# Homemade Pizza



## begreen (Aug 17, 2021)

A friend just got a new gas grille and he made a couple of pizzas on Sunday with it. They we're slightly charred on the bottom, but came out quite good. I was inspired to try this at home using our Weber gas grill for pizza. We have been cooking pizza in our oven, but it does not get hot enough without me worrying about frying the electronics, so the crust is not perfect.  The gas grill can easily get up to 550 and the stone would be hotter over direct heat. I will use the IR thermometer to determine how hot it gets. 

Has anyone had good success with this method? Any tips?


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## begreen (Aug 17, 2021)

PS: He also showed me Weber's Big Book of Grilling. It's chock full of interesting recipes. I just ordered a copy.

PPS: This year the flavor bars completely rotted out on our grille and so did the little shield tabs on the burner connector. I have to say that working with Weber's customer service has been great. There was mix-up on my order and they bent over backward to make it right and then checked up later to make sure I was happy. Great communication and service on their part.


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## ABMax24 (Aug 17, 2021)

I've never tried pizza on the BBQ, our gas oven goes up to 550F reliably and have just used that for pizza.

I think on a BBQ you'd want to try and limit radiant heat to the bottom of the pizza stone, I'd run the burners furthest away from the stone on max and keep the burners under the stone on low.  I believe this is what would have caused the charred crust you experienced.

For recipes the Napoleon website also has quite a few good ones.


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## Prof (Aug 17, 2021)

We tend to like thin crust pizzas. Given that, we have been using the grill to cook pizzas on tortillas for a couple years now--they are actually our go-to for guests because we can do so many variations in minimal time. I also have a friend who does a more involved method with a sour dough crust. He lined the top of his grill with fire brick and gets the brick up to about 500F before cooking. He makes some amazing pizzas on the grill too!


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## moresnow (Aug 18, 2021)

Huge Weber fan here! However my weber's are all charcoal kettle grills. 2 at home, one at the cabin. My LP grill days were over years ago. No more fixy grill. Over and over. Nope. My opinion only. No offense to those still using them.

I am actually going to try a pizza on our GMG pellet grill one of these days. Supposedly excellent as well. Can only imagine. Everything else has been.

In the mean time we have been using our Hamilton Beach XL convection oven out on our picnic table. I have a problem baking in the house with the A/C turned on..... Unbelievable results with the XL. We use pre-made crust. Olive oil both sides before loading ingredient's. Cook directly on the grill grate with the drip pan below. Best pizza's we've ever made hands down.  Last night we used mini Naan bread for crust.  Basically personal pan sized pizza's. Came out perfect. Light crispy/crunchy edge's with fully cooked light fluffy center. We just can't get these results in the oven indoors. Not even close. 
 Smelling our pizza cook while we lounged in the pool with a cold spirit was perfect last night. Made my work stressed wife very happy 
My 2 cents!
We also only use our own homeade pizza sauce from our gardening.


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## SpaceBus (Aug 18, 2021)

I bought a tiny terra cotta wood burning oven online last year for $75 and it makes awesome pizzas when you get the hang of it. Admittedly it only makes personal sized pizzas, but they are very good. I've also made strombolis, calzones, tortillas, and naan bread in the terra cotta oven as well. Instead of laying the pizzas on the bottom of the oven I use a large round cast iron flat griddle that fits perfectly inside the wood oven. My electric oven also doesn't do a great job with the pizza either, the wood burning oven works very well, but it's hard to brown things with it.


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## Highbeam (Aug 18, 2021)

We need some pics in this thread! Here’s the pan take and bake pizza we like to cook on my Englander pellet grill. I’ve been low carb all year so no pizza but it’s good. Oh and no stone. We prefer the perforated aluminum pans.


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## semipro (Aug 18, 2021)

I've been thinking about trying the method below.  The dough/crust is cooked directly on the grill first and then toppings are added and its put back on the grill to finish.


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## festerw (Aug 18, 2021)

Somebody say pizza? We do ours usually with premade crusts since it's easy for weeknights.

Grill temp of 225, stone temp hits 650ish. Usually 2-3 minutes, turn 180 and repeat.

Hard to beat 3 pizzas in about 30 minutes included heating time.


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## SpaceBus (Aug 18, 2021)

semipro said:


> I've been thinking about trying the method below.  The dough/crust is cooked directly on the grill first and then toppings are added and its put back on the grill to finish.



I've "pre-baked" a crust before, but usually just for five or so minutes if using an indoor oven.


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## wjohn (Aug 18, 2021)

My dad does this on a charcoal grill. As I recall it took some experimentation and he wound up with something along the lines of that America's Test Kitchen video. He puts it directly on the grill and I think adds the toppings a little later. I'll have to ask. Whatever he does, it's excellent.

I will second tortilla crust pizzas. I haven't tried them on the grill, but they're so quick to do in a pinch, and I'd rather have them than takeout (and they're much cheaper).


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## EbS-P (Aug 19, 2021)

So I have done it a couple different ways.  For me it’s always a struggle to get the top cooked without burning the bottom. finding the right thickness of stone/ bricks to moderate the flame heat is the key.    I think a double layer of pizza stones with a small air gap is perfect.

This is cheap grill top pizza oven I use on a wok burner.  It’s just faster that way. I have a small heat shield that keeps flames off the bottom of the oven. It’s not super amazing but it works.  a dedicated wood oven is my future I think.


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## begreen (Aug 21, 2021)

ABMax24 said:


> I've never tried pizza on the BBQ, our gas oven goes up to 550F reliably and have just used that for pizza.


Our fancy convection oven can do it, but the electronics sit above the oven. We used the self-clean feature once which gets super hot and lost some digits in the display so now we keep it to no higher than 425º. This is our winter solution. It makes a decent pizza, mostly because of quality ingredients and homemade tomato sauce, but the crust is not perfect. This is the recipe we have been using, though we use cornmeal under the pizza to prevent sticking to the stone. 








						Thin-Crust Pizza
					

This simple (yet delicious) ultra-thin-crust pizza features a simple topping of tomato sauce, garlic, and cheese.




					www.kingarthurbaking.com
				




And this is the recipe that my friend used on his grill. They have sourdough starter which we do not have yet.








						Sourdough Pizza Crust
					

A chewy, flavorful crust, using sourdough starter, perfect with any type of topping.




					www.kingarthurbaking.com


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## begreen (Aug 21, 2021)

semipro said:


> I've been thinking about trying the method below.  The dough/crust is cooked directly on the grill first and then toppings are added and its put back on the grill to finish.


I was reading about that method for thin crust pizza that was written by an expert.


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## EbS-P (Aug 21, 2021)

wjohn said:


> I will second tortilla crust pizzas. I haven't tried them on the grill, but they're so quick to do in a pinch, and I'd rather have them than takeout (and they're much cheaper).


Naan bread works great too if you want a little more bread.  But really if you have a bread machine and a by  weight dough recipe it’s pretty fast.  

my parents have the family‘s antique dough box.  I think a 50# flour recipe would be a fun time for everyone.  It freezes  in balls quite well.  

