j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
I've been toying around with some different pizza oven set ups on my 22" kettle and had limited success. The key problem has always been how to get the top brown in the same amount of time as the bottom. I was inspired by an article where they authors combined a kettle pizza ring, a stone on the bottom, and a pizza steel plate on the top. With that thought in my head, and the inability to sleep at 3:30 am Saturday night, I came up with an idea. We are planning to cook pizzas for about 15 people on Saturday, and given the 4th in this week, I needed some one to build it for me in 48 hours or less. After driving to one place and the guy suggesting I try another place, and that guy suggesting another guy, and that guy agreeing to do it on Tuesday, I figured it was some kind of fate. I gave him my kettle on Tuesday morning, took a look at the pizza oven on Wednesday morning so he could make a mod, and I picked it up that afternoon.
Here's what we came up with. When I first looked at it, he hadn't tacked the top plate on yet and I suggested he reduce the head space to 4". My wife thought about using the top deck as a second oven, which might be the most brilliant part of the oven (big props to her). It's all really heavy gauge steel and weighs a ton.
Preheating with cherry wood. It took some time to get up to temp, so I spent some time stoking the fire with a heat gun
bottom deck
top deck
pizza #1 (Jim Lahey no knead dough, bechamel sauce, leeks, ****akes, red pepper sausage)
pizza #2 perfection
action shot
I know steel is the new pizza stone, but I'm definitely not used to cooking on it. I had some bottom scorching, and may have to try using cornmeal. But the initial run was very promising as I had crisp top and bottom and the dough was cooked through in 10-15 min
I was pretty cool how both decks ran about the same temp, and each having about the same amount of head space. I started a pie on the bottom deck and switched it to the top once I was ready to load a second in. I'm thinking I could be running three pies at once if the spent twice as long on the top as on the bottom
I'm hopeful that I can get the cooking nailed down, as I have the hard part (top browning) figured out, now I just need to manage the bottom. Either way, I love how the oven is one piece and super easy to set up and run.
Here's what we came up with. When I first looked at it, he hadn't tacked the top plate on yet and I suggested he reduce the head space to 4". My wife thought about using the top deck as a second oven, which might be the most brilliant part of the oven (big props to her). It's all really heavy gauge steel and weighs a ton.
Preheating with cherry wood. It took some time to get up to temp, so I spent some time stoking the fire with a heat gun
bottom deck
top deck
pizza #1 (Jim Lahey no knead dough, bechamel sauce, leeks, ****akes, red pepper sausage)
pizza #2 perfection
action shot
I know steel is the new pizza stone, but I'm definitely not used to cooking on it. I had some bottom scorching, and may have to try using cornmeal. But the initial run was very promising as I had crisp top and bottom and the dough was cooked through in 10-15 min
I was pretty cool how both decks ran about the same temp, and each having about the same amount of head space. I started a pie on the bottom deck and switched it to the top once I was ready to load a second in. I'm thinking I could be running three pies at once if the spent twice as long on the top as on the bottom
I'm hopeful that I can get the cooking nailed down, as I have the hard part (top browning) figured out, now I just need to manage the bottom. Either way, I love how the oven is one piece and super easy to set up and run.