Pizza Making and The Big Green Egg Grill

[doughdiver]

I am new to pizza making and have recently purchased a large Big Green Egg ceramic outdoor grill.  The grill can obtain controllable temperatures of up to 700 degrees F.  It will accomodate up to a 16 inch pizza stone which can be used with a ceramic insert for indirect heating.  It seems like the higher temperatire would be good for making pizzas and the ceramic composition of the grill should produce an even high heat.  Is the higher heat beneficial mostly for NY style pizzas or will all pizzas benefit from a higher heat than I can get in my home stove?  Does anyone have experience making pizzas on this grill?

Thanks.

Rick

[doughdiver]

Hello,

I checked the Big Green Egg website and found that people had "good" results with pizza using a basic dough that was not refrigerated.  I am interested in learning how to make a high quality pizza using a refrigerated dough, not just an ok pizza.  I did a quick search on this forum (which I should have done first) and on the internet regarding using the Big Green Egg to produce pizzas.   It appears that some people have had some luck using temperatures up to 600 degrees but anything much over that has created problems resulting in melted gaskets or cracked ceramic.  A high temperature aftermarket gasket is available, but I do not want to use it if it might result in damaging my new grill.   

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has tried using this grill to produce New York or American Style pizzas.

Would it be more appropriate to post this question under one of the other topics?

Thanks.

Rick 

[vitus]

Hi there Rick!
Unfortunately I don't have a BGE myself, but I know it and believe that it its able to produce some very good results. 
Have you checked out these two threads? Lots of info on pizza in the BGE:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,2727.0.html
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,412.20.html

I don't think that you need to post your question under New York or American style. I just think that people have missed this thread by accident.
Give it a couple of more days - if still no BGE-owners have replied then we will ask Peter to move your thread to another topic. 

[EdF]

Hi Rick,

I've done it only once on my egg.  I'd already destroyed the gasket, and after an aborted replacement with silicon material, I decided to just not replace it - after reseating the cover and retightening the bands, I find I have no problem controlling temps down to about 200-225 dome.  That's as low as I ever go anyway.

So, I followed Jeff Varasano's recipe, heated the egg to about 850-900 with the plate-setter legs down, topped with pizza stone with foil on its bottom, heated up for ~45 minutes to an hour.  Cooked 2-1/2 minutes and it came out pretty good.  But I suspect I could have cooked less long, as the crust was a bit overdone.  The main issue seems to be that the temp above the stone doesn't get as proportionally hot as it needs to.  Someone else has posted here that he sticks the egg's ceramic feet between the platesetter and stone to reduce the stone heat a bit more and to move the pizza a bit higher up.  Another uses an arrangement that gets the pizza up even further into the dome.   Both claimed good results.  Search the forum, you'll find more.

Keep us posted,

- Ed

[vr6Dad]

Rick, I've been egging for about 3 years now, and I make pizzas on it every now & then. The key is holding a superhigh heat (over 750) for a minimum of an hour before putting the pizza on the stone. I use the platesetter feet down with the pizza stone, letting them heat up with the egg. You'll use a decent amount of lump because of the long preheat.

Make sure you use a long oven mitt or welders' gloves to open the egg; otherwise you will burn the hair off your hand and wrist. You may think about calling the BGE "mothership" in Atlanta and get their new & improved gasket set. it is supposed to withstand higher heat. I use a Rutland gasket (look for RRP on the BGE Forum. He used to sell little kits, but stopped selling them. He has a great tutorial about swapping out your gasket to a Rutland, which you can get at any hearth and grill shop. I think the conversion cost me about $12 total, and I can cook as low as 220 or as high as 900 without any worries.

I like the idea of using the little egg feet to raise the stone. I may try that next time.  

[SemperFi]

I guess that this is someones spinoff of the BGE.  Its alot smaller, thats for sure.


http://www.earthfire.co.za/pizza.htm

It claims that it can hold a 662 F temperature for hours of of one firing of regular charcoal.  Heat up time is also only 30 minutes, BGE claims 10 minutes for theirs.  Not too bad, if you are into cute ceramic things on your picnic table pumping out heat like the sun.  Adam

[grovemonkey]

wow.  that's pretty cool.  I've never seen that before and it has me thinking that i have to be able to pick something up here in japan.  that looks like a hibachi with a lid or a mini BGE. (I'd be unhappy if I were the BGE folks!)  I'm real keen on seeing what I can find over here Japan side that is comparable.  There is this item　http://www.pro-douguya.com/it-t34901.html　if you get time, check that item out.. it's like a mini hearth oven you put on your stove? freaking bizzare. 

[mmarton]

I use a large BGE all the time and you can use it for any dough recipe.

You want a good load of charcoal and the ceramic insert with the feet pointed up.  Place the grill on the feet and a stone on top of the grill.  Let the stone heat for at least 45 minutes and cook at the temperature no higher than 650.  This will even out the temperature so the bottom doesn't burn before the top cooks.

[icemncmth]

I have been doing pizza on the egg for years...actually an egg can reach over 1000 deg and keep that temp for a while...

I melted my gasket a long time ago..the gasket is there to keep you from chipping the ceramic when you shut the lid....

I do around 20+ pizza a month and most of the time when I am doing pizzas I do parties..and do 20+ pizzas at that time..

When I do this my temp will be around 800 deg dome and around 1200 deg pizza stone...

The trick is you have to put some air space between the stone and the plate setter..because the fire is under the stone not above like in a true brick oven..

I take 1/4" brass pipe elbows and place them between the stone and plate setter and this keeps the bottom of the crust from burning before the top is done..

I cook several types of pizza on the egg....and they all turn out great...

I have some of this information posted on another thread..

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5297.0.html