Pizza on the Grill

[BethV]

I have an Ooni Pizza Oven on order but the gas conversion kit is out of stock. I really want to make pizza while my kids and grandkids are visiting. Which leaves me to my grills. Does anyone have a good method for cooking pizza (I make my own dough) on the Bullseye or Stampede? I don't have a pizza stone but have lots of pizza pans and also pizza screens.

As always, I appreciate any advise you have!

 

[Waterboy]

We’ve done them in our Bull on pizza pans and had them turn out great. We set the temp at 450, build the pizza on parchment paper with a little corn meal, put them on the pan then into the grill. Pull the parchment paper after 3-4 minutes. Takes about 15 minutes. I usually take a quick peak at 10-12 minutes just to be sure I don’t burn them. Rex Teq says go full hot but that was the time I burned them.

 

[FastEddie]

In the oven, we use our 12" pizza screens. Haven't used them in the smoker yet. I would guess you get crispier crust.

 

[Greg Jones]

I’ve made several on the Bullseye, using the same pizza stone I’ve had for many years. The only thing I do differently from using the BGE or the house oven is I run the temp on the Bullseye 25* lower. Keep an eye on it as your anticipated done time approaches, as occasionally I’ll need to pull it 1-2 minutes early.

 

[Gonefishin]

I/ve been doing well with a cast iron skillet

 

[Uncle Bob]

@BethV Which Ooni? I got my Koda 16 a couple months ago, love it for thin crust, relatively high hydration (I prefer 60ish over 70 ish) dough types. You might want to look up "Gozney Dome".........................might be a fun little toy for your future.

 

[ARCbbq]

I have a Stampede & have used a Weber pizza stone (does up to a 16" pizza) and my present system is 2 Lodge cast iron 14" griddles (see my other post). Either one has worked well, with an edge to the Lodge. I run the grill at 500 deg and let the griddles continue to heat up for 10 to 15 minutes after reaching full temp. Pizzas cook in around 10 minutes. The cast iron takes longer to heat up due to the mass. Crust (pre-made and home-made) is very crispy and even. Nice part about the cast iron is that it stays hot even after multiple pizzas. Last night the griddles were hot for at least 90 minutes after the grill was shut off. Both the stone & cast iron are easy to clean. Of course the Lodge can be used for any type of griddle cooking (eggs, pancakes, fish, etc) except for a lot of high fat items (not much of a lip to contain the fat) and is probably indestructible. See my post on Lodge P13P3. My next pizza will be a pizza party for at least 8 to 10 people (I also have a gas grill & can cook 3 pizzas at a time with both grills) where everyone will put on their own toppings and manage their own pizza cook. Maybe we'll have a contest to see which pizza wins.

 

[ARCbbq]

I was looking at the Ooni - very cool. Certainly the high temp does things the smoker can't do. My gas grill goes to around 650 deg, but still not as fast as the Ooni. Also the toppings will probably cook more consistently with the Ooni, although I haven't had any issues.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I was looking at the Ooni - very cool. Certainly the high temp does things the smoker can't do. My gas grill goes to around 650 deg, but still not as fast as the Ooni. Also the toppings will probably cook more consistently with the Ooni, although I haven't had any issues.

I'll combine responses to both your posts. On the pizza party thing, and maybe you've already learned this, while it's a boat load of fun to have each guest do their own, I'd suggest you be a close supervisor as they aren't familiar with how your equipment responds. They'll have a better experience with your assistance.

On the Ooni there is one caveat regarding the type of pizza. In the commentary to Beth I specified "thin crust" for a reason. The stone gets very hot, I've actually measured over 1000 degrees in the hot corner on my 16. And yes, the flames licking over the ceiling do a beautiful job of crisping the toppings, putting nice char on pepperoni disc edges as an example. In less than 2 minutes to boot. However, that top heat business won't do the crust much good which is why for thicker crusts the Ooni might not be as good. Typically those thicker crusts work better with a 600 degree stone temp and something like 8-10 minute cook times. It's a case of the Ooni being too efficient in a way.

 

[BethV]

@BethV Which Ooni? I got my Koda 16 a couple months ago, love it for thin crust, relatively high hydration (I prefer 60ish over 70 ish) dough types. You might want to look up "Gozney Dome".........................might be a fun little toy for your future.

