Pizza Newbie


 
J

James Mundy

TVWBB Member
I'm interested in cooking some home made pizzas on my kettle, I understand that to even the cooking process that it's best to cook above the grate. My plan is to lift up a pizza stone using fire bricks.

I have some questions for those experts out there.
  1. How long do you pre heat the bbq for?
  2. Do you preheat the stone separately in the oven?
  3. Any stories of cracked stones? Mine is a pampered chef item we've had a few years.
  4. To dissipate heat do you think wrapping the cooking grate with foil would help?
  5. Fire management, which gives the best temps and cooking, coals spread out across the grate or the ring of fire technique (coal spread around the edge)?
  6. To reach the required temps how much charcoal do you use?

Thanks all.
 
1,5&6. I use 2 full chimneys of RO lump around the perimeter. Once the second chimney is poured in your ready to go.
2. I preheat it in the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. After getting it on the kettle give it a few minutes to get up to temp again.
3.I have 2 stones made for bbqs so never crack them. The large one cost me about $35 dollars.
4. You don't need to dissipate heat if you just put charcoal around the perimeter.

Fire bricks work but will give you hot and cold spots on the stone. I use a 4" deep veggie basket to raise the stone or a couple 4" deep foil pans. I double up the pans to get a little stronger base.

Try raising the kettle lid off the bowl by 1/4-1/2 inches, I use 2 old rotisserie skewers, and have the bottom vents wide open and the top vent closed. This will give you a nice convection.

Good luck.
 
Hmm, thinking about it, I could just use a few empty cans to raise up the top grate from my wsm. Am very tempted to give this a go tonight.
 
Bob Sample said:
1,5&6. I use 2 full chimneys of RO lump around the perimeter. Once the second chimney is poured in your ready to go.

Fire bricks work but will give you hot and cold spots on the stone. I use a 4" deep veggie basket to raise the stone or a couple 4" deep foil pans. I double up the pans to get a little stronger base.

Try raising the kettle lid off the bowl by 1/4-1/2 inches, I use 2 old rotisserie skewers, and have the bottom vents wide open and the top vent closed. This will give you a nice convection.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I'll use lump for sure, I may give this a go and see what pans I can find to raise sufficiently and give this a go tonight.

Why close your top vents? I can understand lifting the lid to get more air into it, but surely having the lid vent open will aid convection even more?
 
Last edited:
The lid vent open just allows the heat to go straight up and out. Closing the lid vent causes the heat to go up and then back down to escape through the gap between lid and bowl. Try it both ways and see which you prefer. I find the top cooks better with the vent closed.
 
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