Evan


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## begreen (Aug 21, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> my parents have the family‘s antique dough box. I think a 50# flour recipe would be a fun time for everyone. It freezes in balls quite well.


I just saw one of these for sale locally. They look like they would be good for making bread for a whole community.


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## EbS-P (Aug 21, 2021)

begreen said:


> I just saw one of these for sale locally. They look like they would be good for making bread for a whole community.


So the story goes bread was made weekly for the family.  My grandfather was born 1908 and had 3 other siblings.  I would like to have seen all the loaf pans they had.  They had a farm near Downingtown Pa.  they still used horses when he was a boy.  

Pizza night in our house is up 1.2kg of flour.


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## clancey (Aug 21, 2021)

Yea those people in those days made it sound so simple and easy to do for they had quite a system of how to do it --making it seem so easy..You go to visit--they say--hey I put a bun on for you..or something like that--I remember as a child or lets have a crawler or something and it appears in what seems like a second... I do like that thin crust pizza one and might try that down the road...they can take that green thing off of it...lol clancey


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## bert670 (Aug 21, 2021)

Been doing it for a while, and always making slight changes to get it better. So far my preferred method is roll out the pizza dough,  toss some corn meal on the hot pizza stone (grill at about ~500 f), toss the dough on for a few min, just enough to cook the down side. Then I flip it over and add my ingredients to the the partially cooked side. Comes out great. Highly recommend a caramelized fig, bleu cheese and prosciutto pie, finished with a little balsamic glaze.


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## begreen (Aug 28, 2021)

Prof said:


> We tend to like thin crust pizzas. Given that, we have been using the grill to cook pizzas on tortillas for a couple years now--they are actually our go-to for guests because we can do so many variations in minimal time. I also have a friend who does a more involved method with a sour dough crust. He lined the top of his grill with fire brick and gets the brick up to about 500F before cooking. He makes some amazing pizzas on the grill too!


Hmmm, our grill has a curved lid. This has me thinking about somehow lining it with kaowool, but it would need to be sealed with a sheet of metal to hold it in place, make it cleanable, and avoid the risk of any fibers dropping.


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## EbS-P (Aug 28, 2021)

begreen said:


> Hmmm, our grill has a curved lid. This has me thinking about somehow lining it with kaowool, but it would need to be sealed with a sheet of metal to hold it in place, make it cleanable, and avoid the risk of any fibers dropping.


Can you insulat the outside of the lid.  I’ve done this when smoking in my grill.


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## begreen (Aug 28, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> So I have done it a couple different ways.  For me it’s always a struggle to get the top cooked without burning the bottom. finding the right thickness of stone/ bricks to moderate the flame heat is the key.    I think a double layer of pizza stones with a small air gap is perfect.
> 
> This is cheap grill top pizza oven I use on a wok burner.  It’s just faster that way. I have a small heat shield that keeps flames off the bottom of the oven. It’s not super amazing but it works.  a dedicated wood oven is my future I think.
> View attachment 281091


Who makes that little unit? I have a crab pot burner that would work for it.

I also was looking at this little pellet-fired pizza oven. $199 on Amazon.


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## EbS-P (Aug 28, 2021)

Looks like an ooni. Not priced like one.  One review said it took 15 minutes between pizzas to get back up to temp.   I was already to spend 400$  Until I realized I would be baking for well over an hour.  








						Pizza Ovens | Make Pizza | Ooni Pizza Ovens
					

Make pizza. From wood-fired flavor to gas-powered reliability, Ooni's range of portable outdoor pizza ovens means great pizza in your backyard or beyond.




					ooni.com


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## begreen (Aug 28, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> Looks like an ooni. Not priced like one.  One review said it took 15 minutes between pizzas to get back up to temp.   I was already to spend 400$  Until I realized I would be baking for well over an hour.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, I looked the OONI too. I saw that at the HPBA show. It gets high marks. I noticed a big difference in reported heat up times for several models.   One reviewer summed it up. Leave the door closed. If one does that it seems to retain the heat pretty well.

I'm currently looking at this one too, gas-fired. I like that it can be used indoors or out.





						Portable Table Top Pizza Oven — Mont Alpi
					






					www.montalpionline.com


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## begreen (Aug 28, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> Can you insulat the outside of the lid.  I’ve done this when smoking in my grill.


Hmm, that's a thought.


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## EbS-P (Aug 28, 2021)

I will probably do a cement wood fired pizza oven.  Maybe something like this.  For a first try.  Make my form out of sand firebrick floor.   I use one of these frequently 


			Robot or human?
		


And it makes a decent pizza but no better than the first pizza out of my oven with a steel pizza plate.  The second is just as good as the first which is not something I can say about my oven.    If I wasn’t have to make so much food the Ooni would be my choice followed by the grill top ovens.  I’d like to figure out how to use my Solo stove  as a pizza oven.  Or my cowboy grill for that matter.
Evan


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## begreen (Aug 28, 2021)

Yeah, the OONI gets high marks and stays hot enough for continuous feeding. I want something portable for gatherings and campouts so this may be the ticket.


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## EbS-P (Aug 28, 2021)

begreen said:


> Yeah, the OONI gets high marks and stays hot enough for continuous feeding. I want something portable for gatherings and campouts so this may be the ticket.


Gas wood and pellet fuel options (I think) makes it pretty versatile. Get one before they go up in price or outta stock!


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## Sean in the woods (Aug 29, 2021)

I have one of the early models of Ooni (when they were named Uuni). It is a pellet only version. Comes up to temp in 15 minutes and stays there if you keep the door closed. We prep and stretch the dough then pre cook it for 30 to 45 seconds. Take it out and add toppings, put it in for 90 seconds, rotating every 30 seconds. Done, with nice "leopard spotting" on top. 
The reason it needs turning so much is that ( at least the early model) it is hotter in the back.
The reason it is so quick is that there is a sheet of flame across the top inside of the oven, inches from the pizza.

There is a bonus to the pellet version: The pizza has a distinct smoked flavor and you can experiment with different pellets. I like apple or maple.

I've been looking at one of the newer ons myself and will probably get the wood/gas combo.


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## clancey (Aug 29, 2021)

They all look so nice and I like that little portable one gas --that you could have indoor or outside...clancey


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## bigealta (Oct 15, 2021)

Thanks for the update, just back hear now Oct 2021.



Looking forward to trying this in my F400 castine. Been dialing in my neopolitan pizza skills all summer in the oven. Can't wait to get it going in the woodstove.


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## clancey (Oct 15, 2021)

That's looks really good..clancey


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2021)

Update: my sweetie got me an Ooni. It's a whole new ballgame now. This sucker is fast. The pizza is done, with one rotation in 60-75 seconds.


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## begreen (Oct 15, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Thanks for the update, just back hear now Oct 2021.
> Looking forward to trying this in my F400 castine. Been dialing in my neopolitan pizza skills all summer in the oven. Can't wait to get it going in the woodstove.


Nice, what recipe did you use for the dough? It puffed up nicely. What flour have you been using?


