Plate setter with pizza stone?

Carl T · April 2001

I found a second BGE dealer in town who had in stock the plate setter I was looking for. I also ordered the12" BGE pizza stone. When I recieve it I'm going to try some pizzas. I have two questions.[p]1. The plate setter is about 3/4 inch thick. I understand the BGE pizza stone is about the same thickness. Will it be OK to use the BGE stone on top of the setter? Is this too thick using both or should I bake the pizza directly on top of the setter? Or bake the pizza on the BGE pizza stone without the setter? I remember reading that one regular stone is too thin. People were stacking two stones to keep the crust from burning.[p]2. If I should use the stone on top of the setter, Should the stone be pre-heateed along with the setter or place the cold stone on the setter along with the pizza?[p]BTW, setting up indirect cooks with the plate setter is very quick and easy.[p]Carl T

Char-Woody · April 2001

Carl T, there are several ways you can approach it. First, in thickness of the combo vs the single sitter. My good friend Spin is successful in his high temperature pizza cooks with the sitter and the stone in combination. [p]Since the sitter is the same as my Pizza stone, I set it on its legs and put two firebricks on the grill underneath. I use the smaller 14 inch sitter. This relatively does the same thing. Its a preference to develope I guess.[p]Preheat your setup prior to insertion of the pizza. I like to maintain my temperature,(whatever it is) by using my bottom vent wide open, and using my solid ceramic cap for a top control. On and off and watch the needle fluctuate between my desired heat zones..I don't shoot for a fixed temperature so if I hit 475 to 550 it seems to be acceptable. The pizza tells you when it is done, and I quick peek thru the top dome with the cap off and use a flashlight to see the crust and the cheese melt..When it is close to finished, I lift the crust on the stone to check the underside..if not nicely browned..I leave it till it is.
Good luck..others have excellent methods also.
C~W[p]

GaDawg · April 2001

Carl T,
The only problem I have ever encountered with pizza, be it
in the oven or on the egg, has been keeping the stone up to a high temp for the 2nd, 3rd ..... pizza. I solved this based on a suggestion from spin last year. Now I use the
plate setter, an old square pizza stone, and the large BGE
stone all stacked up. I go for 550 degrees, and can produce pizza after pizza until the lump runs out. The key here is keeping the ceramic very hot. In my opinion, if your finished product is a layer of cooked dough, a layer of warm sauce, and a layer of half melted cheese, you have not created a pizza. When you look down the dome at a properly cooking pizza you should see the cheese "boiling" like crazy and merging with the sauce and creating a new substance of melted cheese and sauce. This process also drives the flavor of any topping throughout the pizza.[p] One final tip. Keep the dome closed like char-woody says.
Regulate temp from the bottom and use a flashlight down
the chimney to see when it's done.[p]Chuck

Plate setter with pizza stone?

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