Need help with my pizzas!

[GC8]

I jut recently started trying to make pizzas on the grill and it hasn't gone so well.  I'm hoping to get some advice from others who have mastered this art.  I'll keep this brief, but here are a couple of my main questions, I'm sure there will be more though:

- I assumed rolling out the dough at room temp would be best, is that right?  Every time I roll out my dough, it always shrinks back up.  How do I avoid this?

- What the best method of transferring the pizza onto the hot stone?  This process usually turns into a big mess for me.  I've tried jut using a cutting board with a dusting of flour and have tried it with a dusting of corn meal.  The toppings tend to go all over the place.

[Ted B]

I had the same problems initially. Letting the dough get to room temp seems to help with the rolling. I try to roll from the center to the outside. My brother in law tosses the dough and is really good at it.

As far as transfer I have a wood pizza peel for transfer to the grill and metal one for removal. We also put the pizza on parchment paper and use that to lift it on the grill. Once it cooks a bit you can remove it or leave it until the pie is done. The edges of the paper burn or brown but usually isn't an issue.

[pbe gummi bear]

Can you put the toppings on after it gets into the kettle? Is you pizza much smaller than your cutting board? If so, the geometry will make the angle really steep to reach the grate. And the thickness of the board may contribute to a rough placement.

[OoPEZoO]

I have a cheap bamboo pizza peel I picked up at bed bath & beyond for something like $12. I cover it with corn meal. The trick to know if you have it right is to shake the peel back and forth a little. If the pizza slides easily, then you are good.  If it sticks anywhere, then you need more corn meal. I also dust my baking stone with corn meal as well. I screwed it up the first two times, but it has been good ever since.

I love pizza on the grill.......before


After.....yum

[225tostayalive]

Pizza was the main reason I bought a charcoal BBQ

I have been experimenting for a long time to get it right

The recipe I use for dough use very little yeast and long rise times to allow the dough to ferment

I have given up cooking them on my grills because they require too much charcoal to maintain temps to be worth it

I bought a lodge cast iron pizza pan and bake in my oven at 550 degrees

Preheat the pan for 30 min at those temps and slide dough off the heavily corn meal dusted peel

I am not comfortable bringing my Akorn Kamado  up to 600 degrees because it tends to damage external parts like handles and it burns off all my internal seasonings.....but that is just me

Pizza is the only time I wish I owned a ceramic kamado for high heat cooks

I like the idea of the kettle pizza unit that is sold but have not read good reviews or have seen a pizza that has the crust cooked like I can on the cast iron pan in my oven

[MacEggs]

I have tried the pizza dough recipe from this thread.
Chasing_smoke posted the link for a New York style pizza. Easy to prepare.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/other-recipes/pizza-dough-2383/


If you're on the fence about the KettlePizza adaptor ... Get it!!
With a few operational mods, it's a fantastic unit.

Here is a thread of mine on my first two attempts with it. It's a lot of fun. 

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/kettlepizza-first-time-firing-it-up/

[gunner]

If your dough isn't stretching out, roll it out as  much as it will go then let it sit for 5 minutes or so then roll it again and repeat. Letting it sit relaxes the dough and makes it easier to stretch out. 

[GC8]

These are all great suggestions, thanks!  I'll probably give it another whirl next weekend.  For cooks that I haven't mastered, I wait until I have a night to cook for just myself so noone else needs to endure any mistakes I make

[mike.stavlund]

+1 for Chasing_Smoke's NY/PA style recipe, noted in Mac's post above.  That has worked wonderfully for me. 

And I know C_S doesn't need one, but I find having a proper pizza peel to be key.  I tried wood, but it was too thick and sticky, so I found a metal peel at a restaurant supply store.  I give it a heavy dusting of corn meal and have had much more success at the all-important slide onto the stone.  I find I can use either the metal peel or the wood one for easy removal.

I have noticed that the dough slides more easily on some batches than others.  My guess is that this is related to the kind of 'skin' the dough gets when it rises for different amounts of time, and also probably the amount of time I spend kneading the dough when I first make it (I make my dough the night before, refrigerate it in individual pie portions, then give it a warm rise for several hours before dinner).  The trick is that the dough I prefer to work with on the grill is a bit too 'tough' for some of my customers (aka, wife and kids). 

also fwiw, I don't *roll* the dough, but kind of 'stretch' in on a floured surface, and also work it on the backs of my hands to kind of tease it out into a thinner shape.  It does spring back to a smaller shape, but not too much. 

Good luck with your quest, and try your best to be patient.  For me, few things have been as satisfying to pull off of the grill as pizza-- it's kinda like magic. 

[225tostayalive]

This is a great video on how to make a pizza

http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com/category_s/663.htm

Keep air in the dough is critical

[225tostayalive]

I have tried the pizza dough recipe from this thread.
Chasing_smoke posted the link for a New York style pizza. Easy to prepare.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/other-recipes/pizza-dough-2383/


If you're on the fence about the KettlePizza adaptor ... Get it!!
With a few operational mods, it's a fantastic unit.

Here is a thread of mine on my first two attempts with it. It's a lot of fun. 

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/food-pr0n/kettlepizza-first-time-firing-it-up/

You make me want to buy one of these     AWESOME looking pizza !!!

I was surprised  just how difficult pizza can be to get right   for me 90% of pizza is getting the dough correct

Montreal has some fantastic pizza joints   and trying to emulate them is tougher than I initially thought it was going to be

[GC8]

Alright, Saturday is the big night!  Well, not so big.  The gf is working and I'll be home with the dog throwin' back some beers on working on my pizza making skills.  I'll document the experience...well, the pizza making.

[Duke]

I have tried several different options and for a fresh made pizza in a regular kettle I like to bank or basket the coals in the back and raise the pizza stone toward the front. I want the fire to be hottest behind it and want the temperature around 500. This doesn't have to be the fastest pizza, but you want the dough to rise and the crust to brown and then of course the toppings to cook. I check it through the lid vent with a flashlight until I see the end closest to the fire starting to brown. Then I take the peel and give it a spin. I may give it as many as five quarter turns as it get's closer to finishing. By the way, I would assemble the pie right before you are going to put it on because the sauce on the dough can make the pizza soggy if it sits there too long and of course that will make it difficult to cook. Another note is to not load it up with sauces or wet ingredients, again it will become difficult to bake. I have great results on a regular 22.5 kettle doing what I call 'Deli Style' the way my neighborhood pizza deli made them when I was a kid. There's still a learning curve, but the mistakes are still fun to eat. 

In this first picture notice I assembled it on the pizza peel on top of a piece of parchment paper. I don't like the cornmeal because it's gritty and flour or semolina tends to burn, so I just slide it on along with the parchment and than as it start to brown and it's ready for a turn just slide the parchment out and throw it away.







Good Luck and please post your results.

[GC8]

I really like the parchment paper idea.  Do you roll/spread the dough out on the parchment paper?  Or do you roll/spread it out elsewhere and transfer onto the parchment?

Right now, I'm just using dough from Trader Joes.  It's pretty good, but I need to get the basics of grilling the pizza down before I start fiddling with the recipes.

Thanks for all the help!  Keep the ideas coming.

[Duke]

I use TJ's sometimes too. I put some flour on a cutting board and either roll it our or stretch it like Mike mentioned, then put it on the parchement, on the peel and top it. It should go just fine.