take it off when going for high temps.
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
  • KiterTodd
    KiterTodd Posts: 2,466
    Nice cooks.  Glad you're having fun.

    You can use the dough balls at a variety of temps depending on how thin you roll it, amount/thickness of toppings and a variety of factors.  Don't stress about the perfect temp, just let everything warm up for a while and then peek through the dome (DFMT removed) to keep an eye on things. You likely could have cooked everything between 450-550.

    The only real challenge (okay, there are a lot) is the stone getting so hot that the bottom burns before the top cooks.  You can get around this by making sure your raw toppings are sliced very thin. 

    Enjoy!
    LBGE/Maryland
  • KiterTodd said:
    Nice cooks.  Glad you're having fun.

    You can use the dough balls at a variety of temps depending on how thin you roll it, amount/thickness of toppings and a variety of factors.  Don't stress about the perfect temp, just let everything warm up for a while and then peek through the dome (DFMT removed) to keep an eye on things. You likely could have cooked everything between 450-550.

    The only real challenge (okay, there are a lot) is the stone getting so hot that the bottom burns before the top cooks.  You can get around this by making sure your raw toppings are sliced very thin. 

    Enjoy!
    I did remove the daisy wheel at the end and that is what helped it jump up to 550+ for a little bit, just started running out of lump. Somebody help me out, DFMT? 

    I was worried about the stone getting too hot but was never a problem, I wonder since I was getting a pizza off and the next one on quickly if that helped, especially since most of the pizzas were cooked at 400.

    If I use the publix dough again (it was good and convenient) I plan to give it a try around the 500 range next time like you say, the way the pizza cooked I think it would be ok.
    LBGE- North of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Hail Southern
  • SouthernEagle
    SouthernEagle Posts: 47
    edited August 2017
    Thanks @charliebatutis ! Definitely want to cook pizzas again soon, already thought about new ingredients to try out.
    LBGE- North of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Hail Southern
  • Did you remove the daisy wheel (DFMT)?  It limits airflow even when open all the way. Take it off when going for high temps.
    I did remove the wheel towards the end as a last effort to finish cooking all the pizzas. I have however, for other cooks when I still had plenty of lump had no problem getting up to 750 and still climbing with the wheel on but wide open. 
    LBGE- North of Atlanta, Georgia.

    Hail Southern
  • northGAcock
    northGAcock Posts: 15,164
    You have gotten off to a much better start than I did...congrats and keep working with them. You learn and improve every time. 
    Ellijay GA with a Medium & MiniMax

    Well, I married me a wife, she's been trouble all my life,
    Run me out in the cold rain and snow
  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    ... Somebody help me out, DFMT? ...
    DFMT = Dual Function Metal Top = Daisy Wheel
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.