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## bigealta (Oct 16, 2021)

Poolish starter, plus 2 days in fridge. 1/2 00 flour, 1/2 Ap flour. But it’s all about handling the dough. And pre cooking dough with sauce only.  Vito icopelli on YouTube set me on the new path. He’s 3rd generation pizza maker from Italy. I highly recommend checking his videos out if you love pizza.


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## bigealta (Oct 16, 2021)

Here is a link to Vito’s next level pizza dough.


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## kennyp2339 (Oct 16, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Poolish starter, plus 2 days in fridge. 1/2 00 flour, 1/2 Ap flour. But it’s all about handling the dough. And pre cooking dough with sauce only.  Vito icopelli on YouTube set me on the new path. He’s 3rd generation pizza maker from Italy. I highly recommend checking his videos out if you love pizza.


I see NJ in your member stamp, so I know your not fooling around when you talk pizza, and you know what I mean when I say that.


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## begreen (Oct 16, 2021)

I grew up with Italian families (even married one). This was inspiring. I will try it in the Ooni.


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## bigealta (Oct 16, 2021)

Yes we love pizza in NJ for sure. The biggest eye opening for me was stretching or rather pressing out the dough ball. Pressing the air into the crust or Cornish. I never saw that anywhere else. That and a whole bunch of other details that make it so much more consistent and just much better than hack methods that compromise on quality and know how.


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

Also, i don't think Vito does this in his home oven videos, but other guys do talk about is to pre cook the dough and sauce only, on the lowest rack in oven for 4 or so minutes with oven having been preheated at full blast  (550F on mine) for about an hour. Then take out pre cooked pizza, move your steel, stone, mesh whatever you are cooking on to Top rack and switch to Broil Hi. Then while that heats up put on your toppings and slide pizza under broiler for about 3 minutes.

Next job is to get this dialed in, inside the Jotul. Will get back if i can get it right and repeatable.


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Also, i don't think Vito does this in his home oven videos, but other guys do talk about is to pre cook the dough and sauce only, on the lowest rack in oven for 4 or so minutes with oven having been preheated at full blast  (550F on mine) for about an hour. Then take out pre cooked pizza, move your steel, stone, mesh whatever you are cooking on to Top rack and switch to Broil Hi. Then while that heats up put on your toppings and slide pizza under broiler for about 3 minutes.
> 
> Next job is to get this dialed in, inside the Jotul. Will get back if i can get it right and repeatable.


This summer a friend and I have been making pizzas in our gas Weber grill by this method. By preheating for 30-40 minutes the stone can be brought up to about 550-600º. The precook takes about 2 minutes, then it is pulled for cheese and toppings. The second cooking is about 3-4 minutes.  This method however is not practical with an 800º oven and stone. They use King Arthur's sourdough recipe for the crust and it is pretty good. In some way I think the sourdough starter resembles the poolish.

This thread could go on a long time on just pizza alone. That's more of a topic for the Inglenook.


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

Yes i've done them also on an old gas grill, and also weber charcoal grill. Sometimes they are awesome some times burnt especially on the charcoal grill which can get super squirly. i've always done it straight on the grates. It's still a bit of a crap shoot for me as i've not done it enough to be dialed in. Still a work in progress, but did 1 once that my buddy said was the best pizza he's ever had. The home grown San marzanos helped for sure, but pretty sure he was just blowing smoke so i'de keep making them. Ha. All good as i love trying out all deferent ways. And love hearing how others are doing it.


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

Yes, we make our own sauce from our tomatoes (pomidoro squisito this year) and now have an Ooni to bake in. I am still dialing in the crust, so the video was quite helpful.


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

begreen said:


> This thread could go on a long time on just pizza alone. That's more of a topic for the Inglenook.


I see that you started a Pizza thread over in Inglenook this summer. ok will move over there. Thanks


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## EbS-P (Oct 18, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Thanks for the update, just back hear now Oct 2021.
> View attachment 283353
> 
> Looking forward to trying this in my F400 castine. Been dialing in my neopolitan pizza skills all summer in the oven. Can't wait to get it going in the woodstove.


Pizza night last night here. Woke up it was 46 degrees this morning.  Cooked in the oven last night. Tried my version of a 8 hour poolish… ehhhh.  Some things you can’t rush.  I need a good trivet or stand  for my Dutch oven lid. One that might allow me to add smaller and shorter pieces of wood N-S under it and maybe shield the life from direct heat of the coals.  I’ll have to go to my scrap pile and see what I have.


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

EbS-P said:


> Pizza night last night here. Woke up it was 46 degrees this morning.  Cooked in the oven last night. Tried my version of a 8 hour poolish… ehhhh.  Some things you can’t rush.  I need a good trivet or stand  for my Dutch oven lid. One that might allow me to add smaller and shorter pieces of wood N-S under it and maybe shield the life from direct heat of the coals.  I’ll have to go to my scrap pile and see what I have.


Yeah, I think 20 hr min.for poolish, then a 2 or 3 day rest in refrigerator for the dough, then make dough balls and let rise for a few hours or more. This is all highly dependent on room temps. In 68-70f in my house it’s not really rising. So I put the dough balls in the oven with just the light on. Getting the right rise is what the neopolitan style is all geared towards. And I find the extra days in refrigerator do much to inhance the flavor of the dough. But we should move all this to the Pizza Thread in Inglenook


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

bigealta said:


> . But we should move all this to the Pizza Thread in Inglenook


Thread 'Grilling pizza'
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/grilling-pizza.187762/


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

begreen said:


> Update: my sweetie got me an Ooni. It's a whole new ballgame now. This sucker is fast. The pizza is done, with one rotation in 60-75 seconds.
> View attachment 283357
> View attachment 283358
> View attachment 283359


My buddy has one and he really likes it. Might have to make up some dough balls and bring them over there to test it out. That cooking time and heat sounds just right for the neopolitan dough.


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## Highbeam (Oct 18, 2021)

begreen said:


> Update: my sweetie got me an Ooni. It's a whole new ballgame now. This sucker is fast. The pizza is done, with one rotation in 60-75 seconds.
> View attachment 283357
> View attachment 283358
> View attachment 283359


Wow, 60-75 seconds! Hard to imagine.


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

Highbeam said:


> Wow, 60-75 seconds! Hard to imagine.


Yes, no snoozing at that temperature.


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

Moved comments from the main forum and changed the name of the thread to Homemade Pizza.


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## bigealta (Oct 18, 2021)

Ok Guys, This is what i'm roughly shooting for in the Jotul F400. With a little more char and leoparding on bottom. This one came out of a home oven.


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## EbS-P (Oct 18, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Ok Guys, This is what i'm roughly shooting for in the Jotul F400. With a little more char and leoparding on bottom. This one came out of a home oven.
> 
> View attachment 283543
> View attachment 283547


I’ve burned more than came out looking anywhere close to that


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

The pizza I made in our F400 burned enough that we had to scrape it down. The stone got too hot and I was not on top of how quickly it would burn the bottom. This is because I put it directly on the coal bed so that the stone was hot, while the firebox was probably a couple hundred degrees cooler. The stove is gone now, but if I did it again I would support the stone on a pair of bricks so that it was not in direct contact with the coals.


