Bruce, I don’t know if I’m doing it right or wrong, but I’ve had great reviews so far on my pizza. I keep some coals beneath the stone, but most off to one side, with the stone set off to the other. Probably gets up close to 500 degrees, but I’m reminded that the New Haven shops get higher. (I was weaned onto New Haven apizza.) I would make my own dough and give it a long proofing time if I could, but my partner is so allergic to wheat (not gluten, but the wheat itself) that if I get flour hanging in the air she could have quite a reaction. Local grocery sells Apicella’s dough, and I like their stuffed bread, so we buy that. I roll the dough as thin as I can get it, but it usually fights me and it’s not quite as thin as I’d like, but it’s pretty thin. I put a layer of corn meal on the peel, put the rolled-out dough on top, then assemble the pie. I slide it onto the stone, close the lid and wait, every once in awhile turning it around on the stone. I’m still striking a balance between bottom heat and top heat; I’d like the crust done a little more, but as I mentioned, I’m a New Haven apizza guy (“it’s not burned, it’s char!”). When the coals are burning down (we’re talking about six-eight pizzas we’re making) it takes longer and it feels like I’m fighting to finish them. No complaints yet, though!
rolled it out to a thickness that was about what we'd get at our local pizza shop.
