Kettle pizza oven

Don't know why I clicked on the 'pizza oven' google ad at the bottom of a webpage, but I discovered this:
http://kettlepizza.com
No affiliation, yada.
Mothers' Day coming up...

Cool, never see that rig before.

I think it's cool if it works good. I hope someone here gives it a try eventually. Maybe the company should send someone here a free one to put it to the test.

I think Shaun is right. I am more than willing to take one for the team guys

Hmm ... would the wife notice the new accessory?

Tyler : She will. But just use the "standard" "It-came-with-the-unit-just-havent-used-it-untill-now"

Often works. Good luck

Nice one Wolgast!

Can any of you think of any reasons this would not work? It looks really neat, and I am very tempted to try it out. How about those of you that have had success with pizza on a kettle before, does his seem excessive?

Originally posted by Adam B:
How about those of you that have had success with pizza on a kettle before, does his seem excessive?

Click to expand...

I've been hesitant to comment in this post because, as we all know, there are many different ways to do anything on a grill...none of them the absolute right way. That being said, I've had pretty good success with making pizzas on the kettle. Here's how I do it.

One of the biggest problems people seem to have is getting the toppings done at the same time as the crust. Raising the stone so it's closer to the radiant heat coming off the lid seams to correct this. That KettlePizza thing has the lid even further from the pie than if you just did it on a non-modded kettle without raising the stone, so I would think that this issue would be much more prevalent. In my extremely humble opinion for the $100 + $15S/H you could get a cheap stone, a box of fire bricks, enough fixins for a dozen pies and then a couple cases of cheap beer...and then you wouldn't have to find a place to put the thing when not using it.

This is just my opinion and this thing may be awesome. I'd love to hear a testimonial from someone that has one...that doesn't have any sort of relationship with the mfgr.

what did you put on that whit pizza. Looks amazing!!

Originally posted by Adam B:
Can any of you think of any reasons this would not work? It looks really neat, and I am very tempted to try it out. How about those of you that have had success with pizza on a kettle before, does his seem excessive?

Click to expand...

According to the discussion at another forum (linked from the mfg's website), the main problem of cooking pizzas on the Weber kettle is loss of heat when you take the cover off and/or maintaining 700+F heat.
The top grate is brought to bottom kettle lip height (and extension openning) with the grate resting on pins within the extension making it easier to slide the pizza in/out, never having to open the lid.
Also, if more than two pies are cooked consecutively, the fire may have to be restoked to get temp back over 700F to continue.
I found this product intriguing (again, NA) since seeing a thread about the dude who uses a modified Weber kettle to make a pizza forge for street pizzas.
The Kettle Pizza dude seems to have done his research, to wit: he recommends rotating the pie to get even cooking (something that must be done in wood/coal pizza ovens) and using briquets since lump burns too fast and hot...
I have never liked cooking pizzas (fresh or frozen) in a reg kitchen oven because you can't get it hot enough - I use a Presto Pizzazz Pizza Oven. 8^)>

I've gotten pretty good results with an Emile Henry pizza stone on my performer. First time around followed the instructions and used direct heat. Way too hot with just a chimney worth of coal. Had the classic burnt (to a crisp) crust and semi cooked toppings. Adjusted to indirect cooking and that worked a lot better. Like mentioned above (and in other places throughout the TVWBB forums) removing the lid is a no no, cause you lose heat, so resist the urge. I usually get the grill and stone preheated to about 400, then slide the pizza dough and toppings on to the stone from a peel (getting pretty good at this, specifically keeping the pizza round). Cover and let cook for 10-15 minutes. I usually check on it at 10 minutes, giving a spin if necessary, and checking the bottom to make sure it's not burning. Pull it off when it's cooked to preference (we like thick chewy crust) and off you go. We've done the usual toppings as well as shrimp, veggies, etc. come out great, with a hint of smoke just using charcoal.

So while I like the idea of the pizzakettle (and kinda want one if I could justify it- may have to take a page from Wolfgast book ) I don't think it's necessary to make great pizza on your grill. I like Don's method of using the charcoal ring from the WSM, so I may try that next time. The other consideration is the pizza dough. Like I mentioned above we like our pizza with a thick crust (usually 14" diameter), so don't know how this would fare with a thin crust. BTW, For those of you in the NY area who have a Sam's club near you, they have the best frozen pizza dough which you can buy by the case for less that $20. We tried all different brands and even made our own before deciding that we got the best results with the dough from SAMs. Tasty and very convenient if you got the space to store it.

My friend ordered one last week, and we will be trying it out this upcoming weekend. THis will determine if I buy one as well.

I ordered one a couple of days ago, will also report back when it arrives. I ordered the Basic -- shipping a pizza stone to Canada seemed like a poor use of $$ so will pick up a stone and peel locally.

I figure it's worth the $$ if only so I don't try to build a wood-fired oven and end up with a half-built oven in my yard for the next 5 years.

Please share an update once you give it a test run John.

Will do.

