need pizza help!!

[lksdrinker]

So I recently picked up a kettle pizza and was really excited to start using it.  Got it all put together, and was a little intimidated by the instructions that warned me I wouldnt be able to get my kettle hot enough using charcoal alone.  But had to give it a try, so grabbed some pizza dough from the store and had the wife start working on that while I get my charcoal ready and add in some wood chunks.  Well, I sure did have trouble getting it hot enough, but eventually got there and was ready to cook!  Or so I thought.  Since we let the pizza sit while getting the fire going, it proved quite difficult to get it off the peel and into the kettle.  Took some work to get it off the peel, onto a cutting board, back onto the peel and into the kettle.....but got it done and was quite impressed with how good it came out that first time considering the difficulty I had.

We've since used it a few more times (6 or 7 more pies on 3 different occasions) and it seems I'm getting worse instead of better at this!  I stopped using the wood chunks I normally use when cooking/smoking (those bagged chunks are expensive if trying to use as fuel!!) and instead I'm now using small firewood/large kindling on top of roughly 3/4 chimney of briquettes.  I think I have the fuel issue worked out well enough as I can now get that kettle raging close to 700 (probably too hot) with not too many issues.

But I'm also learning I had no idea how hard it was to work with pizza dough.  I have a new found appreciation for anyone who can grab a ball of dough, spin it a few times and voila....round pizza crust.  I suppose I dont care so much if my "round" pizza has 4 (or sometimes 6 or 7) sides; but I do care that I cant stretch it properly to avoid some hills and thicker areas of crust. 

We've tried dough purchased from the supermarket which was so-so; and dough from few local pizzerias (which was much better).  But with all those I feel like the initial ball of dough is too large to make a single pie to be cooked in a kettle.  So we're cutting the dough first...but that seems to make it even harder to work with without that snap back.  Last night we tried the packages of fleishmans ( I think thats the brand) pizza dough yeast.  Not very impressed at all and will likely go back to the pizzeria dough.

So what kind of dough does everyone like using? Any tips or tricks on how to work with it properly?  How about kettle temps?....do I really need to get to that 600-700 range?  Any other advice for a non-italian trying to make this work?

[HoosierKettle]

I got worse as well. However, my most successful pizzas have been baked in a pizza pan in my indoor gas oven. Maybe not as adventurous but I can bake larger pizzas and two at a time. Beats the heck out of being crouched down watching an insanely hot kettle cook a tiny pizza but that's just me.

For the kettle, I rolled my dough out on parchment paper and launched the pizza onto the stone right on the parchment. After a couple of minutes you can snatch the parchment out from under the pizza. It's really easy that way.


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[cigarman20]

Two thoughts for you. 1. Check out the @bertadventures pizza dough calculator (references in this section of the forum). You will never buy store bought again.
2. Stretch the dough on parchment paper. Build your pie and launch (be careful here) into your cooker. After a few minutes of cook time, you can pull the pie back onto the peel, rotate, remove the parchment and return to the fire with ease.



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[randy]

I lite the grill and get it about half way hot, prep the first dough and then transfer the dough to the peel on cornmeal. I then top the pizza and put in the grill, repeat at least 7 times to feed the family.


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[lksdrinker]

I'll definitely have to try the parchment paper; and maybe also swap out the flour and swap in cornmeal instead.  Thanks!

[tomweber731]

Form your dough by patting into a 6" round the pick it up by the edge and just keep turning if like a steering wheel. The weight of the dough will stretch it. Keep doing this until you have as thin a round as you like. Put on Pizza peel that is generously dusted with cornmeal. Shake peel when you are ready to bake to make sure it is not sticking.
Pick up Ken Forkish's book The Elements of Pizza for great dough recipes and techniques.
Good Luck

[lksdrinker]

Form your dough by patting into a 6" round the pick it up by the edge and just keep turning if like a steering wheel. The weight of the dough will stretch it. Keep doing this until you have as thin a round as you like. Put on Pizza peel that is generously dusted with cornmeal. Shake peel when you are ready to bake to make sure it is not sticking.
Pick up Ken Forkish's book The Elements of Pizza for great dough recipes and techniques.
Good Luck

I'll have to check for that book.  But this is roughly the method I use.....but dont get round pizza and typically stretch it to far and make holes

[Jason]

@lksdrinker  I'f you are not already doing this, make sure your dough is at room temperature before working with it.

[lksdrinker]

@lksdrinker  I'f you are not already doing this, make sure your dough is at room temperature before working with it.

Hmmm....I honestly dont remember if I let the dough sit out before I started working with it.  I'll make sure I do next time!