Pizza...SUCCESS!!!


 

Bruce McClure

TVWBB Fan
Many of you have followed my pizza saga since I got my Performer and joined the forum. This story has had enough twists and turns to make Dostoevsky weak in the knees and have to steady himself on the furniture. Tonight...it was good eating.

Got my kettle up to 500F, dropped the stone on (gently, of course) and got that to temp. Two baskets of charcoal, off to the side to keep temp up. Bottom damper set to 3/4, top wide open, vent opposite the coals. We kept the dough thinner this time. First pizza on (a GF for the kids) and boom...we had a good one. Kids enjoyed it; The 12-Year Old Child To Whom I Am Related By Marriage ™️ complimented me on learning more about the grill. I probably took it off about 3 minutes too early, but it's gone...so it must have been good.

My wife's vegan pizza cooked great, but the cheese didn't melt quite as well (which is to be expected with a vegan cheese...happens all the time here).

On to mine, using a thinner, gultinous crust. Got the kettle back up to temp, slid the pizza in and off we went. It cooked marvelously.

Unfortunately, no pics as we ate quickly. But it was a huge success after two problematic starts.

Next up, getting my vortex (a Prime Day purchase) and figuring out wings!
 
Great to hear.
A question on the setup, so you have two baskets on the same side of the grill to produce the hight heat?
Yes. I keep the two baskets together to generate more heat.

Edit: realized I didn't finish this response (one of the kiddos was looking for me). The two baskets are kept together, as close as possible, to keep the coals hotter. Many have told me that the tighter the baskets are together, the hotter the coals will get. Then again, I sorta found that out when I had runaway heat in there one night and couldn't figure out why. #ImADope
 
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Do you have some hunks of oak around for smoking? If you add that to the fire, it’ll get hotter and you’ll get even better results. I love my Kettle Pizza rig for making pizza. Forgot to take a pic of the done pizza other than the crust. LOL. Oh, and the wings on the Vortex will be a game changer.
 

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Do you have some hunks of oak around for smoking? If you add that to the fire, it’ll get hotter and you’ll get even better results. I love my Kettle Pizza rig for making pizza. Forgot to take a pic of the done pizza other than the crust. LOL. Oh, and the wings on the Vortex will be a game changer.
Here's my question about "even hotter"...

How hot can the kettle withstand? I ask this because I know the Vortex can make some damn hot fires, so I'm wondering if I'm playing with something that will shorten the life of my grill.
 
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I have had my Kettle Pizza attachment for 5 or 6 years now and do not see any damage to the kettle. Last cook I did was around 700 degrees.
 

 

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