Issues with cooking pizza on kettle w/ pizza stone

[Againstben]

Last night I tried pizza on the grill for the first time. It did not go well. I start with roughly 40 briquettes in my chimney starter. (I would have used more but that was all I had at the time. I figured it would be plenty to cook a pizza.) When they were ready I spread them evenly on my bottom grate from the center out. I put the top grate on and then the pizza stone and closed the lid to preheat the stone. The bottom vent was petty much wide open and the top about 3/4 open. For whatever reason I couldn't get the temp higher than 325. I waited a little white and put the pizza on and closed the lid. 5 minutes later I checked on it and could tell that it need more time because the top part of the crust appeared really raw and the cheese wasn't completely melted. So I closed the lid and waited some more.

Long story short, I couldn't get the top of this pizza cooked and the bottom of the pizza turned out burned to a crisp.

Please help me out if you've had any similar issues. 

[LightningBoldtz]

Try banking coals on the outer edge of the kettle and avoid direct heat to the stone.  I am not a pizza expert but I think this may help.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

You need to use a lot more coal and as @LightningBoldtz said, bank them around the sides and back (mainly the back) of the grill.  It's ok if some coals in the back are under a little bit of your stone, you will just have to rotated the pizza once or twice to allow it to cook evenly since the back section of the stone will be hotter than the rest.  When I do pizza a use a full chimney of glowing hot coals then add another entire chimney full of unlit coals as well as a lot of chunks of mesquite (mesquite tastes great in pizza crust!) then let that get going for a little bit before starting to cook.  I cooked several frozen pizzas using just my kettle without any problems but never tried a fresh pizza until I got my KettlePizza.  You should be able to do fresh pizzas without an attachment.  You will need to have both vents wide open, and it also helps when you put the lid on to not put it on snug so that there is a gap where the coals can suck in a little more air via that gap in the lid...this is key!  If you think about the pizza cooking attchments, they have huge holes in the front of them.  This is a dual purpose opening, so that you can get the pizzas in and out obviously, but also allows the coals the ability to pull in the needed oxygen to get a really hot fire.

[Metal Mike]

YMMV, not sure how hot (degrees) 40~ coals get a pizza stone

(if arranged imagining "corners" 4x ~even piles)

This ^^^ is my method with approx half+ chimney mostly ashed over, fully open vents, preheated & has done one just one 12" frozen pizza several times. But hotter is always better...

My thoughts, the coals beneath the stone caused it to preheat & hold too much heat & limits available circulating the dome. Hence the raw top & burnt bottom.

[MINIgrillin]

I like to preheat my stone in the oven while the coals are lighting up. It shortens the whole process considerably.

I haven't made dough and all that before. I like papa murphys pizzas. Also I have a 2 piece pizza stone that has an air gap in it to prevent Hotspots. I like it... I make a ring of coals under the stone for the cook. Works for me..

Tinker around with your setup. Don't be discouraged. The first pancake always gets burnt.. this is no different. Every failure creates a learning experience.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

@MINIgrillin - I love the idea of preheating the stone in the oven.  That's brilliant.  I usuallly lose a good amount of heat as the coals burn down while I am waiting for my stone to get hot.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Pizza stones are a necessary evil. They can act as heat sinks as much as anything else. @Againstben, on a grill (of any kind, probably) the challenge is as you've experienced: cook the top without hurting the bottom. Kitchen ovens avoid this because non-broiler heat is always indirect and for a large diameter, flat piece of food that's trouble where heat inherently comes right at it, like on most grilling situations. Even so, when you spread coals around they are still closer to the bottom of the pizza than the (insulated) top, which requires more heat.

On a 22.5" kettle you can place the stone on top of two firebricks laid down on the long end. This raises the pizza up so that the kettle lid can better concentrate heat where it's needed most. I won't claim it's a huge improvement necessarily. Another thing to try is those same 2 firebricks laid down flat. This will almost definitely protect the pizza bottom at the cost of a LOT of heat; they absorb/deflect a bunch of it.

The reason they Kettle Pizza and some other attachments work is because they don't involve stuff that absorbs heat, AND they divert it where it needs to go. That said, try the other suggestions here before assuming you need an expensive accessory.