@Uncle Bob Wow! Thrilled to hear you have the Koda. I originally bought the Ooni Fyra and cooked on it twice. Hated the process. Soot, creosote, fire from all ends. As you know, others love it because it's fire and pellets! Needless to say, I'm trying to sell it (if anyone is interested). I immediately ordered the Koda 16 and it arrived yesterday. Boy, I'm a novice for certain, so any advice you have will be very welcomed. You are such a wealth of knowledge, I hope you don't mind me tapping into it when it comes to pizza!

We have natural gas so are having it plumbed to an area for the Ooni. Unfortunately, the gas conversion kit is out of stock. We need two. Gas is getting plumbed in two locations. So I am dead in the water which is why I am looking for ways to make pizza on the Bullseye or Stampede. I'm really hoping they get it in stock sooner than later.

Did you get their cart? We were going to put it on an outside island, but it's big and I want to be able to move it around on a cart if needed.

 

[Uncle Bob]

@Uncle Bob Wow! Thrilled to hear you have the Koda. I originally bought the Ooni Fyra and cooked on it twice. Hated the process. Soot, creosote, fire from all ends. As you know, others love it because it's fire and pellets! Needless to say, I'm trying to sell it (if anyone is interested). I immediately ordered the Koda 16 and it arrived yesterday. Boy, I'm a novice for certain, so any advice you have will be very welcomed. You are such a wealth of knowledge, I hope you don't mind me tapping into it when it comes to pizza!

We have natural gas so are having it plumbed to an area for the Ooni. Unfortunately, the gas conversion kit is out of stock. We need two. Gas is getting plumbed in two locations. So I am dead in the water which is why I am looking for ways to make pizza on the Bullseye or Stampede. I'm really hoping they get it in stock sooner than later.

Did you get their cart? We were going to put it on an outside island, but it's big and I want to be able to move it around on a cart if needed.

Congratulations Beth, some irony, there's a fella over on the Pitmaster side of Amazing Ribs site that posted up almost exactly your story yesterday on Frya (which he's owned for some time) and the Koda 16 (which he just got and hasn't used yet). The soot, creosote, etc comment almost to a T. One instance where the pellet experience slants more negative than positive.

Where we are doesn't do natural gas (Texas? How's that happen?), so we rely on propane. The house and patio are plumbed for it from a large, underground tank, so I could hard plumb it if I chose to. But I only have my Summerset gas grill and side sear hard plumbed as they are integrated into the outdoor kitchen cabinets. All of my other cookers are on wheels for ease of storage/movement. The Ooni I store folded and set it on a 24x36 mobile work table when I use it with the 20# tank on the side. I may do the quick connect thing in the future as I have a couple other propane fired devices, but haven't chosen to do that yet.

Just a couple operating tips to get you prepared, and then if anything else occurs to you once you get started feel free to reach out. First a qualifier, I'll post what works for me, but you may need to experiment beyond to improve for your likes/tastes........something I know you already appreciate. When you fire up the Koda, make sure you follow the knob turning/ignition directions exactly. The operation is somewhat counterintuitive, with the hold for 3 seconds, activate piezo igniter, hold knob in for 5 seconds once lit to stabilize fire. It's that 5 second hold in that's the kicker, the natural tendency once you hear/feel the click of the ignitor is to release the knob. More often that will kill the ignition/initial flame propagation, then when you try an immediate re-fire you have built up gas in the oven chamber that when next ignited gives you a "fun" ball of flame belching out the opening. Don't ask me how I know this. It sounds bad when typed out in that detail but it's really not that bad, it's just that you have to get your brain aligned with proper procedure which works well every time once learned and engrained.

Hopefully you have an IR temp gun, not absolutely necessary but really helpful. I fire mine up on full to pre-heat the stone for 45 min. to an hour depending on ambient. That will get the stone up to stable temp. The very back corner of the two flame fronts has exceeded 1000 degrees, the opposite corner more in the 700s, mid stone high 800s to mid 900s. Once heat soaked I turn it down to the lowest setting before prepping the pizza for launch. That gets the stone temp down roughly 100 degrees across the spectrum. Usually, depending on your dough, you'll want to start turning the pie after 20-30 seconds and then keep a close watch on it and turn as needed. Depending on how I've built the pie it's 90-120 seconds to done, so you really can't walk away from it at all. If you've done any internet surfing on experiences, quite a few folks say expect to ruin your fist or several efforts. They probably weren't paying close enough attention. I haven't ruined one yet, which is not the same as admitting that some have been better than others with experience.

Hope that helps. Let us know when you are able to get your first pie going.