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## begreen (Oct 18, 2021)

bigealta said:


> Ok Guys, This is what i'm roughly shooting for in the Jotul F400. With a little more char and leoparding on bottom. This one came out of a home oven.
> 
> View attachment 283543
> View attachment 283547


That's darn nice for the oven. How hot was the stone? Did you do a two-stage load with sauce first, then add toppings and back under the broiler?


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## bigealta (Oct 19, 2021)

Yes, Pre cooked with sauce only (and a bit of pecorino). I'm using a heavy aluminum pan on bottom rack. The stone doesn't work as well for me. (Wanting to upgrade to plate steel, just need to cut some i have and de rust and season it). 

Then, i think, this was the first try at pre cook on bottom rack, then pull out, move pan to top rack on Hi Broil. Add cheese and toppings and finish under Broiler. Probably pulled it 30 seconds early.


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## bigealta (Oct 19, 2021)

This is the pan, And This pizza is is 2 stage & finished under broiler (3 minutes under broiler).


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## EbS-P (May 28, 2022)

Time to revisit the pizza thread.  I really really wanted to build my own brick oven.  Time being the deciding factor and the fact it would be one story below the kitchen I went a different direction.  Happy early 40th birthday and Father’s Day.  Thanks honey! 

I decided on the Big Joe series 1 Kamado Joe charcoal grill. (Ooni price have gone way up but what hasn’t)  It may not be a pizza oven but I bet it will get used more than a dedicated pizza oven.  I don’t have any accessories yet. They sell many.  Even sell an attachment that turns it into  the classic pizza oven.  

First fire later tonight.  I will make due with whatever pizza stone I can find.  12” one seems tiny in there.  Target temp is 650 tonight.  

Evan


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## begreen (May 28, 2022)

Very cool. I got the Ooni and am still learning, but making progress.  Getting the crust right is a big challenge. Bigealta is still ahead of me there.


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## EbS-P (May 28, 2022)

Cooked 8 pizzas.  Cooked at about 650 dome temp.  500 stone temp.  Didn’t get much above that decided put second stone directly on heat deflector.  That got the bottom done faster but topping load really affects the cooking time of the top.  

Didn’t use enough charcoal.  Need to get some really big lump to mix in with the smaller pieces in my lump bag.  Guess I could sort it.  Sounds messy.   Didn’t burn a single pizza though 

I’ll get it figured out in another time or two.  I just kinda make everything up as I go.  My dough recipe was 67% hydration. 1/3 whole wheat.  Made at about 11 this morning.  I just can’t seem to plan ahead to make the fermented dough.  It was good.  A bit puffier and more tender than I really like.  But my mom and dad came over and they really prefer it that way.  

I think this will workout really well for us.  I can’t wait to get another crack at it.  Maybe some ribs  tomorrow?


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## begreen (May 29, 2022)

I found that the problem with grill cooking pizza is that as soon as the lid is lifted, most of the heat escapes so the stone is hot, but the air is not.  Does the Kamodo dome do a better job?  A friend is looking to modify his Weber gas grill with a replacement top that will have a wide slot opening in the front so that the lid does not need to be lifted.


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## EbS-P (May 29, 2022)

begreen said:


> I found that the problem with grill cooking pizza is that as soon as the lid is lifted, most of the heat escapes so the stone is hot, but the air is not.  Does the Kamodo dome do a better job?  A friend is looking to modify his Weber gas grill with a replacement top that will have a wide slot opening in the front so that the lid does not need to be lifted.


I think you could cook one ok. Maybe two. But you are right you loose so much heat every time you open. I will probably end up with one of these if I keep cooking near double digit pizzas.  You close the top vent completely and it vents out the front. 









						DōJoe
					

Shop Kamado Joe® ceramic grills and egg style bbq smokers. Get free shipping on orders over $100! It’s time to stop settling for average. Experience kamado charcoal grilling at it's finest.




					www.kamadojoe.com


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## begreen (May 29, 2022)

Cool, that should help.


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## EbS-P (May 29, 2022)

begreen said:


> Cool, that should help.


One reason I chose kamado Joe over the green egg. They may have similar but I’m informed.


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## bigealta (May 31, 2022)

Nice, got to get my grill pizza game on. It's not easy, but sometimes it's just incredible. Especially when done right on the grill, no stone or steel.
This guy will dial in your dough. 3rd gen. Italian pizza guy.
The key is the poolish and how you handle the dough.



I see i already posted this vid last year. oh well it's still the go to for me when i need a refresh on the small details. There is a lot going on in it, over time you realize you missed a small step that's important to get really good.


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## EbS-P (May 31, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Nice, got to get my grill pizza game on. It's not easy, but sometimes it's just incredible. Especially when done right on the grill, no stone or steel.
> This guy will dial in your dough. 3rd gen. Italian pizza guy.
> The key is the poolish and how you handle the dough.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the repost it will save me going back a couple pages.  I need to plan ahead 2-3 days.  Maybe next week I can pull it off.


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## begreen (May 31, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Nice, got to get my grill pizza game on. It's not easy, but sometimes it's just incredible. Especially when done right on the grill, no stone or steel.
> This guy will dial in your dough. 3rd gen. Italian pizza guy.
> The key is the poolish and how you handle the dough.
> 
> ...



I know that precise measurement is important. His recipe makes too much for us. Can the dough balls be frozen without detriment? Have you converted the Metric measurements over to English measurements?


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## bigealta (Jun 1, 2022)

begreen said:


> I know that precise measurement is important. His recipe makes too much for us. Can the dough balls be frozen without detriment? Have you converted the Metric measurements over to English measurements?


Do yourself a huge favor and get a scale. i use the "pronto" kitchen scale. about $10, and just keep it metric. Fast easy and precise. Cups don't work for measuring flour.

Here it is for 1 dough ball. And yes you can freeze.


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## bigealta (Jun 1, 2022)

And here is how to freeze.


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## EbS-P (Jun 1, 2022)

bigealta said:


> And here is how to freeze.



Freezing makes a the dough different, not bad at all, just a bit different.  We will probably make a 15 or 25# batch soon.  It makes pizza night faster and cleaner.


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## bigealta (Jun 1, 2022)

This is how Vito does it in the Grill.


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## bigealta (Jun 1, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> Freezing makes a the dough different, not bad at all, just a bit different.  We will probably make a 15 or 25# batch soon.  It makes pizza night faster and cleaner.


I agree but also don't think i timed my freezing  process like Vito did. The details and timing do make all the difference with all of the pizza making, cooking, freezing, cold fermentation, dough handling, resting, etc. processes.


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## begreen (Jun 1, 2022)

All great information, thanks bigealta. I will try the single out, though I will skip the dunk in the pool. My wife doesn't like metric, but we have a good digital scale that can be set for grams. Wish the whole country would switch over to metric it's much less complicated.


