Making pizza on the WSM.


 
SeanHaz said:
Wondering if any of you with the KettlePizza could please tell me the thickness of the metal and the height. I am debating on doing up my own for fun with my MiniWSM. I know that CaseT has made one out of a Tamale pot for it but I was thinking stainless steel sheet and SS pop rivets.

http://www.weberjumbojoe.com/weber-jumbo-joe-barrel-extension/
They use aluminum within this one.
Click to expand...

Arun L. said:
Ok, after calling Kettle Pizza and Pizza Craft, here are the dimensions for the mouth opening:

1) Kettle Pizza:

17" across
3.5" high in the center, with it tapered downward to a 1" height at the end.
Click to expand...

Height is just a shade above 6.5".

Thickness of the steel is about 1/32" of an inch.

Let me know if you need any other info.
 
Paul M said:
You could watch this vid by this pair of characters. If you want to skip the outrageous Weber advertising, go to 7mins where they start cooking the pizza, although he still manages to burn it (like I did tonight). Very very hot oven, 3mins per turn; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0ABq9jMU8

Have a Weber pizza paddle or something very similar, dust stone and paddle with flour, easy peasy!
Click to expand...

Wow. It seemed really easy for them to turn the pizza, just by sliding the peel underneath it.

I rarely encounter pizza that easy to turn. Even when I make it in the oven.

I'm not sure if it will be that easy for me to turn, but at least I have an idea of how I should try it.

Thanks.
 
Cooked pizza today.

Pics:

http://imgur.com/a/gdPGx/layout/grid

I used the middle portion of the WSM this time, and put the Kettle Pizza on top of that. I took a pic of the new setup.

The steel had a hard time going much more than the low 300s, if not the high 200s.

I cooked it for 12 mins, then rotated it, and cooked it for another 20.

As you can see, I think it looks much better.

I like how the bottom looked. It did taste a bit overdone though.

The top looks properly cooked.

If you want to compare, this is what the pizza looked like last time, before going in the broiler:

http://i.imgur.com/MloueQJ.jpg

And this time (no boiler needed to finish the top):

http://i.imgur.com/ernkoUU.jpg

What do you think?

I can try reducing the cooking time a little bit next time.

Is it worth it for me to contact welding shops and to try and get a dome built, to get the top cooking faster?

Or is this close to the best I can do?

Also, how do I make the dough flatter? I don't mind any style of dough, thin; deep dish, etc. But right now, the dough seems to always be thick. Today it was 1.75". I removed it from the fridge 5 hours before cooking.

I tried pounding it down with the rolling pin. But what you see is the best I could do to flatten it. I also tried using my palms around the edges.
 
There's something wrong with your dough Arun, it looks more like a topping for apple crumble :(

What is the recipe you are using? Are you kneading it and allowing it to rise?

Or are you taking the Michael ;)
 
Go watch a guy that makes pizza! They pull and stretch not roll their dough (if they are any good) and get the thickness they want by that elongation of the gluten. Rolling compresses the gluten and will "push it around" then, it just springs back.
That's how a food science teacher explained it to me anyway.
 
Paul M said:
There's something wrong with your dough Arun, it looks more like a topping for apple crumble :(

What is the recipe you are using? Are you kneading it and allowing it to rise?

Or are you taking the Michael ;)
Click to expand...

I've been using this recipe the past several times.

1538437_fullsizerender.jpg


I've been letting it rise in the fridge for several hours, than taking it out of the fridge 3-4 hours before cooking to get it to room temperature.

Here was the same dough recipe last time on 7/31, it wasn't as crumbly:

http://i.imgur.com/YfQHSrl.jpg

But, it was a little too sticky. The back of the pizza started getting deformed when I loaded it onto the peel. So I used more flour this time to make it drier.

This time, I had no problems with the transfer.
 
Paul M said:
Or are you taking the Michael ;)
Click to expand...

I don't understand this joke?

- - - Updated - - -

Timothy F. Lewis said:
Go watch a guy that makes pizza! They pull and stretch not roll their dough (if they are any good) and get the thickness they want by that elongation of the gluten. Rolling compresses the gluten and will "push it around" then, it just springs back.
That's how a food science teacher explained it to me anyway.
Click to expand...

I've used a combination of rolling and using my palms and fingers to stretch.

Should I only use my hands then?
 
Arun L. said:
Cooked pizza today.

