Pizza Cook

[Dr.Floyd]

Thinking of cooking some pizzas this weekend on the bull. I was stationed in Italy for just over 10 years and cannot find any pizzas locally that have that wood fired taste. I will be using either a pizza stone or a perforated pizza pan, based on suggestions.
How have your pizza cooks turned out?
Is a stone or perforated pan better?
Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Mike]

@Dr.Floyd first and foremost thank you for your service.

I've added the Military Veteran tag to your profile as well, if I was incorrect, and you're still active please let me know and I'll fix it.

As for the pizza. I've done pizza on my RT-700 several times and they've all came out really well using a perforated pan. That said several here have said they use a pizza stone and love them.

I've been meaning to get an unicook pizza stone myself to try out, but just haven't made the purchase yet.

If you really want to up your game, we have a good thread here about how well the Green Mountain Grill pizza oven works.

 

[MOSmoke]

Thinking of cooking some pizzas this weekend on the bull. I was stationed in Italy for just over 10 years and cannot find any pizzas locally that have that wood fired taste. I will be using either a pizza stone or a perforated pizza pan, based on suggestions.
How have your pizza cooks turned out?
Is a stone or perforated pan better?
Thanks for any suggestions!

I’ve only ever done them on a stone or directly on the grates. I liked the way they turned out on the stone much better. About 12-13 minutes at 475 - crispy crust on the bottom with a good chew.

 

[Dr.Floyd]

I've added the Military Veteran tag to your profile as well, if I was incorrect, and you're still active please let me know and I'll fix it.

Thank you, I am retired from the Navy, since 2007. I have 2 stones and 1 peforated pan. I think I will experiment with both.

I was hoping the GMG pizza oven would have went on sale Prime day. But if it did, I missed it.

 

[Pacman]

I thought about the GMG oven and some pizza stones....still do. I was pleasantly surprised how well the screens worked with a Neapolitan dough. I'm going to give it another test, but I was pleasantly surprised at the results. I did 500 degrees last time. I might crank up the temp a little bit more to speed up the process, but I was pulling out better than average pizzas (they got better with practice) in about 10 minutes doing two pizzas at a time.

Oh, one thing I didn't do and my first pizza suffered from, is I didn't let a year's worth of grease to cook off and stop smoking after many low and slow cooks.

 

[sdynak]

Open box GMG on e-Bay for $82 .. they don't last long.

 

[Dr.Floyd]

Open box GMG on e-Bay for $82 .. they don't last long.

Thank you!

 

[sdynak]

Thank you!

Welcome, but I should be thanking you ..

Thank you for your service!

 

[Dr.Floyd]

Just purchased one of the open box GMG Pizza Ovens (thank you @sdynak!). Two left on ebay.

 

[BNeal]

Whichever method you decide on, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. The first one I did using a stone blew me away - taste was just like a woodfired pizza.

 

[Motodad1776]

Well.....sounds like I must give this a try.

 

[Dr.Floyd]

The GMG Pizza Oven arrived today. A little damage to the box and one cover tab was slightly bent. But for about $60 savings I would definitely recommend purchasing scratch and dent again!

 

[C. Keeper]

The GMG Pizza Oven arrived today. A little damage to the box and one cover tab was slightly bent. But for about $60 savings I would definitely recommend purchasing scratch and dent again!

View attachment 16853

Grill temp of 300 is a great starting point.

 

[sdynak]

The GMG Pizza Oven arrived today. A little damage to the box and one cover tab was slightly bent. But for about $60 savings I would definitely recommend purchasing scratch and dent again!

View attachment 16853

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see some results

 

[Dr.Floyd]

Cooked 3 pizzas tonight and my daughter and friends ate them all before I got pictures. The first one was a pain. Stuck to the peel and burned on the bottom, but was still eaten. The second and third came out much better, basic pepperoni and a caprese.

 

[C. Keeper]

Cooked 3 pizzas tonight and my daughter and friends ate them all before I got pictures. The first one was a pain. Stuck to the peel and burned on the bottom, but was still eaten. The second and third came out much better, basic pepperoni and a caprese.

Next pizza cook would be a perfect photo op.

 

[Inscrutable]

I just got the new RT590 because it and the 1250 now have the high output auger and can hit 700*, so hoping that is close enough to a real pizza oven. Also hoping I can sorta calibrate to cooking times it to make it is a no-turn affair so don’t have to open the lid mid-cook. We shall see.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Before I bought my dedicated pizza oven, I was using a steel plate instead of the stone. It gave more "oven spring" to the dough (more rise) and a crisp bottom. I used a 1/4" plate, but a 3/8"-1/2" was what more experienced pizza makers were recommending. They start to get pretty heavy.

 

[SmokeOCD]

Sounds like flipping your griddle over is not a bad idea then. That sucker is HEAVY. I have the Large one from Recteq for the 1070. Also to avoid heating up the house I did do a couple of frozen pizzas on the grill grates*; worked out really well.

* meant to say SEAR grates, the flat side...

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Sounds like flipping your griddle over is not a bad idea then. That sucker is HEAVY. I have the Large one from Recteq for the 1070. Also to avoid heating up the house I did do a couple of frozen pizzas on the grill grates*; worked out really well.

* meant to say SEAR grates, the flat side...

The concept of a steel plate (or cast iron) is the retained energy in the plate. The Grill Grates will not have as much retained energy as a 1/4" or thicker steel plate. However, aluminum transfers heat much faster than steel or iron. Some of the guys on the pizza forum experimented with aluminum and it was just too fast. The pizzas were burning before they could cook the toppings.

The RecTeq griddle may work out. It's not as thick as the plate I used, but it may be adequate. Only way to tell for sure, is to try it. I was running in a common home oven at the time. It was capable of about 525F and that's where I ran it. I let it heat up for an hour then threw on a pie. I'd wait until it came back up to temperature before loading a second or third pie. I made some tasty NY style pies on that plate.

If you go on amazon or google you can find "baking steels" or "pizza steels" all over. Thicker is better as it has more retained heat to cook for the time needed. I'd recommend at least 1/4", thicker is better. Avoid stainless steel as the thermal transfer rate is half of regular steel or cast iron.

Here's a cheap one. https://www.amazon.com/Steel-Plate-...qid=1658957436&sprefix=pizza+,aps,157&sr=8-30