Since I haven't cooked much pizza on the Performer I figured I should try a few "control" pizzas while waiting for the mod to arrive. Started with what I would guess to be a bit less than a chimney of Kingsford (can't find the chimney) lit with the gas burner then pushed to one side maybe 18" wide and 6" deep. Took time out to grill some sausages which in hindsight was probably a mistake but (a) I didn't have much choice because I had just made up the dough anyways, and (b) I had the lower vent mostly closed to slow the burn. Opened the lower vent and put a few chunks of wood on the coals then let the kettle heat up while I went inside and put toppings on the pizza. I made and cooked the pizza on the same 13" black pan I normally use in the oven at 500-550F with ok (but not great) results.

Came back outside, noticed the Performer's thermometer was pinned past 550F. Nice to think it was really that hot, but probably a result of flames touching the thermometer tip. Lifted the lid quickly, put the pizza in, closed the lid. So far so good. In a preheated 500F oven the pizzas normally take 9 minutes or so and thermometer was still higher than that, so guessed I was looking at an 8 minute cook time and rotated the pizza after 4 minutes. Temp dropped but was still ~450-ish. After 8 minutes lifted lid to check and saw it needed more time - rotated it again which I wouldn't do next time because it costs heat. Took the pizza off at ~13 minutes since it didn't seem to be getting any darker -- looked pretty good but definitely didn't have even the char I get in the oven. Temp now down to ~400.

Tasted OK, smoke added a nice touch, but temp was definitely too low and pizza was undercooked as a consequence (ie it was not my fault ). It occurred to me that the mod might help with temperatures as a consequence of moving the exhaust point from the top vent down closer to the equator, in addition to eliminating lid lifts. Bottom line - guess this was my first successful pizza cook on the Performer. As good as or better than a 400F oven cook but not as good as a 500-550F oven cook, not sure how much of the difference was due to slight undercooking vs lower cook temp. Will try at least once more before the mod arrives with more attention to keeping temps up, and maybe raise the pan on firebricks per Don's great post. Again, this was with a stock Performer, *without* the "kettle pizza oven" kit.

EDIT JUNE 1 : After a couple more pizzas I think I have the hang of it. Today used a chimney of lump pushed over to one side with a couple of apple wood chunks on top, left it about 10 minutes to heat up (maybe not enough in hindsight) then put the pizza pan on top of two firebricks layed flat on the cooking grate. Turned 180 degrees after about 9 minutes, total cooking time maybe 15 mins, top thermometer steady around 400F. Note this was still without the oven mod; I just wanted to make sure I had a good "before" example for comparison. Updated pic below.

Yes that is a cut up hot dog. Yes there are too many toppings and too much cheese. It's about the process, not the product



Delivery notice for the oven mod arrived today, so hopefully all future pics will be *with* the kettlepizza kit.

I got mine in a couple weeks ago and have used it a bunch of times. Real easy to use, one chimney of charcoal works well. Let the stone heat up for about an hour to ensure even cooking. Then add a little more charcoal and a couple pieces of hardwood. It will easily get to 700 degrees or higher in about ten minutes after adding the hardwood. Depending on the size and temp the pizzas take 8-10 minutes. Just turn them periodically to even the browing of the crust. The pizza peel that comes with it is really small and rather useless. I would recomend buying a metal one about 16x16 to aid in putting the pizza in and turning it throughout the cooking process. Will post some pics when I get home.

That was fun. Picked up the oven kit today, assembled in ~5 minutes, and fired it up the same way as yesterday (1 chimney of lump, hardwood chunks on top, no stone, 10 minutes to warm up then put pizza on to cook using the same black pan as before). Temp was up over 700F on the oven thermometer; the lid thermometer was pinned so far past 550F I was worried about damaging it (I guess it wasn't pinned last time after all). I imagine the large door opening increases airflow and burn rate over what you get with just the top vents -- whatever it is the temps are definitely a lot higher.

Left the pizza on for 8 minutes total, rotating after 4-5. Turned out to be a bit too long - top was cooked fine (a bit more than previous pizzas on the kettle) but crust was burned in places (as Don anticipated above). Even so, I'm pretty sure it was the best pizza I have ever made at home.

From looking at other (blurry) pics taken during the cook I suspect the crust burned during the first few minutes; next time will let the hardwood flames burn down a bit before putting the pizza on. If that doesn't work, I plan to try (a) using the shiny pan that came with the kit rather than the black pan I use in the oven, and (b) using a stone but placing the pan on the stone rather than directly on the grate. It's hard to resist the quest for knowledge... and pizza.

Anyways, so far this seems pretty good. Switching between grill and pizza oven is fast (basically moving the grate from the kettle inside the oven ring and back). Pizza doesn't look much different in the middle but you can see that the crust is a lot darker around the edges and the cook time was ~1/2 as on a regular kettle (8 minutes with oven for pic below, 15 mins without oven for pic above).



... and yes, that is the other half of the cut up hot dog

Please some pictures of it in action. It sounds interesting. Thanks!

I received mine this week, and used it. I had previously used it with dvoecks and already had the hang of it. I was impressed. Going to be nice in the summer making pizza and not having to heat my house up. My stone cracked and that was with indirect coals. I have a few more stones, so no big deal. Pizzas came out excellent.