 

[BethV]

Congratulations Beth, some irony, there's a fella over on the Pitmaster side of Amazing Ribs site that posted up almost exactly your story yesterday on Frya (which he's owned for some time) and the Koda 16 (which he just got and hasn't used yet). The soot, creosote, etc comment almost to a T. One instance where the pellet experience slants more negative than positive.

Where we are doesn't do natural gas (Texas? How's that happen?), so we rely on propane. The house and patio are plumbed for it from a large, underground tank, so I could hard plumb it if I chose to. But I only have my Summerset gas grill and side sear hard plumbed as they are integrated into the outdoor kitchen cabinets. All of my other cookers are on wheels for ease of storage/movement. The Ooni I store folded and set it on a 24x36 mobile work table when I use it with the 20# tank on the side. I may do the quick connect thing in the future as I have a couple other propane fired devices, but haven't chosen to do that yet.

Just a couple operating tips to get you prepared, and then if anything else occurs to you once you get started feel free to reach out. First a qualifier, I'll post what works for me, but you may need to experiment beyond to improve for your likes/tastes........something I know you already appreciate. When you fire up the Koda, make sure you follow the knob turning/ignition directions exactly. The operation is somewhat counterintuitive, with the hold for 3 seconds, activate piezo igniter, hold knob in for 5 seconds once lit to stabilize fire. It's that 5 second hold in that's the kicker, the natural tendency once you hear/feel the click of the ignitor is to release the knob. More often that will kill the ignition/initial flame propagation, then when you try an immediate re-fire you have built up gas in the oven chamber that when next ignited gives you a "fun" ball of flame belching out the opening. Don't ask me how I know this. It sounds bad when typed out in that detail but it's really not that bad, it's just that you have to get your brain aligned with proper procedure which works well every time once learned and engrained.

Hopefully you have an IR temp gun, not absolutely necessary but really helpful. I fire mine up on full to pre-heat the stone for 45 min. to an hour depending on ambient. That will get the stone up to stable temp. The very back corner of the two flame fronts has exceeded 1000 degrees, the opposite corner more in the 700s, mid stone high 800s to mid 900s. Once heat soaked I turn it down to the lowest setting before prepping the pizza for launch. That gets the stone temp down roughly 100 degrees across the spectrum. Usually, depending on your dough, you'll want to start turning the pie after 20-30 seconds and then keep a close watch on it and turn as needed. Depending on how I've built the pie it's 90-120 seconds to done, so you really can't walk away from it at all. If you've done any internet surfing on experiences, quite a few folks say expect to ruin your fist or several efforts. They probably weren't paying close enough attention. I haven't ruined one yet, which is not the same as admitting that some have been better than others with experience.

Hope that helps. Let us know when you are able to get your first pie going.

The lighting of the Koda instructions will be very helpful. Thank you! Both me and my husband read and reread directions. I'm on many Ooni Forums and the issues people have with the flame going out seem so common. These detailed instructions you are giving me will be very helpful. I do have an IR thermometer. I think I pretty much bought everything and anything to do with the oven.

I was able to cook 3 pizzas on the Fyra. Fortunately, they all came out good. It's the constant attention one needs to give to the oven that I didn't like at all. I know several people that have the Fyra and think it's be best thing they ever bought. That's why we got it. I didn't even research which I always do!

I still need practice in stretching the dough (and yep, I've watched probably 30 videos on different techniques). I know there will be a learning curve. But I like learning so that doesn't bother me at all. What dough recipe do you use? I've made Roberta's dough. I'm thinking of trying the Ooni recipe next time.

 

[Uncle Bob]

@BethV You know we could talk pizza dough recipes for hours, right? And probably put the take and bake folks to sleep in less than one sentence.

I can't remember if I've done the Ooni recipe specifically, but it's nearly identical to another I've done. It works fine for me, it's in the 60% hydration ranks IIRC, stretches nicely. For me, a combination of the hold on the counter with one hand, stretch with the other, turn, repeat, then add in some gravity stretching, seems to work well. This is another of those, "get your brain right" things I think. If a dough doesn't tear in that process I'm okay with it.

Another recipe I tried was from a You Tube guru, a real deal Italian named Vito Iacopelli (sp?). It's a 70ish% hydration...............didn't work for me the way he makes it look. Obviously I'm doing something wrong and haven't spent the time to figure it out.