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

begreen said:


> All great information, thanks bigealta. I will try the single out, though I will skip the dunk in the pool. My wife doesn't like metric, but we have a good digital scale that can be set for grams. Wish the whole country would switch over to metric it's much less complicated.


Yeah i fought the metric too at first, but in the kitchen with many recipes already in grams it's So Much easier. And also when doing 70% or 75% or any % hydration calculations and adjustments to mixes it's simple. Not so with cups and ounces. 

Converting from metric to English when using a scale that does metric, well that's just crazy. Ha but i have a wife too, She will only drive 1 way to the train station, no matter what. Even though there are about 5 ways to go. She sticks with the 1st way she learned, and that's pretty true for everything.


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## begreen (Jun 2, 2022)

Well, I'm hoping to start the metric poolish today for pizza tomorrow.  (Do I make it 36cm?)
Now I have to decide what flour. From what I can see, flour does not have a "W" rating here. We can get 00 flour, but that is more about the fineness of the grind and not about the W factor. I found this explanation, but that doesn't help with locally available flours. Do we go by gluten or protein content? I found this on the interwebs:
Weak less than 180 W (8-9% protein)
Medium between 180-280 W (10-11%)
Strong Higher than 280 W up to 400 (more than 11%)

King Arthur 00 flour has 3gms protein for 30gm portion. Does that make it a 10% gluten?








						What is flour strenght? (W)
					

Flour "strength" indicates the strength of the dough and its resistance to leavening. Therefore the higher the W index (e.g. W=180) the longer the leavening time. As a result of the longer leavening time, it takes longer to make the final product. If you are in a hurry, choose a low W, if yo...




					www.strapizza.it


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

begreen said:


> Well, I'm hoping to start the metric poolish today for pizza tomorrow.  (Do I make it 36cm?)
> Now I have to decide what flour. From what I can see, flour does not have a "W" rating here. We can get 00 flour, but that is more about the fineness of the grind and not about the W factor. I found this explanation, but that doesn't help with locally available flours. Do we go by gluten or protein content? I found this on the interwebs:
> Weak less than 180 W (8-9% protein)
> Medium between 180-280 W (10-11%)
> ...


00 flour that's the one. You can also do 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 00 flour. That's what i usually do. 
If you have easy access to 00 flour you are golden.
If you want to mix AP and OO i would use the AP for the poolish and OO for the rest. With only 1 dough ball though i would probably just use all 00.


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

Bread flour is stronger (higher protien) than AP flour so that would be our strong flour. But for Pizza it's 00. 00 is made for pizza dough. 00 is what Vito uses.


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)




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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

The above is for 1 dough ball. I prefer to make that for 2 dough balls so just double recipe. More practice and the second dough ball can go in fridge for 2-3 days. And the one in the fridge will taste better than the 1st one that is not cold fermented as long.


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## SpaceBus (Jun 2, 2022)

I'll have to pay attention to what kinds of flour my store has available in bulk. I only have whole grain bread flour, white pastry flour, whole rye, and whole spelt. Maybe some white spelt. My pizza dough never turns out right, but I've only tried white AP, whole bread, or high extraction sifted bread flour. It seems that pizza dough is a whole different game than making bread, which I've only sort of figured out.


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## begreen (Jun 2, 2022)

bigealta said:


> 00 flour that's the one. You can also do 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 00 flour. That's what i usually do.
> If you have easy access to 00 flour you are golden.
> If you want to mix AP and OO i would use the AP for the poolish and OO for the rest. With only 1 dough ball though i would probably just use all 00.


After a deep research dive this morning I found out the 00 is simply the fineness of the grind. In Italy this is the Tipo (type).  It can be ground that fine from several different types of wheat with varying protein levels. We tried one 00 last year and it was poor for pizza. Must have had a W of 90 and didn't absorb water well. It would be better for muffins than a pizza.  So, 00 is good, for a lighter puffier crust, but only if it has enough protein (gluten). It looks like the protein level should be around 11-12%, though in one of his videos Vito used a Mantoba which is very high protein (W up to 350!).  Fortunately, it turns out that our local store has some Anna's 00 flour, from Italy. It has a W factor of 270! This is what I will use today for the poolish. I think this is the same flour used in one of Vito's videos.



bigealta said:


> The above is for 1 dough ball. I prefer to make that for 2 dough balls so just double recipe. More practice and the second dough ball can go in fridge for 2-3 days. And the one in the fridge will taste better than the 1st one that is not cold fermented as long.


Yes, that's the plan for today.


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## begreen (Jun 2, 2022)

SpaceBus said:


> I'll have to pay attention to what kinds of flour my store has available in bulk. I only have whole grain bread flour, white pastry flour, whole rye, and whole spelt. Maybe some white spelt. My pizza dough never turns out right, but I've only tried white AP, whole bread, or high extraction sifted bread flour. It seems that pizza dough is a whole different game than making bread, which I've only sort of figured out.


We're fortunate to have a great grocery store with a large variety of flours, both bulk and packaged. Amazon sells the flour I will be using today. Walmart and Safeway sell it in 1 kilo bags. Or you can buy it direct from Cento. 








						Anna TIPO 00 Flour  1 KG
					

Anna Type "00” Flour is an old world, authentic Naples style flour that is smooth, easy to work with, and made with less impurities for more even cooking. Type “00” Flour is tailored to high temperature ovens for pizza making and stretches for a thinner crust. It is finely milled with a soft...




					shop.cento.com
				



Amazon product


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

begreen said:


> We're fortunate to have a great grocery store with a large variety of flours, both bulk and packaged. Amazon sells the flour I will be using today. Walmart and Safeway sell it in 1 kilo bags. Or you can buy it direct from Cento.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yup that's what I use. Our shoprite sells it for $2.20 a bag on sale and $2.99 regular price. For that price it's not really worth mixing in regular AP flour for only 1 or 2 balls. Now EbSP  may want to with his 15-25 ball batches.


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## bigealta (Jun 2, 2022)

begreen said:


> After a deep research dive this morning I found out the 00 is simply the fineness of the grind. In Italy this is the Tipo (type).  It can be ground that fine from several different types of wheat with varying protein levels. We tried one 00 last year and it was poor for pizza. Must have had a W of 90 and didn't absorb water well. It would be better for muffins than a pizza.  So, 00 is good, for a lighter puffier crust, but only if it has enough protein (gluten). It looks like the protein level should be around 11-12%, though in one of his videos Vito used a Mantoba which is very high protein (W up to 350!).  Fortunately, it turns out that our local store has some Anna's 00 flour, from Italy. It has a W factor of 270! This is what I will use today for the poolish. I think this is the same flour used in one of Vito's videos.
> 
> 
> Yes, that's the plan for today.


Vito actually did not use the manitoba flour, he just used that bag to explain the W. I think it's probably to strong. Remember you are making neopolitan pizza dough, not bread or NY pizza. This dough is pretty delicate.

I usually play the video when making the dough, with a lot of start and stops. It really helps. Be Gentle!


