Pizza without heat deflector and drip pan?

[sherpa]

Has anyone tried cooking pizza on a pizza stone by placing it on the bottom rack but without the heat deflector and drip pan so that the fire is hitting the pizza stone directly? I'm wondering if it would be safe. I'm assuming that low temp around 275 or so is needed if the stone is heated directly.

 

[chadinsc]

i haven’t tried it but it sounds like a good idea to me. go for it! i cant think of anything it could hurt except maybe the stone

 

[Jim6820]

I guess the only question I have about doing that is…why? I don’t think wood-fired pizza ovens are heated from below with an open flame. I just put the stone on the standard grill rack, turn the temp up to about 450F and let the stone heat for about 10-15 minutes. Works just fine. YMMV

 

[SmokeZilla]

I have a pizza oven with 2 stones and I don’t think it will hurt anything. My oven can hit 900F and it shouldn’t be a problem but my stones are designed for the higher temps. The X-factor is I have an 8” diameter ring for distributing the propane/fire not a 2-3“ firepot ring like the RT700/1250. I think you nailed it when you said you would start it at a low temperature. It can be ramped it up slowly as the stone starts to warm to keep any possible thermal shock from cracking it. You may also want to use an infrared thermometer to measure surface temp on the stone and make sure you don’t exceed its range especially in the area directly above the firepot which may be off-center for the stone itself. If that is true, remember to rotate your pizza often and use the 180-90-180 method. I would also suggest you prefire your dough so it can begin to rise before you add the ingredients. Just my thoughts. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[sherpa]

Well, wife said to not bother with this setup and to just order a GMG Pizza Oven, and so I did.

 

[SmokeZilla]

Well, wife said to not bother with this setup and to just order a GMG Pizza Oven, and so I did.

Hard to argue with good logic. Enjoy. I think shes a keeper.

 

[sherpa]

Pizza oven got delivered today. Before the delivery, we were all ready to cook some pizzas tonight. We had everything ready. Package got delivered and, upon opening, found the stone already broken. Back to Amazon it goes!

 

[SmokeZilla]

Wow. I’d give them a call. They may offer you a free replacement stone shipped overnight at not additional cost to keep from having you return the entire package. Worth a try. Use their customer service number. It‘s buried deep in their site but they are pretty prompt in calling you back once you put in the request.

 

[sherpa]

Wow. I’d give them a call. They may offer you a free replacement stone shipped overnight at not additional cost to keep from having you return the entire package. Worth a try. Use their customer service number. It‘s buried deep in their site but they are pretty prompt in calling you back once you put in the request.

I did speak to them. They said they can't replace individual parts so I will have to return the whole thing and buy again. I even asked if they could do a partial refund so I could buy another stone locally but that was a "no" as well.

 

[SmokeZilla]

I did speak to them. They said they can't replace individual parts so I will have to return the whole thing and buy again. I even asked if they could do a partial refund so I could buy another stone locally but that was a "no" as well.

sherpa,

Thanks for the update. I guess they randomly apply logic. I purchased a curved 55” Samsung TV a couple of years ago and contacted them to say the box had been opened and they offered an immediate 50% credit. That was great since I purchased it on sale at 30% off the original price. Recently, they sent me a “free replacement set of Hue lights because 1 of the 3 was damaged during transport. I guess it depends on the transaction type and their leverage over their vendors. Sorry it didn’t work out. Did they at least offer an inconvenience discount/credit?

 

[sherpa]

sherpa,

Thanks for the update. I guess they randomly apply logic. I purchased a curved 55” Samsung TV a couple of years ago and contacted them to say the box had been opened and they offered an immediate 50% credit. That was great since I purchased it on sale at 30% off the original price. Recently, they sent me a “free replacement set of Hue lights because 1 of the 3 was damaged during transport. I guess it depends on the transaction type and their leverage over their vendors. Sorry it didn’t work out. Did they at least offer an inconvenience discount/credit?

They offered to have UPS pick it up from my house. Haha.

 

[SmokeZilla]

They offered to have UPS pick it up from my house. Haha.

Wow. Unless you live in the country, I don’t think that was very helpful. lol.