Pizza On The Grill

[craigster59]

I like to consider myself an above average master of grilling, smoking and barbecuing. You name it I can cook it. Except for pizza.

I've tried a few times on the Kamado (BGE) and it always comes out burnt on the bottom and raw on the toppings. I'm not one of those guys who will spend a day tweaking and trying different methods, if it sucks, I'm done.

I know some of you Pelicans have mastered the art, I've seen the pics. What are your tips for making good pizza? I have the Kamado, Weber kettle and gas grill.

Temps? Prebake the crust? Pizza stone? I'm all ears.....

[billybek]

I haven't done pizza on the bge for a long time.
We used dough from a local Italian store and a very good quality pizza stone pre heated on the diffusser/plate setter, legs down stone on the top.
Trouble with this method was that the heat was right at the gasket level and at over 500 deg f the gasket suffered some damage.
Lid down when cooking less than 5 minutes. Thin crust.
Was delicious and fun but the gasket damage needs to be addressed...

[Zeke]

IDT there's enough room around the brick for the amount of reflected heat needed from the top. Also the dome isn't right. At 800º it takes about 90 seconds to bake a thin crust with average toppings.

Pizza oven or order take out.

[cabmandone]

Can't speak to the BGE but on my Weber Summit with a pizza stone and the grill at 500, it comes out perfect. I always let the stone heat with the grill then put the pizza on the stone with a pizza peel. The only time I have any real problems with the crust is when I go overboard with the sauce and the crust gets stuck to the stone. I left out a few steps. I put the crust on the stone for just a few minutes, pull it, put on toppings, then toss it back on the stone.

[Zeke]

Nick, that sounds like a good trick.

[TimT]

I've done it a few times, the trick I use is to partially bake directly on the grates (on my Weber), flip the crust, partially bake the other side, then flip and apply toppings, and finish with the lid on, pizza on the cool side of grill. I dont have a BGE (yet), afaik there is no cool spot?

Also lately i'm using 75-80% + hydration dough, and no bueno on the grilling on the Q.

Some pizzas , and the mini pellet oven i got from Kickstarter

[rfuerst911sc]

Give this video a once over , it may have useful tips .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQuuDi5vw2I

[1990C4S]

What Tim T said works...a bit of pre-cooking.

[TimT]

Grilled Pizza

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I love Helen.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Zeke

IDT there's enough room around the brick for the amount of reflected heat needed from the top. Also the dome isn't right. At 800º it takes about 90 seconds to bake a thin crust with average toppings.

Pizza oven or order take out.

MAPP gas for the top

[cabmandone]

One of these times I'm gonna throw some smokin chips in the tray and hit one with some smoke while cooking. I'd think cheese and crust will pick up smoke flavor pretty quickly. Since Webb mentioned mapp gas on the top, I do have a rotisserie burner in mine that I'll light sometimes just to brown up the cheese a bit. I don't do it all the time. Sometimes a like a little crisp on the top of the cheese.

I'm a simple guy. One of the things on my bucket list is having an outdoor wood fired pizza oven on my back patio. Delicious homemade pizza washed down with homemade beer. Not sure it could possibly get better than that.

[aigel]

I do it in the Weber 22" with a round pizza stone. I put a big circle of charcoal, one big lighter chimney full, all the way against the wall of the grill, so nothing sits under the stone and it is all cooked indirect. I get about 380F with the lid vents open and the bottom vents open. I get a nice crunchy crust, the top could be a little more browned but it is acceptable. 15 minutes for an average sized pie with thin crust. Two pies / 30 minutes feed 4 people. I keep it closed for 15 minutes straight after I figured my time window. A few minutes back / forth don't make a big difference.

G

[aigel]

That said, my forever house will have a wood fired stone pizza / bread oven. They don't seem to be too huge a project to complete if you settle for a cylindrical vs. dome shape, but not a good idea if you are moving.

G

[pavulon]

A fella here in town opened a little ice cream shop a few years ago. It does pretty well but he bought an Italian wood fired pizza stove for it last year and regularly sells out by 6 pm. Obviously he could do better but doesn't really seem interested in working very hard at all so that's what he does. The problem will be his ice cream business is gonna take a hit soon as the state restaurant will open next month.

[tabs]

On the Weber, pizza stone pre heated..put dough crust on stone for a few moments and FLIP over. Place sauce and toppings on place lid on and in about 5 minutes it is done. It goes real quick so you have to watch closely.

toppings should be pre cooked, sausage, mushrooms.

[908/930]

Pre heated pizza stone is key. I usually build on top of parchment paper and slide out paper after a min or so.

[Alan A]

We use a stone and cornmeal on the grill.
A stone in the oven is more consistent. 450 convection preheat for 30 and it comes out perfect every time. Can use parchment paper in there too so far less mess.

[Bill Douglas]

I didn't realize I was hungry until I saw those pizzas!

A thin base seems to work best for me. And the very hot (haha, but not toooo hot) pizza stone seems to fix those cooked on the outside and not in the middle problems.

I also like to do them on the weber.

[craigster59]

Thanks for the replies! I think I'm going to try the Weber kettle first with a stone and experiment a bit. Seems pre cooking the crust a bit is the way to go. I'll post up some pics of the finished product