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## EbS-P (Jun 2, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Vito actually did not use the manitoba flour, he just used that bag to explain the W. I think it's probably to strong. Remember you are making neopolitan pizza dough, not bread or NY pizza. This dough is pretty delicate.
> 
> I usually play the video when making the dough, with a lot of start and stops. It really helps. Be Gentle!


You mean there might be a better flour that the 1.15$ a 5# bag I used last time   Costco AP flour or sams club bread flour were my next stops.   Like everything the last 10% takes the most work.  Starting with good flour is probably necessary if going for the Neapolitan route. My 100% whole wheat bread flour crust was about as far from light and delicate as you could get.   

 Right now it’s figuring out how to cook the quantity we eat as quickly as possible.     I’m not there yet.  I do like good food and am proficient enough on most of our staples but a good pizza I’m still working on.  If you like extra chewy whole wheat I made some decent progress on.  Can’t wait to really load the grill up with charcoal and get a good fast light and see how it goes.   Need to burn the rib grease off anyway!


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## begreen (Jun 3, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Yup that's what I use. Our shoprite sells it for $2.20 a bag on sale and $2.99 regular price. For that price it's not really worth mixing in regular AP flour for only 1 or 2 balls. Now EbSP  may want to with his 15-25 ball batches.


Great, that's encouraging. It sells for about $2 a pound locally whether in the 1kg or 11 kg bag. The poolish is in the fridge. Today we go for the pizza. I wrote down the instructions and will have my iPad there for guidance.

Here is what I captured from the video:

*Pizza Dough for 1-pie [2 pies] 12” size*



*Poolish prep – do this 16 - 24 hrs. beforehand*

100 [200] ml warm 90º water
2 [4] grams yeast
100 [200] grams 00 flour – W250?, high gluten (Anna)
a [2] dab honey

Mix the yeast into the room temp water
Mix a bit and add little honey
Add the flour and mix well for a minute or two
Cover and let it rest 1 hour at room temp, then 16-24 hrs. in the refrigerator

*Pizza Dough*

10 [20] grams cold water
5 [10] grams salt
60 [120] grams 00 flour
plus the polish

Mix the salt into the water
Add the salt water to the polish and mix
Mix in the flour, stir
Stretch and fold the dough repeatedly. It will be sticky. Add a little flour if it is really tacky. Work in the flour for a couple minutes.
Make it into a rough ball and cover for 15 minutes to let it rest.
Put some olive oil on your hands and pull/stretch the dough into a ball by tucking in the bottom
Oil the bowl with a little olive oil and put the formed dough ball in it
Cover and let it rest for 1-2 hrs. at room temp (the more hydration, the puffier the crust, less hydration makes a crunchier crust)
Put a batch of flour mixed with semolina on the board.
Dump the dough ball into the flour
Gently press the flour into it, flip and repeat a couple of times, forming the pizza shape, about 6-8” in diameter. Press the air out.
Move the flour out of the way and put the dough back on the board.
Use the right hand to press, the left hand to pull, as the dough is lifted off the table. Do this a few times to create the pizza shape.
With the right hand pressing lightly on the right side of the pizza dough, flip the dough over the right hand. Then, lift the left side with the left hand. Roll it down on the table.
Put on the sauce & cheese. Drizzle olive oil over the top.
Put a little flour at the beginning of the peel. Pinch the edge of the dough and then quickly slide the peel under the pizza. Stretch the pizza into a 12” final shape.
Bake, turning frequently in a hot oven


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## begreen (Jun 3, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> You mean there might be a better flour that the 1.15$ a 5# bag I used last time   Costco AP flour or sams club bread flour were my next stops.   Like everything the last 10% takes the most work.  Starting with good flour is probably necessary if going for the Neapolitan route. My 100% whole wheat bread flour crust was about as far from light and delicate as you could get.
> 
> Right now it’s figuring out how to cook the quantity we eat as quickly as possible.     I’m not there yet.  I do like good food and am proficient enough on most of our staples but a good pizza I’m still working on.  If you like extra chewy whole wheat I made some decent progress on.  Can’t wait to really load the grill up with charcoal and get a good fast light and see how it goes.   Need to burn the rib grease off anyway!


I haven't tried this, but my wife pointed out that you can buy gluten to add to say a 10% protein all-purpose flour to boost it up to around 12 or 13%. She has a jar of it from which she adds a little sometimes when making bread.


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## bigealta (Jun 3, 2022)

begreen said:


> I haven't tried this, but my wife pointed out that you can buy gluten to add to say a 10% protein all-purpose flour to boost it up to around 12 or 13%. She has a jar of it from which she adds a little sometimes when making bread.


you can probably skip 13 and 14, that's a bit more advanced stretch. If you find u don't need it skip it, just use your hands to push the air to the crust. After that you may find stretching will be too much and tear the dough.

And if u are cooking in home oven, just put sauce on dough and cook for 3-4 minutes at full blast 550F in my oven. 
(Vito shows that in later videos and it works much better.)

Pull out and turn broiler on Hi, and Make sure rack is 2nd level below Broiler.
Then add cheese and whatever else. 
Put pie back in till crust develops dark spots to your liking and the cheese melts.
If you use fresh Motz. then just melt it, not to bubbly, 3 ish minutes depending on your oven
Pull and enjoy!

If it's a disaster with the dough don't worry, it takes a bit (a lot) of practice. I still have major fails for various reasons.

Also if you use a wood peel and not a thin metal one, you can gently pick up the dough and place it on the peel. It's much easier, then put sauce on while on wooden peel, use plenty of semolina on wood peel so dough does not stick. Then don't waste time get it off the peel quickly into the oven. It will stick to peel if you are too slow.


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## begreen (Jun 3, 2022)

Thanks, I will have to watch the home oven video at some point. My wife prefers to make it our oven. 
Tonight's pizza will be in the Ooni, 700º stone temp, and about 1.5 minute bake time.


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## begreen (Jun 4, 2022)

I made pizza following the video directions by making the polish the day before and using a proper 00 flour (Anna) with about a 270 W rating. All went pretty well, but I had a hard time stretching it at the final step into a proper pizza shape. It kept wanting to shrink back. At one point, one of the pizzas started tearing.  I doubled the recipe which should have made two 12” pizzas but mine were more like 8-10”. 

I also need to perfect my oven technique. When cooking in a 750º oven you need to be right on it. The crust flavor was good, but could have baked a little more on top. It had some air pockets, but not like Vitos. It was denser. I am getting better at spinning it on the stone, but now I can see that I need to elevate it on the peel off the hot stone for the last 30 seconds so that the top can continue to bake without darkening the bottom. Also, I have a 16” peel and now think that a 12” peel would give me more wiggle room for manipulation inside the Ooni. Overall, I would give my first attempt about a 6 or 7. I will keep at it in hopes of pizza perfection one day.


