crazy idea for an oven?

[princeofdorkness]

Sorry if this is a repetition of previous posts, but a basic search did not yield any satisfactory information.

Anyway, my predicament is this: my generic electric 500 degree oven simply cannot produce the browning(charring) and void action I would like to see out of a NY - hand tossed sort of crust.

So, I've tried placing a pizza stone on my gas grill, which provides adequate overall temperature and bottom browning(charring), but falls far short in terms of top heat.

My idea is to place a 16" clay flower pot atop a 16" round gas grill using a 13" stone on the grate. Do you think this will generate sufficient ambient - radiant temperature to produce equal top and bottom cooking, oven rise(void action), and such?

Anything I'm overlooking here? It seems my most affordable option at this point. Thanks.

[NepaBill]

That sounds like a great idea!  I remember Alton Brown using something like that to make prime rib.  Will that flower pot fit in your grill w/ the lid closed of will that now act as your lid?  Is there any way for you to get a temp reading inside that pot?  I can't wait to hear how this works.  Good luck!

[buceriasdon]

I use flower pot bases myself in my outdoor gas fired oven. Works for me.
 Regards, Don

[mmarston]

Someone on the forum mentioned using a large cast iron frying pan upside down to cover the pizza.
I recall they said it worked very well.

[princeofdorkness]

The flower pot will completely cover the grill, serving as the lid, and creating an "oven" of sorts. The pot already comes with a drain hole in the bottom, so I could affix a thermometer there. I'm wondering if this will create ventilation issues, though. I could always drill some holes in the sides of the pot, if necessary.

Also, I'm going to have to devise some way to hoist the thing on and off the grill, as I'm guessing it's going to get pretty hot. Perhaps I could leave it elevated just a bit off of the grill surface, and that would take care of the vetilation issue also.

[smarttowers]

Reading posts on people's ovens I've been wondering if anyone has devised a a way to lift the pizza up into the heat. I imagine every time you open an oven it lets tons of heat out, if there was a system in which you lifted the stone and pizza up into the already heated part of the oven I would think this would be more efficient.

I'm posting this here because of princeofdorkness's post about having to devise a way to lift the pot for insertion and removal of the pizza. I would think it would be easier to device a system which would push and lower the stone into a set pot then to lift or lower the pot onto the stone.