Another in the 60ish % hydration range is a recipe from the Serious Eats channel, Kenji Lopez Alt, for NY style dough. Like this one a lot, makes a nice, cohesive ball that stretches very nicely. It's mixed in the big Cuisinart which might have something to do with good gluten formation that helps that stretch. Being a NY style it has olive oil in it which might help with browning of the crust, but require even closer attention. And even though it's intended for a slightly thicker than Neopolitan crust, a 200g ball can be stretched thin and do well.

It sometimes frustrates my bride that I'm almost always trying different things from preparation to preparation but it's what I do. If you're not experimenting you're not learning is the way I figure it.

 

[BethV]

@Uncle Bob I completely agree with you regarding the different prep. Vito has two restaurants in LA where I live. I did reach out to him to see if he teaches classes. I've watched him stretch the dough. He's BIG in the pizza industry and YouTube as you probably know. I feel like I need one day of pizza lessons from a pro to get the pointers down and then the rest is practice, practice, practice!!! Too bad they didn't teach pizza making when I was in Culinary School!

I'm making a batch of Kenji's NY pizza sauce today!

 

[Troutrad]

Worth buying a pizza stone... not very expensive. Personally don’t think you need the pizza oven with the RecTec. We do pizza in the smoker at least twice a month and takes on a nice smoky flavor at regular oven temps. Shredded chicken and bbq sauce seems to lend itself particularly well. We like ours Cali style with red onion, chopped cilantro mixed into bbq sauce and fresh cilantro on top after it’s cooked.

 

[Charlie]

Yep pizza stone follow the directions 500f
best pizza I’ve ever had is on my 340

 

[BethV]

Boy, did I have an issue with the pizza screens. The first time I made pizza on the screen it worked great. This time, I made two pizzas on different screens and the crust stuck to the screen. I heated the Bullseye up to 450 and they baked about 15 minutes each. We were able to get them off the screen with a lot of elbow grease but what a mess to clean the screen. Not happy with the crust either.

Fortunately for me, this is only temporary until my Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven is hooked up. Wondering if I can use the metal pizza pans instead.

We’ve done them in our Bull on pizza pans and had them turn out great. We set the temp at 450, build the pizza on parchment paper with a little corn meal, put them on the pan then into the grill. Pull the parchment paper after 3-4 minutes. Takes about 15 minutes. I usually take a quick peak at 10-12 minutes just to be sure I don’t burn them. Rex Teq says go full hot but that was the time I burned them.

@Waterboy the parchment doesn't burn or stick to the dough?

 

[Waterboy]

@BethV we put a little corn meal on the parchment. It just slips right out when I pull it out (you need to hold the pizza while you pull the paper). It gets a little scorched on the corners but nowhere near burned. Just about 3-4 minutes is all you need.

 

[spartanhuntr]

Not to hijack this with another idea (and maybe too late for Beth) but i felt a year ago i absolutely had to have a pizza oven. 4 kids under 17 and i thought it would be FUN for them. There is a lot packed in to this i won't share other than the highlight (low light) being kids these days don't enjoy the experience as much as the outcome. The first two times we did it, it was a blast... thereafter they wanted delivery... not because it was better but because they hated the clean up, cutting up veggies, stretching doe, etc.

Setting that aside, when i was really focused on a $4k type wood burning pizza oven i saw the Oni and others at a lower price point. I wasn't ready to take the plunge for that big dollar amount of the big ones and so i found the Kettle Pizza for my Weber.

I bought the Kettle Pizza with the steel cover, their all in system. Stone, baskets, etc. And i LOVE it. All in (even if you have to buy a Weber Kettle grill) it is less than the Oni. If you have a Weber Kettle already it is like $500 for all accessories to really make it hum. If you dont want the pizza stone kit, or the steel top kit it is less than $300.

This thing rocks. I use it all of the time now for even quick steaks, chicken, etc. But for pizza and a real wood taste it is a home run. Start the fire with charcoal... get to temp and then throw 4-5 chunks of wood in the basket and it is at 600-800 degrees with flames rolling over the top. EXCELLENT!

The only pizzas i make on my RT are deep dish long cooks in a cast iron pan. In fact that is today's menu item! Always meat eaters! Love this too.

Sorry to hijack post... let me thank you for this one though as i just added a lodge pizza pan cast iron to my Christmas list.

Anyone out there with opinions on the Pizza Steel versus Cast Iron Pizza Pan. I think this isn't a question that takes this post off track. As it should also help Beth in her considerations?

 

[Gonefishin]

I like the cast iron pizza pan idea, I've been using stones and they get a coat of soot on them that doesn't exactly wipe off, cast iron would be better.

Checked the 340, the pan would just fit with 1/2" to spare.