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## bigealta (Jun 6, 2022)

begreen said:


> I made pizza following the video directions by making the polish the day before and using a proper 00 flour (Anna) with about a 270 W rating. All went pretty well, but I had a hard time stretching it at the final step into a proper pizza shape. It kept wanting to shrink back. At one point, one of the pizzas started tearing.  I doubled the recipe which should have made two 12” pizzas but mine were more like 8-10”.
> 
> I also need to perfect my oven technique. When cooking in a 750º oven you need to be right on it. The crust flavor was good, but could have baked a little more on top. It had some air pockets, but not like Vitos. It was denser. I am getting better at spinning it on the stone, but now I can see that I need to elevate it on the peel off the hot stone for the last 30 seconds so that the top can continue to bake without darkening the bottom. Also, I have a 16” peel and now think that a 12” peel would give me more wiggle room for manipulation inside the Ooni. Overall, I would give my first attempt about a 6 or 7. I will keep at it in hopes of pizza perfection one day.


Yes it takes a bunch of practice for sure. I would use the next level double fermentation recipe and method and just cut it in 1/2  if it's to much. The overnight makes a difference (2 nights even better). Stretching and handling the dough is a skill developed over time and much practice. Remember Vito is a pro and just like any sport or craft the pros make it look easy. But you will get great pizza, in not too long, if you want it.


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## begreen (Jun 6, 2022)

Yes, I need to learn more about the right feel and moisture content of the dough. He says add a little flour if necessary, but that is subjective. I will keep practicing and reading and watching.


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## bigealta (Jun 7, 2022)

For those who cold ferment their doughs. Nice test results.


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## Woodcutter Tom (Jun 7, 2022)

I just found this thread. Can't wait to read through and get your ideas and recipes. 

I have a Pizza Que. Paid about $95.00 for it 5 years ago at Cabela's.  I don't think they are made any more.  Works great for me.


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## begreen (Jun 7, 2022)

bigealta said:


> For those who cold ferment their doughs. Nice test results.



At what stage is this cold ferment? It looks like it is at the final stage which was 2 hrs. for me last week.  Visually, they all look good. The dough is more delicate after a week and it might taste better but they haven't perfected that part of YouTube yet. I would guess the 48 hr. might be the best?? I think I will try 24 hrs. with my batch this week.


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## EbS-P (Jun 7, 2022)

Fermenting the final dough balls seems like what I would want to do in big batches.  But you need space for the individual portions.   I can see fermting the poolish for several days then mixing the last bit of flour and water getting a colder result with much less fridge space.


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## bigealta (Jun 7, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> I can see fermting the poolish for several days then mixing the last bit of flour and water getting a colder result with much less fridge space.


If that worked the pros would already be doing that. They don't want to waste time and space either.

Poolish in Fridge for 16-24 hrs max.
Dough balls in fridge for 2-3 days is pretty ideal for me.
1, 2 or 3 days of dough balls in fridge is always better than no time in fridge in my experience.
Pull dough balls from fridge for 1 or 2 hours before you use them to let them come up to room temp.


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## bigealta (Jun 7, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> Fermenting the final dough balls seems like what I would want to do in big batches.


Yes, Re watch the Next level Double fermentation Video. 
The Bulk dough goes in the fridge overnight.
Then make balls next day and leave out on counter for 1-3 hours depending on air temps.


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## bigealta (Jun 7, 2022)

begreen said:


> At what stage is this cold ferment? It looks like it is at the final stage which was 2 hrs. for me last week.  Visually, they all look good. The dough is more delicate after a week and it might taste better but they haven't perfected that part of YouTube yet. I would guess the 48 hr. might be the best?? I think I will try 24 hrs. with my batch this week.


So for the small batches just make your 1 or 2 balls and put them in individual olive oil coated bowls in fridge for as long as you want (1 to 5ish days)


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## begreen (Jun 12, 2022)

A friend took his gas Weber to a new level with an easy modification. He took two firebricks and used them to straddle his pizza stone, then placed a cast iron griddle on top. The premise was to help retain the heat over the pizza better when the BBQ lid was opened. He sent me a picture last night. Reports are that it worked nicely at improving the evenness of pizza bake.


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## EbS-P (Jun 12, 2022)

We did 8 -14” pies on the Big Joe.  I don’t have a pizza stone big enough so I used an 1/8” pizza steel.  Ran between 700 and 800 dome temp.  It was a lot of pizza.  But once it’s up to temp why not keep on cooking.  Had 3 lunches left over.  

I wonder if the lidded method above would help me??  

Didn’t cook as fast as I thought it might.  6 minutes.  Great pizza though. 

Did the poolish on Monday dough balls Tuesday pizza Wednesday.  Restaurant dough boxes can fit inside my second fridge with a 5 gallon soda keg unhooked. Really  good crust.   Tad salty for my taste.  But was too wet. Need to cut water back by 5%.  Used recipe posted above times 12.  Used cheap AP flour. 

Pizza screens are not great for fast hot cooking I think.  But my dough being too wet maybe had something to do with it.    I’m not ditching the screens pies can sit for 30 on the screens before they cook and come out great.  I’m going to try a pizza stone I guess.  Probably will just get the big one made for the big Joe.  

Sold on the crust.  Not sold on poolish method yet.  If I can make dough balls on Monday and let them sit and get close to same results that will be much easier.


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## bigealta (Jun 13, 2022)

Just made the 1 dough recipe. Poolish used and then Dough Ball did a 4 day cold ferment in the fridge. Very delicate but probably the best tasting dough i've ever made. The 4 days vs 1 or even 2 day cold ferment is the difference for me.


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## bigealta (Jun 13, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> We did 8 -14” pies on the Big Joe.  I don’t have a pizza stone big enough so I used an 1/8” pizza steel.  Ran between 700 and 800 dome temp.  It was a lot of pizza.  But once it’s up to temp why not keep on cooking.  Had 3 lunches left over.
> 
> I wonder if the lidded method above would help me??
> 
> ...


AP flour is why it was too wet. Yes try less water. Not sure how poolish is difficult? Don't think it could be any easier. 
Get some Anna 00 flour and just make 1 or 2 balls just so you can see, feel, and taste the difference.

Also i would not opt for a stone, but rather a piece of steel or even lodge makes a cast iron flat pan.

Have u tried cooking directly on your 1/8 steel?


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## EbS-P (Aug 10, 2022)

Here’s a cowboy cooking pizza.   Beginning to think I need a BIG Dutch oven.


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## EbS-P (Aug 10, 2022)

bigealta said:


> AP flour is why it was too wet. Yes try less water. Not sure how poolish is difficult? Don't think it could be any easier.
> Get some Anna 00 flour and just make 1 or 2 balls just so you can see, feel, and taste the difference.
> 
> Also i would not opt for a stone, but rather a piece of steel or even lodge makes a cast iron flat pan.
> ...


Im two 5# bags and a do Joe pizza cooker accessory later.  Things I’ve learned.

  I don’t have a good dough recipe yet. Making progress one one that takes a 5# sack.    

The do Joe does a much better job at multiple pizzas. Best thicker crust pizzas I’ve ever made.  

And the poolish is an extra step that I don’t need.  Today I added the second portion of flour to it and it ended up lumpy.  An extra large capacity mixer would be nice it won’t happen. 

The one perfect napoleon pizza is possible my quantity vs quality balance at this point and for the foreseeable future leans towards quantity.


