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:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

Jeff Varasano's Pizza & need for paver!

OzarkQ
OzarkQ Posts: 150
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
I tried to post on an old thread, but hope y'all don't mind repeating here for the newer members - you need good insulation under your egg!! I used a 18" ceramic tile, but will change out with a concrete paver.

After reading about burning gaskets and such, I decided to use the grid extender and then put the stone on top. I think it was a little too hot through, and the bottoms burned a bit before cooking the tops. I thought using the platesetter might cause more trouble for the gasket. Sure cleans the walls of the egg through cooking at 750' for an hour or so.

I didn't have my starter going, so I used some active dry yeast instead, and used the calculator, here which is highly recommended! I messed up a bit by having the dough too wet, and it was a bugger to work with. Here's my results:

Hot BGE? How's this for hot & scary? :evil:
I stuck the foil under there to hopefully prevent the cart from going up. And that's with the feet and the gap too!!!

BGEPizza003.jpg

Bad shape because not enough flour in dough and on peel:

BGEPizza005.jpg

Cooking...

BGEPizza007.jpg

Done!

BGEPizza008.jpg

This one looked better...

BGEPizza010.jpg

Yummy!
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • FlaPoolman
    FlaPoolman Posts: 11,677
    Make sure you continue with the feet also. Here is my paver and table without the feet.

    101_2117.jpg

    101_2118.jpg

    101_2119.jpg

    Now

    101_2179.jpg
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bubba tim
    bubba tim Posts: 3,216
    Practice make perfect. I think my first pizza looked liked an acornian. :lol::lol:
    You must master temp, smoke, and time to achive moisture, taste, and texture! Visit www.bubbatim.com for BRISKET HELP
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Willie Lump Lump
    Willie Lump Lump Posts: 229
    OzarkQ,
    I have been doing some with this style pizza and as to the shape who cares. I have been doing wet dough high heat. I do have a hard crust where the gasket used to be.
    A couple of things to watch for.
    Load enough lump (I prefer a high density like Wicked) or have the egg start dropping temp about pizza number 2 because you are running out of fuel. I know it doesn’t seem possible but it really goes fast at high temp.
    I put the stone on the eggfeet on top of the plate setter. Make sure you preheat or your toppings will be done before the crust.
    I’m thinking of moving to a starter but haven’t yet. If you find a good one please post!

    Last if you use a machine to knead try this. ADD all the water to three-quarters of the flour mix and rest for twenty minutes then adds the rest of the flour and knead. This makes a high hydration that’s a little easier to handle.

    Keep us posted, as there are others on this journey.
    TTFN WLL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • OzarkQ
    OzarkQ Posts: 150
    Willie - I did that also - Jeff Varasano's web page here calls this the 'autolyse' phase, but I think I held back too much on the flour and it never came enough together. Not ballsy enough!

    I heated the egg up to 700-750' for about 30 minutes, but think it was too hot because the bottom burned before the top was done - but the platesetter might help keep the bottom a little cooler.

    Actually - I tried to use the daisy wheel to keep the temp above the pizza hot enough and was thinking using it would lower the level of the heat to the pizza level and without it it would escape out the top? What do you guys think?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    what you need is to get the stone higher and get more thermal mass under the stone, i used a tank end because i had one but something like a wok would work. fill it with sand and place the pizza stone directly on the sand, not on the grate as shown. you wont burn the crust even if your cooking over 1100 degrees, ive settled on 900 degrees for that style pizza. be aware that the bands will thermally expand at those temps leaving you with a dome that could fall off, charwoody on the p forum used to make clips that bolted to the handle that would hold the dome on when that happened, maybe ping him over there to see what they look like because extended hot cooks WILL loosen those bands and you dont want to reach out and grab hot ceramic when that happens
    100_1527.jpg

    heres a pizza bottom cooked at 1100 plus on this style setup

    100_1535.jpg

    it does make for a white clean interior

    100_1543.jpg
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • OzarkQ
    OzarkQ Posts: 150
    Fishless - how much of a gap do you get around the edges of your setup between the walls of the egg and the edge of your tank? Is that the adjustable spider there that you could set a wok in?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    on the table its sitting on a piece of pipe, in the egg it sits on a spider as shown. the tank end measures 16 inches outside diameter. the flame runs up around the tank end and a blue ball of fire hovers directly over the pizza as it cooks
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    100_1530.jpg
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • OzarkQ
    OzarkQ Posts: 150
    Great - thanks! Last Q for now - what is the P forum?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    charwoody is on the primo forum, the clips are pretty simple. a piece of sheet metal that attaches to the handle bolt mounts and is bent over the slightly flanged area on the dome. the bands do slip when they get that hot for an extended period, with my egg dug into a hill side it would just drop inches into the grass, but on typical setups it will drop and break
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,589
    follow this post, simple to make
    http://primogrillforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1765&highlight=dome+clips
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • OzarkQ
    OzarkQ Posts: 150
    Great - I'll check it out.

    By the way - love your gasket there... mine is starting to look the same :whistle: Did you have to re-adjust the bands when the gasket goes poof?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Willie Lump Lump
    Willie Lump Lump Posts: 229
    Fishlessman<
    Every time you post a picture of your egg something new jumps out at me. Your egg is cleaner then a brand new one. The 900 degree pizza cooks must send everything else as just so much vapor out the top!TTFN WLL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories