Gratuitous pizza photo and keeping temperature high

[theboycalledleaf]

Came back to my modded kettle pizza oven after a while away. Made a dough and left it over night to prove.
I've struggled to keep temperatures high in the past and decided to try and cover the post box opening a little. What to use? My peel!
Popped the peel in front of the slot and let the temperature climb. I hit around 420f at times, potentially a full 80f than I've had before.
Pizza was great, crispy, nice puffed up crust and well cooked on top. No burning and fairly quick too.
Really pleased and I'll use the peel as a door / reflector again.


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[1buckie]

Nice !!!

Glad you got a nice, even cookup......

I've only used my Kettle Pizza rig a few times, but have no trouble getting to high 500's.....at times I've even let it cool off just a little so things don't go too, too fast !!!

How are you setting coals underneath?

[theboycalledleaf]

Nice !!!

Glad you got a nice, even cookup......

I've only used my Kettle Pizza rig a few times, but have no trouble getting to high 500's.....at times I've even let it cool off just a little so things don't go too, too fast !!!

How are you setting coals underneath?

I use one of the original charcoal baskets to the rear and bank the coals from the base upwards.
I used one and a half chimneys with the bottom open and top closed as it vents over the stone and out of the post box.
I've tried hard wood too but found it too smokey.
I find measuring temperatures very subjective though as the front middle and sides vary so much.
Always up for new ideas. Any thoughts?

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[1buckie]

@theboycalledleaf
I've got to go right away, but I'll answer as best I can in a coulpe hours, OK?

[1buckie]

@theboycalledleaf
 
OK.....here's some stuff I found kinda helpful....

Charcoal set was about like this, but I added a LITTLE more to the back pile & after the wood was heated some, I threw those on the back & buried them in a bit....



After it burned for a bit & the (pre-heated) wood began to catch, I assembled the rig...



Don't know if you can rig something up for above the pie, but that really seemed to help things cook on the toppings & also sort of contain / heat up the chamber..........

This was from the stone where it cooked, right next to the pizza....



If you're able to pre-heat the wood some way, it will burn WAY more clean (much less smoke)....

I learned that from reading / watching the big boys run their giant trailer cookers...the offset type.....always pre-heat your splits / logs so they are much closer to the temp where they catch & burn....cleaner & much less of a dip in heat output.....


...hope this helps some !!!

[theboycalledleaf]

What a great reply, thank you. I've not heard about pre heating wood before, that's an excellent bit of advice. I'll try it.
As for lowering the ceiling of the oven, it's an 18 inch so fairly low already compared to a 22. I've seen people bolt a pizza pie pan our similar up there. It's worth a go.
Really appreciate your time and advice. Thank you.

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[theduke]

I've gone back to using my SlowNSear in the back of the kettle on my pizza cooks with a very full chimney of Competition and a dozen or so scattered under the stone. About 30 minutes before I put the Pizzas in I slide a couple small Pecan splits across the stone so they drop onto the coals. I should mention I have the SS baking steel as well but after those splits catch fire temps at the stone are a consistent 600+ and well over 800 on the underside of the steel and will stay that way for 30 minutes or so. Even after the flame from the splits dies down you can still cook pies at 5-600 degrees and get great results.
The trickiest part is timing the wood splits with the charcoal. Wait too long and the coals start to get spent, too soon and the temps arent quite where there could be.

[theboycalledleaf]

I'm amazed at how high the temperatures are. I guess I need to try again with hard wood and persevere. I'll get there.
On an aside, lunches at work this week have been mostly pizza based. Always a treat!

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