Pizza

[CharliefromLI]

Decided to do a basic midweek pizza cook.

Grabbed two bags of dough from Trader Joe's. Really only needed one but since i still new at pizza, i always grab extra dough as it seems the first pie of every cook is a disaster. Last night was no exception. I gave grill and stone a long preheat and allowed the dough time to come to room temp. The first dough just wasnt warm enough and just didnt stretch as need. by the time i got it on the peel and flat it ended up sticking to the peel and it flopped over on itself by the time i got it on the stone. Luckily it was just me and my three year old eating it so style points were out the window. It was like the bastard child of a pizza and a calzone, It Looked TERRIBLE, but tasted really really good.

The second pie was good news bad news.
Good news: The first pie took so long to prep that the 2nd dough was warm enough that it spread nice and easy and formed a perfect circle.
Bad news: By that point my coals were spent and the pie cooked a little slower then planned.

Still looked and tasted fine.

[Bob BQ]

@CharliefromLI , do you use a KettlePizza or are you just doing the pies on a standard kettle? I recently traded for a PizzaQueue, but have yet to fire it up yet. Looking forward to it. 

...and that 2nd pie looks great!

[CharliefromLI]

@CharliefromLI , do you use a KettlePizza or are you just doing the pies on a standard kettle? I recently traded for a PizzaQueue, but have yet to fire it up yet. Looking forward to it. 

...and that 2nd pie looks great!

@Bob BQ I don't have a kettle pizza. i put the stone on a raised 18" kettle grate that has 4" carriage bolts for legs.


I would love to have a kettle pizza but the cost to have the set up i would want is cost prohibitive(i would want stone or pizza steel above pie to lower ceiling to cook top of pie evenly).

My DIY Set up requires lid removal during loading turning and unloading of pies, which is tricky, but the "bang for the buck" is untouchable especially when you consider that this set up also serves as an extra raised cooking grate on my performer for indirect cooks and a third raised grate for my WSM. http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/it's-a-triple-threat/msg181583/#msg181583
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/it's-a-triple-threat/msg181583/#msg181583



 

[Metal Mike]

Decided to do a basic midweek pizza cook.

Grabbed two bags of dough from Trader Joe's. Really only needed one but since i still new at pizza, i always grab extra dough as it seems the first pie of every cook is a disaster. Last night was no exception. I gave grill and stone a long preheat and allowed the dough time to come to room temp. The first dough just wasnt warm enough and just didnt stretch as need. by the time i got it on the peel and flat it ended up sticking to the peel and it flopped over on itself by the time i got it on the stone. Luckily it was just me and my three year old eating it so style points were out the window. It was like the bastard child of a pizza and a calzone, It Looked TERRIBLE, but tasted really really good.

The second pie was good news bad news.
Good news: The first pie took so long to prep that the 2nd dough was warm enough that it spread nice and easy and formed a perfect circle.
Bad news: By that point my coals were spent and the pie cooked a little slower then planned.

Still looked and tasted fine.

Two points might help:

Corn Meal to prevent sticking on your work surface, the transfer peel & throw some on the hot stone just before dropping the pie...

Also you might side-bank some unlit coals to get a longer burn time...

"...like the bastard child of a pizza and a calzone..."

[WNC]

Looks great to me, would have loved to see the bastard child!

[Jon]

The corn meal is a great tip, I do the same. But brush off the stone in between cooks because the cornmeal burns to black and puts bitter spots where it sticks to the bottom of the next pizza.

[SixZeroFour]

Here's how you should have posted this up Charlie:



"Made a large pizza on the kettle, one half cheese and the other half double pepperoni. It was FLAWLESS!"



Now I want pizza for breakfast.