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## bigealta (Aug 11, 2022)

Cowboy Ken is a fun guy but definitely not the Pizza guy. That is more like cardboard casserole.
I'll stick with Vito as a 3rd generation Italian pizza guy for my pizza how to lessons.

Ebs - but that pizza you just made looks good.


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## EbS-P (Aug 11, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Cowboy Ken is a fun guy but definitely not the Pizza guy. That is more like cardboard casserole.
> I'll stick with Vito as a 3rd generation Italian pizza guy for my pizza how to lessons.
> 
> Ebs - but that pizza you just made looks good.


Tasted good too!


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## begreen (Aug 11, 2022)

I am still working with Anna's flour. The poolish is easy. The main variable is the dough after the 2+ day cold rise. Working on that. The last time it was too stick and I added flour, but then it got kind of tough to work with. I probably should have used a rolling pin at that point, but I am trying to learn the press and stretch technique.


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## bigealta (Aug 11, 2022)

begreen said:


> I am still working with Anna's flour. The poolish is easy. The main variable is the dough after the 2+ day cold rise. Working on that. The last time it was too stick and I added flour, but then it got kind of tough to work with. I probably should have used a rolling pin at that point, but I am trying to learn the press and stretch technique.


Yeah pressing out takes practice. You can probably skip the stretching part. I do. Just pressing gets me to the right size pizza for whatever amount of dough i have.


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## EbS-P (Aug 11, 2022)

Tonight’s run.   Looks good. 24+ hour poolish then dough balls made and rested for another day or two. 5# of flour makes 9 370g balls.  The smaller 5 got a knees yesterday just to see what that did. 

Will make thick 12” or thin 14-16” pizzas.  Cooked at 650 last time will push closer to 700 the max temp of the doJoe  tonight.  There is a big difference in heat output using regular lump and the XL lump premium charcoal.  As charcoal this stuff feels as  dense as my live oak.

Edit… I really like the dough boxes. I have two.   I press out in the top one that acts as a lid.  It contains the mess well.


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## bigealta (Aug 11, 2022)

I use this 6” stainless walboard spackle knife. To handle the dough and get it out of boxes like yours or sheet pan.


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## begreen (Aug 12, 2022)

bigealta said:


> Yeah pressing out takes practice. You can probably skip the stretching part. I do. Just pressing gets me to the right size pizza for whatever amount of dough i have.


Will try that, the last time it kept stretching back to the smaller size.  I ended up with 12" pizzas.


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## bigealta (Aug 14, 2022)

begreen said:


> Will try that, the last time it kept stretching back to the smaller size.  I ended up with 12" pizzas.


That's usually when it has not fully warmed up after cold ferment. The Italians call it "nervous" dough.


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## EbS-P (Aug 14, 2022)

The second  and very light knead was good.  I’d will repeat that the day before the cool next time.  Bread flour made a chewier crust.  Not as light as the AP.   Makes sense.   

My understanding 00 is the sifting size and related to protein content.   Is that correct?


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## begreen (Aug 14, 2022)

bigealta said:


> That's usually when it has not fully warmed up after cold ferment. The Italians call it "nervous" dough.


LOL, my dough was shaking in its boots, but I think I was the one that was nervous.


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## bigealta (Aug 15, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> The second  and very light knead was good.  I’d will repeat that the day before the cool next time.  Bread flour made a chewier crust.  Not as light as the AP.   Makes sense.
> 
> My understanding 00 is the sifting size and related to protein content.   Is that correct?


This gives an idea, but if you read the comments it's not entirely correct and misses some points. And the pizza in their pic shows they are not making Neapolitan pizza. At least not a good one.









						What Is 00 Flour — Pizza and Pasta Flour
					

The answer is obviously homemade pizza.




					www.thekitchn.com


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## Woodcutter Tom (Aug 24, 2022)

Made this pizza last night on my Pizza Cue.  5-6 minute cook time.  King Arthur 00 flour with 26 hour rise and 4 hour proof.   Dang tasty.

Evan; FYI: I had a kamado grill years back. Did ribs, pulled pork, pizzas etc.  Still have a junior model. This was a website where I learned a bunch of stuff.  Kamadoguru.com.  Has sections for every different model, plus lots of recipes.


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## begreen (Nov 14, 2022)

Argh. Revisiting Vito's videos and I see he repeatedly makes a similar mistake over several different videos. When he calls out the amount of water he says milligrams instead of milliliters. Big difference! I think this is what has messed up my dough.
He does it here at 4:10. 

Looks like I have to go back now and correct my 2 ball recipe.


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## bigealta (Nov 15, 2022)

Yeah never picked that up. He meant 400 grams. It was correct in the printed recipe.
400ml of water = 400grams of water


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## bigealta (Nov 15, 2022)

Again just do everything in grams. weigh everything - water, flour, salt, honey. Simple and no mistakes.


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## begreen (Nov 18, 2022)

Question: After the 48 hr second fermentation, do you let the dough come up to room temp before making it into the pizza?


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## EbS-P (Nov 18, 2022)

begreen said:


> Question: After the 48 hr second fermentation, do you let the dough come up to room temp before making it into the pizza?


If it’s a wet dough I like to work it cooler not fridge temps but less than room temp.   I like to work it room temp if I can as I think it stretches easier.


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## begreen (Nov 18, 2022)

EbS-P said:


> If it’s a wet dough I like to work it cooler not fridge temps but less than room temp.   I like to work it room temp if I can as I think it stretches easier.


In the video, Vito took his wettest (1 week) dough ball and slapped it down into a mess of flour. Then he pressed it into rough shape and flipped over into the same pile of flour, dusting it with more flour. Unfortunately, he neglected to say how long it had been out of the refrigerator.


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## begreen (Nov 20, 2022)

After a 2 day cold rise, I let the dough balls warm up for an hour, then proceeded to make the pizza using Vito's method of slapping them down in a pile of flour, then flipping it over. The dough was much more relaxed and easier to form into the pizza round. No tears this time. They cooked up better, but nothing as beautiful as Vito's or bigealta's. I still have to master the hot stone in the Ooni. It's hard to see what the backside of the pizza is doing and I need a smaller round turning peel. That said, these were my most successful pizzas to date. I will persist.


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## bigealta (Nov 21, 2022)

begreen said:


> After a 2 day cold rise, I let the dough balls warm up for an hour, then proceeded to make the pizza using Vito's method of slapping them down in a pile of flour, then flipping it over. The dough was much more relaxed and easier to form into the pizza round. No tears this time. They cooked up better, but nothing as beautiful as Vito's or bigealta's. I still have to master the hot stone in the Ooni. It's hard to see what the backside of the pizza is doing and I need a smaller round turning peel. That said, these were my most successful pizzas to date. I will persist.


Nice, And yes let the dough warm up. An hour or 2 or even 3 if your kitchen is cold. Be careful with the slap, you want to keep all the air in the dough. Gentle i think at this point is the biggest thing to get that really nice airy puffy crust. 
And even if they don't look perfect i bet they taste awsome.


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