Ceramic fired pizza success.

[chefjeff]

Greetings fellow pizza makers,

About a month ago I joined the camp of ceramic cooker owners.  I ended up with one by the company called Primo, and it is oval in shape.  Eventually I am sure that I'll be doing  the "low and slow" cooks I've drooled about making, but so far I've only done a few moderate temp chicken cooks, and pizzas.  I've been making pizzas for years using various methods, but to date my pizzas in  the ceramic cooker have been hands down the most ummmazing ones I've ever made.   The charcoal/smoky taste is intoxicating and the crust texture is not to be believed.  Whenever I use my indoor oven with a stone set up, I've always cooked at 500 or 550.  In my ceramic cooker I've found that 450 is the way to go.  What else I am discovering from cooking in ceramic, is that there is no "one right way" to achieve success.  So far, I am lighting up my fire box and using an extender rack that fits on top of my main cooking grids.  Then on top of the extender rack, I am placing my stone.  Lately I've come to enjoy assembling my pizza on a screen a few hours  in advance and keeping it in the fridge.  The kooky thing about my Primo stone is that I am supposed to put the pizza on the SHINY side, as opposed to the side that one would normally equate what a stone is all about, namely wicking away moisture, insuring a very crisp crust.  Well let me tell you that the crust is crispy beyond compare.  Anyway, I hope you all don't mind me crowing right now, and I'm going to attempt to include pics in this post.  If I never cook anything else in my ceramic cooker, calling it my outdoor pizza oven will be well worth the price.

Cheers all,
Jeff

[canadianbacon]

Wow, nice result Jeff,

I'd really like to see some more images of the smoker, and any more of the
pizza.

did you do the pizza on a stone ? ... I can't really tell but am guessing that
little stand that inside the smoker has a stone on it, and you slid the pizza
onto that ?

anyway the result looks great !

any pics of the smoker from a bit further away would be nice too, I've heard
of the primo, it's a nice smoker.

Mark

[chefjeff]

Hi Mark,

Yes, the pizza stone is on top of the extender rack.  The first time I made a pizza I used a peel and slid the dough right onto the stone.  Now I'm assembling the pizza onto my screen, and then I just take it out into the back yard, laying the screen right onto the stone.
Enjoy the following pics of my new baby.

Take care,
Jeff

[canadianbacon]

Hi again Jeff,

ah thanks for the extra info, and the pictures.  Geez even a pic of yourself, most here are pretty
shy hehe.

Anyway that chicken looks awesome.  So so good, I wish I could have a bite of that right now with
some nice bbq gravy 

the Primo looks nice.  A pretty penny for that smoker up here.... I think at least $1,400 !!

Mark in Canada

[chefjeff]

Hey Mark in Canada,

Indeed the birdies were tasty, juicy and smokey! Maybe a little pricey, but factoring in that it's a lifetime of cooking and eating enjoyment- - -it seems like a great investment to me.

Cheers,
Jeff

[canadianbacon]

Hi again Jeff,

oh yeah, pricey bu indeed worth it, I am still wanting for a BigGreenEgg,
those also run about $1,500 here for the X-Large version.

Yup, take care of it, and it will give you years of fun and enjoyment.

Nice purchase 

Mark

[Pete-zza]

Jeff,

Welcome back. Your pizza looks great.

The pizza looks like an American style pizza, and it reminds me of one of Randy's American style pizzas. Is that the style you made or intended?

Since you built your pizza on a screen, did the bottom crust develop much color? It strikes me that you could "deck" the pizza by sliding it onto the stone for about the last third of the bake time and get even more color.  And what size is the pizza in the photos, and also what is the largest size you can make using your grill?

Since you use a screen and prepare your pizza a few hours in advance (albeit held in the refrigerator), have you experienced any problems with the dough sticking to the screen, or is your dough hydration on the relatively low side (e.g., below 60%).

Thanks.

Peter

[chefjeff]

Hi Peter, thank you for the nice welcome.

