Kettle Pizza

[5280Jeff]

I picked up a Kettle Pizza ring on CL a couple of weeks ago, this was our 2nd attempt. The 1st attempt was a success but also educational.
The things I learned from the 1st attempt were.
1) The pie itself was too large in diameter.
2) The crust needed to be thicker and the edges braided.
3) The toppings needed to be inside the braid.
4) Corn meal sprinkled on a very hot pizza stone catches fire.
5) The stone temp was fine, however the dome temp in the kettle needed to be higher.

The set up, 15" square pizza stone on a hinged grate (one of the grate handles was removed so the pie would fit through the slot). I decided on the hinge to make adding wood if needed easier. I found an article on the web that suggested wrapping a 2nd grate in tinfoil and placing it in the top of the pizza ring to keep the dome temp higher. I used a full chimney of KB and added 4 large chunks of hickory.

 











Overall it was much improved over the 1st attempt. The crust under the toppings could have been thinner, it was under cooked in some places. The braided edge and having all the toppings inside the braid really helped with spinning the pizza on the stone. I also had no problems spinning the pizza without corn meal on the stone. The pics don't show it but I removed about 1/4 of the tinfoil from the upper grate. The air flow wasn't good enough to bring the kettle up to temp even with the lower vents fully open. When I removed the tinfoil and opened the upper vent to about 1/4 the temp was over 700 degrees up in a matter of minutes. I'm sure the tinfoil still helped with the dome temp because the toppings and crust were more evenly cooked this time. I do have a 2nd hinged grate so next time I will leave a hinged portion unwrapped with the open area over the fire.


 

[MacEggs]

Nicely done!  It is definitely a learning experience the first few times.

The upper grate I go like this. Some airflow to the dome. Firebrick on the foil.




I like to have an extra kettle handy close by with the lid off.
That way you can quickly move the upper grate if need-be in order to add more wood.

Now, I'm wanting to cook pizza soon. 

[Kgo]

These pizza kits are expensive.

Great pizza by the way!

[AnakiMana]

That pizza looks good.

I highly recommend the Baking Steel accessory they sell now. It's a hefty 17 lbs and is quite impressive to behold in person. It has NO hole on the back edge so that your wood-flames can travel right up and across the underside where it toasts your pizza's top really nicely. With about 10 pies completed, I didn't have any that were cooked unevenly or incompletely. I picked up the "Serious Eats" kit with tombstone grate and hanging wood-basket (basket is the same exact part as included in Weber's charcoal basket kit). The two add-ons working together are simply fantastic!

Here's a couple pics:

Before sliding the thick tombstone shaped stone into place.

Stone in it's groove. It's blackened where my friend didn't use enough cornmeal to keep his pie from sticking to the peel. So he shook the toppings and sauce right onto the stone *facepalm*.

Baking Steel with my fingerprints smeared across where I inspected how dirty it got between weekly pizza parties.

The flames are so fun to watch after I've pushed some wood chunks across the stone into the rear basket.

[Nate]

Pizza looks great. I'm very tempted to purchase a kettle pizza.

[rich]

Nice edges!!... well, the whole pie looks great.