I like that idea of preheating the stone as well. Currently, it's a loooong walk for me from kitchen to kettles, so that would either wipe out the effect or burn my hands carrying that distance. But I have a gasser located about half the distance that might work for this function, AND heat up faster than the kitchen oven.

When you guys add that second chimney of unlit, how long does it take for them to light and contribute? I always get nervous when considering doing that, worrying if they won't snuff out the already-lit coals.

[MINIgrillin]

Thanks. Necessity breeds innovation.. I was cooking up 3 papa murphys pizzas back to back and the last one was suffering. It got done but it took a bit. Determined I was loosing a lot of coal life during the preheat. It seemed like a better solution than firing up another kettle just to preheat the stone...which I tried. Waste of coals.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

When you guys add that second chimney of unlit, how long does it take for them to light and contribute? I always get nervous when considering doing that, worrying if they won't snuff out the already-lit coals.

I have never had a problem with the unlit coals snuffing out the lit ones.  I usually let it go until the nasty black and brown smoke typical when lighting KBB goes away then its go time!

[Josh G]

When you guys add that second chimney of unlit, how long does it take for them to light and contribute? I always get nervous when considering doing that, worrying if they won't snuff out the already-lit coals.

I have never had a problem with the unlit coals snuffing out the lit ones.  I usually let it go until the nasty black and brown smoke typical when lighting KBB goes away then its go time!

Are you cooking your pizzas in a 26 or 22?

[MikeRocksTheRed]

@Josh G - I used my 22 for pizzas before and after getting my KettlePizza for it.  I'm thinking about getting the extra steel thing from KP so I can extend mine to fit my 26er.

[Matt_T]

A professional I am not, but I am observant and have learned from my (many) mistakes. The technique/steps below are not a science but it works so I don't argue with it...

1. Hardwood lump to start and preheat the stone (full chimney). Coals go to the back of the kettle and the stone goes in immediately after the blazing hot coals placed towards the front. Let that go
2. Go in and prep the Pizzas - pick you poison. I either buy raw premade pizza dough from Trader Joes or I make it at home ahead of time. Homemade pizza dough (or any dough for that matter) is not hard to make and tastes great - don't be intimidated to give it a shot.
3. Right before I throw on the first pizza I throw on dry oak or hickory wood chunks (or both) right on the coals. This is how I am able to get the high heat I need to cook the top of the pizza. This is also how a real wood-fired pizza oven stays extremely hot.
4. I can usually get two or three pizzas out of this set up no problem with each pizza taking about 8-10 minutes depending on the toppings and thickness of the dough. I watch it and spin the pizza on the stone rotating it front to back to evenly cook the pizza throughout.
5. If I am doing a lot of pizzas I just keep throwing in dry wood to the fire and that things stays incredibly hot.

Key things to note:
1. You have to put cornmeal or semolina flour on your stone before each pizza goes on. This allows you to easily turn the pizza when its cooking.
2. You have to stand by the grill the entire 8-10 minutes for each pizza. Checking it and turning it as needed to keep things even in there. Don't worry about heat loss there is plenty of that. Worry about losing arm hairs - that is a real threat.

Again - not a science but it works really well for me. I use this set up on my JJ all the way up to my 26 with great results.

Cheers!     

[jdefran]

I believe I saw @Nate with this set up and I've had success with it. Instead of firebricks I use inverted charcoal baskets to elevate my stone, I feel this allows the top of the pie to get closer to the dome of the kettle and also allows hot air to circulate under the stone.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

I believe I saw @Nate with this set up and I've had success with it. Instead of firebricks I use inverted charcoal baskets to elevate my stone, I feel this allows the top of the pie to get closer to the dome of the kettle and also allows hot air to circulate under the stone.

That sounds like a great idea.  Since I got my KettlePizza I've been using my adjustable second grate to make my stone be level with the bottom lip of my KP.  Inverted baskets sound like a great way without a pizza attachment to get the pizza higher so the heat cooks the top! 


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[Old Dave]

I get pretty good results baking pizza on the Weber kettle on a hearth stone or just a plain pizza pan or cookie sheet.



You can find an article on both pizza and calzones on my site and with details on how I set the kettle up for baking. Hope this helps...

http://olddavespo-farm.blogspot.com/2009/06/pizza-and-calzones-on-weber-kettle.html