I'm not familiar yet with Randy's pies, but I will try to do a search.  I took approximately 21 oz. of a pizza dough I've enjoyed, and I rolled it out, placing it on a "pammed" pizza screen.   The screen from rim to rim is 15 inches, and I guess to fill in the screen, we're talking about a 14 inch pie.  Peter, the pie had a gorgeous brown underside and by me, I don't plan on changing a thing.  I've been removing the pizza scooping under the screen with my pizza peel.  The pie comes off the screen like a dream.

Musing on future pizza bakes, I have already purchased a 17 inch screen, as I think that this size will be the maximum on my Primo Oval.  If I were to notice one quirk regarding cooking on ceramic, it's that one side will tend to brown moreso than the other.  The very easy fix is to simply rotate the pie mid-cook! 


The following is a dough recipe that I've been enjoying, and you will know far better than I regarding hydration percentage.  After I make the dough, I weigh out 21.5 oz., and I discard the rest.  It's a double recipe of one that I've been making for years.  I think that the next time I will just up my standard recipe by 50%, and I won't have to discard any.

17 oz. flour (I use Gold Medal all purpose)
2 tsp. Diamond brand Kosher salt
1 3/4 plus 1/8 tsp. SAF yeast
42 g. olive oil
10 oz. water

Look at me- - -I don't know from borscht, regarding bread or pizza flour!  There is so much I need to learn, but what I'm making is thrilling to me and my guests.  And the following technique is one that may get some pizza experts a little hot under the collar, but it makes me happier than happy.  I take all of the dry ingredients and pulse in my food processor.  I gradually add the wet through the feed tube.  When the dough forms a ball, I let it spin for 2 minutes, activating the yeast by heating the dough.  I plop the dough into a tupperware type container, and let it rise in the fridge for anywhere from a day or two in advance.  I roll the dough out COLD onto the screen, and as I've said, it can stay in the fridge for up to 3 hours.

I've typed this response like a dervish, so I hope there are not too many typos.  It's great to be back here, as my ceramic cooker has awakened a thirst/hunger for pizza knowledge that I haven't had ever.

Best to you,
Jeff

[Pete-zza]

Jeff,

There are several different versions of Randy's American style, but the basic formulation, which I converted to baker's percents, is the one in the opening post at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1707.msg15310.html#msg15310. In later posts, I did a "thin" version with the dough weighing around 20 ounces (for a 16-inch). Since Randy's recipes use sugar and honey, that may pose a challenge for you if you use the screen/stone combination because the sugar and honey will usually cause the crust to brown quickly, maybe too quickly in your case if the screen is in direct contact with the stone.

Based on your ingredients listing, it looks like the dough hydration percent is 10/17 = 58.8%. I think that is a plus for building your pizza in advance on the screen, but what may be even more important is that you shape/roll the skin while it is cold. And then right into the refrigerator after dressing it. That seems to be a good way to do it.

Using a food processor is a perfectly good approach, and as you will see when you scout around the forum there are a fair number of processor made doughs. In my case, I want the dough to be on the cool side when it goes into the refrigerator (right after making), so I use cooler water and only the pulse feature and, occasionally, a fraction of a minute at normal speed.

Peter

[tonymark]

Jeff,

You may want to check out what I have been doing on my Big Green Egg ceramic cooker.  Starting here: http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,412.msg25578.html#msg25578 (reply 21) and ending at reply 28.
Here is a link to some pictures of some pizzas cooked on my BGE:  http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2727.msg26796.html#msg26796

As you see from that thread I have been using much higher temperatures.

TM

[chefjeff]

Hi TM,

Thanks for your post.  Indeed I will check out your pizza posts. 

Jeff

[chefjeff]

Oh my GAWD!  Just looked at your pies, and those crusts- - -WOW.

[Park.Pizza]

Jeff,

Fantastic job on the pizza. Would you happen to have any pics of the side of a slice? How'd the inside of your crust turn out?


Tim

[chefjeff]

Sorry that I have no interior pics of the pizza.  There are so many concepts I need to learn about when it comes to pizza detail.  Was the crust great for our tastes?, the answer is a definite yes.  The edges had a crispiness, which shattered in the mouth, and I honestly don't recall the texture of what was under the crunch.  In time I will get more and more detailed oriented- - -does this mean that I'll be changing recipes, who can say?  I hope to learn about and try all sorts of pizzas.

Cheers,
Jeff