Pics:

http://imgur.com/a/gdPGx/layout/grid



As you can see, I think it looks much better.

I like how the bottom looked. It did taste a bit overdone though.

The top looks properly cooked.

If you want to compare, this is what the pizza looked like last time, before going in the broiler:

http://i.imgur.com/MloueQJ.jpg

And this time (no boiler needed to finish the top):

http://i.imgur.com/ernkoUU.jpg

What do you think?

I can try reducing the cooking time a little bit next time.

Is it worth it for me to contact welding shops and to try and get a dome built, to get the top cooking faster?

Or is this close to the best I can do?
Click to expand...

Bump, outside of the comments about the dough, what do you think about how evenly it cooked? Since that was my main problem the last several times.
 
Hi Arun, taking the Michael is a British expression meaning 'to take liberties at the expense of others, or to be joking. If your not, then your dough is rubbish, unless you like eating pizza cake. Research some pizza dough recipes. You'll need to have a split of strong white flour and '00' flour or just the '00' flour.
 
Paul M said:
Hi Arun, taking the Michael is a British expression meaning 'to take liberties at the expense of others, or to be joking. If your not, then your dough is rubbish, unless you like eating pizza cake. Research some pizza dough recipes. You'll need to have a split of strong white flour and '00' flour or just the '00' flour.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation.

I think what you're referring to as 00 flour is called bread flour here, and that's what I've been using.

I used the same basic recipe last time on 7/31, but had used more water.

Here's what it looked like then, it wasn't as crumbly:

http://i.imgur.com/YfQHSrl.jpg

It was a little too sticky then around the back, so I used more flour and less water this time.

Do you think this one looks better?

And what do you think about how the top and bottom cooked this time, with my setup of using the middle portion of the WSM?

I posted the recipe I used here: #147
 
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Bread flour is a general reference to the gluten level. It has a higher level then all purpose flour. Then cake flour is a low gluten level. It has less gluten than all purpose flour.

00 refers to how finely its ground. It is a finer grind than normal flour. Pizza's usually use a high gluten flour that's is ground fine 00.
 
Thanks for the clarification Paul, that's what I was informed by a friend as well, "being (or taking)a Mickey" was his take on it. I rather like the phrase, I might have to use it!
Arun, you need to spend as much time practicing as you do posting, reading about cooking while informative, is not practical experience.
Go see a guy that makes pizza and TALK to them, buy some flour from him, then make dough, it's not anywhere near as hard as you constantly seem to want to make things, learn to light and maintain a fire, learn the basics of making anything, don't rush, just get out there and practice.
Look up Barb Dahl's pizza dough recipe, it's here somewhere.
 
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Thanks Chris, kind of you to link it for my lazy self! Still recovering from Saturday's birthday festivities! Finally got the grounds cleaned up and the smoker cleaned up and put away.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Thanks for the clarification Paul, that's what I was informed by a friend as well, "being (or taking)a Mickey" was his take on it. I rather like the phrase, I might have to use i
Click to expand...

That's my pleasure, perhaps you could let me know the American equivalent. Taking the Michael, is the posh (port side out, starboard side in!) way of saying taking the Mickey, which comes from cockney rhyming slang of taking the Mickey Bliss. I won't explain where taking the 'p***' comes from, on a family forum.
 
We Americans tend to be far less euphemistic and, have no equivalent to the Cockney rhyming meter.
I do enjoy a certain penchant for loquacious commentary from time to time though. A possible American English statement might be as simple as "You've got to be kidding me!" Or "Are you "flipping" kidding me". As far as I know and, I may be short on information, we have nothing as genteel. Personally, I might have to go completely guttural. But, as you say, decorum does not allow such verbosity in a family oriented forum such as this.

Always enjoyed telling people what posh really stood for! "Port Out, Starboard Home"
Now, even fewer people here have any concept of nautical terminology let alone the intricacies of where one would require their shipboard lodgings relative to the sun.
 
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Timothy F. Lewis said:
Always enjoyed telling people what posh really stood for! "Port Out, Starboard Home"
Now, even fewer people here have any concept of nautical terminology let alone the intricacies of where one would require their shipboard lodgings relative to the sun.
Click to expand...

Thanks for correcting me - starboard home not in :mad:. Only found it out myself recently, when we went on a cruise and were told of the origin of the phrase, although I think it was said a bit tongue in cheek!
 
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