First Try Homemade Dough - Pellet Grill

[JW53]

After trying a pizza on my pellet grill using store bought dough and being a little disappointed in the results, I decided to try and make the dough at home.

Bought some KASL and used Lehmanns formula. Used ADY yeast and tried to rehydrate it, but yeast didn't rise or create any foam as I had seen in some of the online videos. Mixed and kneaded by hand, which was a little hard as the dough was very wet and kept sticking to everything, went ahead and added a little more flour and formed into ball and into frig for a cold ferment. After three days did not see any appreciable rise so wasn't sure how the pizzas would turn out. First chance to cook was 5 days after the cold ferment.

While the dough was warming  Had started the Pellet Grill with Oak pellets and set temp to 600. Heated stone for Approx 45min. Dough was fairly easy to form but even with some flour on the counter it would still stick. My turning out skills still have a way to go. Put on peel added a little EVO, Sauce,  Oregano and Cheese.

1st is the Pizza ready to go to grill
2nd is about 3 min in to the cook, pleased that I got the edges of the crust to puff up and starting to brown
3rd is about 6-7 min just as I was getting ready to take of Grill.

Crust was actually pretty good with good color and flavor, but maybe a little chewy. Rest of Pizza was very good.

All in all pretty pleased with 1st attempt at handmade dough, but still know they can get much better.
 
 

[JW53]

about 3 min in

[JW53]

About 6-7 min and ready to take off grill

[pizzaneer]

I think you could use an IR gun to track the stone temp.  Have you tried setting the temp at 700?  Your results look very good, even if 6-7 minutes is long.  If you want less of a chewy, bready feel, go higher for a shorter bake time. You could see a big difference with some aluminum foil on your upper shelf to help get the top heat down onto the pie.

Also, 800x600 is a good pic size.

[JW53]

Thanks..600 is the highest temp setting on the grills controller, and reflects the temp at the grate on the indirect side where the stone is.

On this grill the indirect side is not heated from below, it is actually heated from the top down. The temp at the rack above the stone / grate will actually be higher than it is at the stone. I would think that putting foil on the rack would actually prevent heat from reaching the stone rather than keeping heat in as its being heated from the top down.

With this pit there are basically 5 heat zones. Zone 1 is the left side of the grill that hits about 900 when temp is set to 600. Zone 2 is directly above zone 1, Zone 3 is the rack above the indirect side on the left, Zone 4 is the grill area where the stone is , with a 5th or cold smoking area below the stone. The air flow is up from zone 1 to 2 then over to 3 and down to 4 and exists / vents below the grate on zone 4. The rack area above the stone is actually hotter than the grate at the stone.

Tried to upload pics 800x600 but would not upload. Assumed the files sizes were too big so I reduced.

[pizzaneer]

Thanks..600 is the highest temp setting on the grills controller, and reflects the temp at the grate on the indirect side where the stone is.

On this grill the indirect side is not heated from below, it is actually heated from the top down. The temp at the rack above the stone / grate will actually be higher than it is at the stone. I would think that putting foil on the rack would actually prevent heat from reaching the stone rather than keeping heat in as its being heated from the top down.

With this pit there are basically 5 heat zones. Zone 1 is the left side of the grill that hits about 900 when temp is set to 600. Zone 2 is directly above zone 1, Zone 3 is the rack above the indirect side on the left, Zone 4 is the grill area where the stone is , with a 5th or cold smoking area below the stone. The air flow is up from zone 1 to 2 then over to 3 and down to 4 and exists / vents below the grate on zone 4. The rack area above the stone is actually hotter than the grate at the stone.

Tried to upload pics 800x600 but would not upload. Assumed the files sizes were too big so I reduced.

What do you think would happen if you found a piece of steel large enough to span the grill, and bent it to lower the "dome" height to 4", thus enclosing the stone and its heat source?  The top-heat ratio in successful pizza setups is usually at least 20% higher than the bottom temperature, so you are in good shape there. See this thread for an example.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,19861.msg194641.html#msg194641
 

[scott123]

John, three things.

First, KASL, unless you're careful, tends to make crusts that are on the chewy side, and is a waste of money, imo. Real bromated pizzeria flour runs circles around it, although bromated flour can be hard to find. If you have trouble finding bromated flour, better for bread flour is superior to KASL for NY style.

Second, Brian is on the money regarding the dome height.  Basically, with the stone in the indirect area, the heat comes up the side to the ceiling and then goes down onto the pie.  You want to lower the entire ceiling, shorten the path the heat has to travel and increase the infrared radiative impact from the dome (closer to the pizza, the better).

Third, start getting into the habit of using the dough calculator and working with thickness factor.  This is way too much dough for the diameter of pizza you're working with. If you're still working on your stretching  skills, then I'd shoot for a thickness factor of .085, but eventually you'll want to take down to .07-.075 for NY style.

[Chicago Bob]

Tried to upload pics 800x600 but would not upload. Assumed the files sizes were too big so I reduced.

Try this JW...I think you'll like it.http://www.picresize.com/results

[pizzaneer]

Second, Brian is on the money regarding the dome height.  Basically, with the stone in the indirect area, the heat comes up the side to the ceiling and then goes down onto the pie.  You want to lower the entire ceiling, shorten the path the heat has to travel and increase the infrared radiative impact from the dome (closer to the pizza, the better).

Thanks Scott, but I would term it "convective" instead of "radiative"...  IMO, sheet steel just isn't going to have enough mass to soak up and re-radiate absorbed energy.  LBE physics... when you gonna build one, buddy?
 

[scott123]

Brian, this isn't really LBE physics.  This is more broilerless gas oven physics. LBEs involve carefully channeled, fast moving, hot gas flowing up and around and over the top of the pizza. In an LBE scenario, convection is critical.  In this scenario, it's just rising hot gas that's collecting in the head space of the lid.  From that perspective, it doesn't matter all that much if this rising heat is collecting in a tall dome or a low one.

With a lower ceiling, IR is the bigger player here, by far.  Thermal mass isn't all that critical for radiative heat.  Some mass helps, but as long as the material can stay hot it will give off plenty of radiative heat.

A lower ceiling will provide both a convective and a radiative payload, but, between the two, the IR will be the far major player.

Now, one thing I did notice was your recommendation of 'steel sheet.'  Because I think a little mass helps, I'd go with 1/8" steel plate. It's very possible, though, that mass isn't even necessary.  In theory, 1/2" steel at 600 should radiate just as much heat as 1/32".