Pizza Help


 
R

Robert T.

TVWBB Super Fan
I have started doing pizza on my grill, primarily the gasser but am also looking to do on the WSM. My question is around pizza stones. Couple of questions:

Lots of stones out there so any suggestions on specifics?

Any other thoughts on keeping the dough from sticking to the stone besides corn meal? My wife hates corn meal on the bottom of her pizza.

Thanks,

Bob
 
Bob,

I went the saltillo tile route because of price (something like .75 each). After pricing stones, I went by Lowes and bought 6 tiles for my oven and WSM. They'll cut for free also. These are about 3/4" thick and have done a good job. If you go the natural/Saltillo tile route, make sure they are not made with any lead or glaze. On the corn meal question, I'm not sure; I use corn meal which I find brushes off easily. I'd think stones and tiles are too porous to oil.
 
Bob, I'd think the deal with doing pizzas on the grill (I have a gasser too) is to have some light grill marks on the crust. I never use a pizza stone. Of course the WSM might be a different story, but I can't see why you'd need a stone in the WSM either, if you're going to use it as a grill. But you could. The key is having the grates good and clean and good and hot, and oiled, before dropping on your stretched pizza dough.

For those who don't care for cornmeal, you could use a light coating of flour. If you do use a stone, just put the stretched dough on a square of parchment and slide the dough on its parchment right onto the stone. The parchment will brown but won't burn. Parchment right on the grates won't work.

Rita
 
I also use flour on a stone in the gasser raised above the grill via an upside down cast iron fry pan (suggested by Chris Brown - new member, check out the awesome turkey he did on his first cook!). Works very well, surface gets to 650-700 degrees.

Don
 
One other suggestion which has worked for me is A pizza screen. Spray it with a little oil. Works great with or with out pizza stones
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Don Irish:
I also use flour on a stone in the gasser raised above the grill via an upside down cast iron fry pan (suggested by Chris Brown - new member, check out the awesome turkey he did on his first cook!). Works very well, surface gets to 650-700 degrees.

Don </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the kudos Don, I have used a stone on the grill, and like Don says you place the cast iron upside down. I put heavy duty aluminium foil on the grill grates, then cast iron pan, then pizza stone. Turn burner(s) to high and let it get quite hot...600F or so. Sprinkle flour and place pizza with favorite toppings on and close the lid. Pizza done usually in about 6-7 minutes, depending how large of a pizza it is. Maybe we can get Don Irish to post a picture of his attempt, it looks awesome! Give it a try...good luck!
 
All,

Thanks for the info. I actually like the pizza on the gasser, with the grill marks, but have found that the crust sometimes gets a little too well done as I am waiting for the cheese to melt. We like our top fairly crispy so we actually finish under the broiler inside. My thought was that maybe a stone would help keep the crust from getting overdone.

That being said, I love the taste of the pizza on the grill. We buy premade dough from Trader Joes to save time and our current favorite is their wheat dough covered with pesto and fresh tomatoes. Good stuff.

Thanks again for the help.

Bob
 
PS: The flour may be unnecessary because you will be cooking at high temps and the pizza should release nicely. Good Luck!
 
Actually, I am only partly embarrassed to admit we just use the packaged pesto from Trader Joes also. We have not made our own as of yet.

Bob
 
Pizzas on the grill...unstoned are nice...most of the time, but often it ia difficult to make them on stones. (cracking/heat releasing when looking etc)
I like using the stong in the oven at 550 deg and make the neapolitan style. Coming from a few miles from New Haven CT, to get a good pie in WA, I need to make my own.
 
Just learning about pizzas but...I found it difficult to get the pizza toppings done too. The rec. to try a broiler to finnish makes sense but that adds another step.

From my limited experience I have found I can get excellent grill flavor (But no grill marks ) by using a pizza stone on the kettle. It cooks much more evenly-just like an oven.
 
I think that there are 2 different issues mixed here. Doing pizza directly on the grates to get the grill marks is delicious, but as Robert stated, can be difficult due to limited time – no deep dish here, toppings must be a bit sparce.

With the pizza stone however, the objective is to simulate a true pizza oven. My gasser can get much hotter than my oven. Pics are from the set up Chris Brown (new member here) showed me. Results were (humbly) excellent.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/doleary703/setup.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/doleary703/hot.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/doleary703/pizza.jpg
 
We've been grilling directly on the grate for many years. Here are some tips:
- Create a two-zone fire and move the crust around to avoid burning
- Finely grate the cheese to allow it to melt
- After the crust for the first side is cooked, flip it over and once the crust starts to cook, put a large pan under the pizza and put the top on the wsm (or kettle). This prevents the bottom from burning.
 
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