using a pizza stone?


 
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DW Frommer II

TVWBB Fan
I know there's directions for grilling pizza using the WSM here on this forum but I wondered if anyone had tried using a pizza stone instead of placing the pizza on the grill.

What I want is to replicate the high heat of a soapstone pizza oven (or at least get closer) without the charring that would occur if the pizza were set right over the coals.

Anyone played with it?
 
Since you have a kettle I would suspect the kettle will get you higher heat temps and much faster than a WSM.

John
 
Thank you.

Of course the instructions for using the WSM includes moving the charcoal basket up to the level of the lower grill so I think you might get the same effect as using a kettle.

Using the kettle might be a good alternative but the real question remains...using a pizza stone rather than grilling directly over the fire.

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I have used my kettle with a stone to make pizzas. I raised the stone with some fire brick because I was told that the stone was too close to the coals and the stone has a bigger chance of breaking if I just left it on the grate. Pizzas turned out great, perfect crust.
 
I'll second the kettle with a pizza stone.

I raise my 15" stone up about 3.5 inches with a grilling basket and rotate the lid occasionally as it will cook a good bit faster right under wherever the vent is positioned.
 
So what's the drill? Do you cook the crust first and then add the sauce and toppings...like Alton brown does when grilling a pizza? Or do you cook the crust and toppings altogether the way we do in our 500 degree oven?

What time frames we looking at here?
 
I cheat and pick up Papa Murphy's take and bake. They're pretty good, and I cook 'em really quick with an even bed of hot coals, somewhere over 500 if I remember right.
 
My vote is to use the kettle as well. Use fire bricks to raise the stone away from the coals and also to get the radiant heat from the inner surface of the lid to cook the top of the pie. I spread my coals around the perimeter of the kettle.

Here is a link to my first pizza cook, which includes pointers and links to other helpful posts: http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...=552106786#552106786
 
I've done pizza on the WSM, as well as my performer. Much easier on the performer. I used a stone, until I broke it, now I just use a pizza pan. I find that if I raise the pizza off of the grill by using my rib rack underneath of it, it cooks to perfection every time.

So to answer your original question, I use a stone or pan every time. I use homemade crust, covered in toppings, and then put it on the heat for about 20 mins to cook it
 
Originally posted by DW Frommer II:
Also how much charcoal do you use? and is it spread evenly on the bottom grill or banked to one side?
Click to expand...

In the performer, I circle the outside, on the WSM, I would use the bottom charcoal grate, remove the water pan and lower cooking grate, and just use the heat that way.
 
Originally posted by John Solak:
I have used my kettle with a stone to make pizzas. I raised the stone with some fire brick because I was told that the stone was too close to the coals and the stone has a bigger chance of breaking if I just left it on the grate. Pizzas turned out great, perfect crust.
Click to expand...

As well, I read somewhere, that raising it gets the top closer to the reflective heat to help cook the toppings at the same rate as the crust is cooking from below
 
I just put the stone on the grill top with coals spread around the outside. I do it on the kettle:

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THE biggest problem with a pizza stone is most of them will crack if there's a lot of direct heat. There are SOME that are made to withstand high heat, and that's what you want to use. Or use bricks or unglazed quarry tiles.

I think a grill would work better than a smoker.

Here's a link to a pizza stone that is designed to handle a grill's heat without breaking and fits 22.5" kettles and most gas grills.
 
We make pizzas a lot on the kettle...with pretty good results. Like the others have said, I think it's pretty important to raise the stone up some so that the toppings cook from the radiant heat coming off the lid.

FWIW, here's how I set up my coals. I put the charcoal ring from the WSM on the charcoal grate of the OTG, add 1 layer of unlit on the outside of the ring. Then add a full chimney of lit on top of that, place the stone on the grilling grate and let it preheat for a 1/2 hour.

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