Greetings Pizzaiolo's,
My name is Elijah Lee and I am fairly new to PizzaMaking.com, beyond that I believe that I have something very important and exciting to contribute to them members of this forum. Some time ago when my obsession for Neapolitan pizza began I just like the majority of the individuals on this forum was confronted with the same incessant problem that would bring all my efforts of creating authentic Neapolitan pizza to a screeching halt; I'm speaking of HIGH HEAT FACTOR! Everything could have been in order such as my kneading procedures, fermentation process, quality ingredients etc, etc. However, the standard home conventional oven that refused to reach temperatures beyond 550 degrees wasn't going to cut it. So like many of you I desperately experimented with different ideas such as lining the interior of my home oven with fire bricks and ceramic tiles, or modifying my gas grill so on and so forth. All this in an attempt to simulate the effects of a brick oven, and still my the pizza's that i was producing were sub Neapolitan. I continued to research cost efficient economical alternatives to brick oven that were capable of producing the high temperatures that I so longed for. Eventually, i came across the Kettle Pizza Grill and was excited by the reviews that I had read, specifically that users were achieving temperature in excess of 900 degrees fareignheight. Furthermore, the design of the Kettle Pizza grill was genius, everything about it sought to model the atmosphere of a wood fired oven, and at a fraction of the cost. One thing that disappointed me was that not one of the reviews or videos demonstrated how the Kettle Pizza grill handled baking Neapolitan pizza, this was disappointing because I didn't know it full potential and weather it was going to suit my purposes or not. Some individuals on the Slice forum attempted to produce a 60-90 second pie, but failed to do so and as a result they provided a negative review of the product. What, some may fail to see is that the slice experiment did not follow the manufacturers recommendations for using wood along with charcoal (they only used charcoal) and they were also working with an older version a pro to-tupe of the Kettle Pizza grill. Next, I stumbled upon the reviews that were made on PizzaMaking.com and continued to see people disappointed with either the price of the product or it's design, people had just resorted to manufacturing there own Frankenweber creation. In the midst of all this I was still convinced that this product was indeed capable of producing a 60-90 second Neapolitan pie with perfect leoparding. So I obtained a Kettle Pizza Grill for myself along with the stone and peel, and began testing and experimenting. Im going to be honest at first while i was learning this product I was wondering If I had just gotten my hopes up but then i considered why the Kettle Pizza Grill wasn't producing the results that I wanted, and I made a few adjustments. Firstly, I began to follow the manufacturers instructions with regard to the proper method of fuel, and I began to use Kingsford charcoal briquettes (one chimney) and one large wood split. Originally I tried this but failed to maintain the high temperatures because I wasn't operating the vents properly. I then resorted to using lump charcoal and was able to obtain temperatures in the 800+ range but that didn't function well as a base because it burned out in a short period of time. After, some trial and error and becoming more acclimated with the grill and the unit I decided to go back to following the manufacturers instructions and learned to close the top vent of the grill all the way and leave the bottom vent completely open, these changes helped dramatically in both achieving and maintaining the desired temperatures. Still, i wasn't getting all the results that I wanted, until i came to the conclusion that others had come to before me and that is that the dome of the weber grill is two high, so in an attempt to fix this I simply took a spare grill grate and wrapped it in aluminum foil (the reflective side facing the stone) then placed it onto of the kettle Pizza grill creating a lower ceiling height by half of what it was. I then placed the lid back onto of the unit. This functioned to reduce the volume of air that needed to be heated in the chamber which results in faster heating times using the same amount of fuel, but also brings the ceiling closer to the stones surface. Finally, it was done from that point on I began producing not Neapolitan style but true Neapolitan Pies in 60-90 second time frames. I tell you the truth this produced floor temperatures in the 850-900+ degree range and ceiling temperatures at nearly 1000+. Furthermore, just one split of wood on a bed of coals would maintain those temperatures for 25-30 min. If you don't believe me just take a look of the pictures that I have provided below, these pies were made in 60-90 sec at Neapolitan temps. No more am I fiddling with Barbecue grills and home ovens I can now enjoy true wood fired pizza, unleash until I purchase a real brick oven.My interest are to help everyone who struggled like myself to achieve sufficient heat find a remedy so they can feed their obsession. I strongly encourage anyone that is not in the market right now for a true brick oven to save themselves the headache and purchase the Kettle Pizza Grill, and if you already have one I encourage you to do what I have done, following the instructions I have provided. Stop fiddling with little black eggs and modified home ovens they don't produce the same result, they are both time consuming and expensive, the Kettle Pizza works I guarantee it. Pics are provided, Thank you everyone!
