Taking the pizza plunge - newbie questions


 
Steve McKibben

Steve McKibben

TVWBB Super Fan
I decided that it's time to stop just drooling over the pictures and descriptions of the pizzas some of you have been creating and get in the game.

I'm sure that as I progress in this I'll get more adventurous, more complex, and more comfortable, but I'd like some advice to help me get off to at least an acceptable start.

I have a bread machine, so I plan to use a simple pizza dough recipe that came with that for the base.

Will likely start with just sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni for the first set of pies, since that's what the rest of the family eats. What kind of canned/bottled sauce would be good for a plain, trouble free pie?

I ordered pizza screens and plan to cook directly on them, propped up on bricks on the 22.5 OTS grate. With a thin crust do I need to precook the crust before adding toppings?

How long should I preheat the grill?

Looking forward to finally joining this party - thanks in advance for all of the help!
 
I like to slightly precook the crust and then flip it over and put on the toppings before returning it to the grill, especially if I am using much sauce. Preheat the grill until it stabilizes at your desired temp.
Mostly just dive in and experiment. I also like to add a little wood to the charcoal to get some smoke flavor.

Mike
 
Hi Steve, I cook my pizzas on a pizza stone that is sitting on fire bricks. Since your just using bricks with a screen your going to have hot and cold spots since the bricks won't be shielding the entire pizza, make sure you get the bricks up to temperature before starting your cooking. The pizza stone helps even this out.

I did 6 12" pizzas last Sunday. I started with 2 full chimneys of mostly lit RO lump, preheated my bricks and pizza stone in my gasser which speeds things up.

I also prop my lid up on 2 old rotisserie rods which keeps about a 1/4"gap between the lid and bowl which helps keep things good and hot. Close the top vent and you will get a good convection that cooks the top of the pizza.

With this set up my pizzas cook in 7-10 minutes. I don't precook the crust.

If your worried about soggy pizza don't use too much sauce. Fresh tomatoes can also add lots of liquid causing soggy pizza.

I use Unico basil &garlic sauce but not sure if you can get it in Florida.

Good Luck

Bob
 
Thanks for the responses.

My reasoning for using the bricks was as a way to raise them higher off of the grate rather than to provide a heat shield. I actually was hoping that only the outside edges of the screen would be touching the bricks, leaving just about all of the pie exposed underneath. I seem to recall someone else that posts on here cooking them this way.

It will be fun learning (and eating the "lessons"!).
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve McKibben:
Thanks for the responses.

My reasoning for using the bricks was as a way to raise them higher off of the grate rather than to provide a heat shield. I actually was hoping that only the outside edges of the screen would be touching the bricks, leaving just about all of the pie exposed underneath. I seem to recall someone else that posts on here cooking them this way.

It will be fun learning (and eating the "lessons"!). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That will work.
 
I'm looking forward to diving into the pizza realm as well. I just ordered the red sky grilling pizza stone, just waiting for it to get here! Let us know how it turns out!
 
I just made several pizzas on the kettle and on a gasser with a pizza stone.

The kettle ones, cooked right on the grill, were our favorites. I made a bed of Stubbs that covered half the kettle. Put the dough on the direct fire for a minute or two to brown a little.

Used tongs to flip it over on the cool side of the kettle and built the pizza with Muir Glenn canned pizza sauce (it's easy to make your own, but this was good too), sliced mozzarella (the pre-grated has a starchy dust added to keep the pieces from sticking to each other; it also affects even melting), grated parmesan, and some fresh basil.

Put the lid on, with pizza still on cool side, and let the cheese melt for a couple minutes. (If making several pizzas, you may need to skip this step after the fire dies down; just put the pizza right over the fire after building.)

Slide it over the fire and cook until bottom is browned to your liking.

I read a lot about this and other pizza techniques at the Serious Eats Slice site.
 
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