Weber Pizza Feast

[Binnatics]

PZ Inspired me big time with his Pizza adventures.
Pizza has always been my favourite dish and I love to make them. So far I've only been able to do that in a kitchen electric oven (or hot air oven) but recently I bought a Weber Charcoal BBQ which makes it possible to simulate a true Pizza oven.  :-X ^-^

Here's some pictures on my first adventures making them:

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The Preparation: This is what my kitchen looked like before starting.

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The Dough: Nicely risen and ready for the process.

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The Weber BBQ: There's where the magic should take place.

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The Pizza Stone: You just lay it over the BBQ so that it becomes like the oven floor.

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The Inspiration:  8)

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The Cooking Assistant: The queen of the garden and allower of whatever I do in there.

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The Fire: Real flames permitting Real taste to burn into these Pizzas :-X

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The Pizza: This is what it looked like just before putting it into the heat.

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The Pizza: What's left of it. We were so in a hurry to try the taste of our first stone-baked Pizza that I couldn't wait until after the picture, heheh

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Here's our second try ^-^

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And this was the last one. It's still laying inside the BBQ, waiting to be taken out.

The taste is delicious. Especially the bottom gets a nice, crispy structure and the taste is larded with fire; smoky and warm. It's an easy process compared to baking Pizzas in a normal kitchen oven. The great thing about it is that you can prepare the Pizzas one by one, and have a pleasant conversation meanwhile. It takes like max. 5 minutes to bake the pizza when the BBQ is nicely hot (250 / 300 degrees Celcius) so you can prepare the next one while you're cooking the first.
The hardest part of the process is to bring the Pizza from the preparing place to the Pizza stone. It's still very weak and when you try to pick it up with the shovel (I used a piece of cardboard) it tends to double or fold. When you have it on the shovel finally and want to lay it on the stone, it tends to stick to the shovel and you may loose some of the ingredients :-D
Quickness is the ticket here. I guess you'll have to develop skill to get good at it, and it may help if I buy one of these Pizza shovels instead of the piece of cardboard I'm using now ;)

[PZ]

Great story, Binn and your pizzas look fantastic!  I'm drooling as I can almost taste what you have created.  :-X

Get a pizza peel my friend; it is well worth the effort.  Here is where I bought my supplies.  Have you tried cornmeal on the cardboard so the pizza doesn't stick?

[Art Blade]

very nice, Binnatics :) And as PZ suggested, dust the shovel (cardboard) with flour so the pizza slips off of it easily.

[Binnatics]

I did use flour to make it non-sticky and that helps a lot. But still, it's kind of tricky. I think you need sufficient speed when you put the shovel under it, or when you pull it out. That's kind of hard when using a cardboard piece. I wanted to buy that iron version Weber made, but it's a bit small. I might try to make something myself, since it's simple; a flat metal plate with a good handle.  :)

[Art Blade]

you could, just for testing purposes, start with a range of number plates to be found in your local vicinity. A word of advice: consider avoiding your immediate neighbours for a few days or weeks. :-()

[PZ]

I wanted to buy that iron version Weber made, but it's a bit small. I might try to make something myself, since it's simple; a flat metal plate with a good handle.  :)

You might consider cornmeal because the granules are larger thereby acting more like ball bearings.  We too tried flour in the beginning, but if the dough is on it just a second too long then the flour dampens and it sticks.  We also use a wooden peel to put the pizza in the oven liberally sprinkled with the cornmeal. the neutral temperature of the wooden peel seems to reduce sticking, and now plan to use the long handled metal peel to position, turn, and remove the cooked pizza.

[Art Blade]

There's still the old frisbee option.

With a proper propellent swing and a flight pattern resembling a mellow arc you fling the uncooked pizza into place while the stunned audience will drop their jaws in utter disbelief of such masterly display of unexpected yet appropriate measures of doing it just right. :-D

[Binnatics]

There's still the old frisbee option.

With a proper propellent swing and a flight pattern resembling a mellow arc you fling the uncooked pizza into place while the stunned audience will drop their jaws in utter disbelief of such masterly display of unexpected yet appropriate measures of doing it just right. :-D

:-X

Or the boomerang option, so that the frankly fried Pizza will fold in the feast of salivating holes to make it a jaw-breaking serve  ::)

I might indeed use the cornmeal instead ;)

[PZ]

I'm glad that you're having so much fun with your grilled pizza; there is something special about cooking and eating outdoors that can't be replicated inside.  ;)

[Art Blade]

agree :-D

Binnatics, you might have to try the following because your "jaw-breaking serve" for some reason reminded me of tennis. A smashing success if the ball of dough is given a good walloping and a rather brutal service with an old wooden racket and slammed onto the stone plate, throw up (into the air, not what you just ate) a red bell pepper and give it a swift overhead service so the red chopped sticks come raining down as a topping on the cowpat-shaped dough, burn the whole thing to ashes and blow it at your horrified guests.  :-()

[PZ]

Now, that would be a sight to see  ;)

You might also try at least one pizza cooked directly on the grill (with the top kept off).  What we do is put the dough without any toppings directly onto the hot grate (sprayed or mopped with a bit of oil so it doesn't stick).  Keep track of it so it doesn't burn and turn when it is just done on the heated side, then put all your toppings immediately on.  When the heat has melted the cheese the pizza is done, and the crust is unlike anything I've ever eaten.  Crispy and slightly smoky with beautiful grill marks, it is certainly a different taste treat.

[Art Blade]

for reasons unknown I'd like to eat pizza right now. *sigh*

[PZ]

Me too... I'm drooling for the savory toppings of a perfectly crisp pizza  :-X

[mandru]

I'm not real crazy about thin crackerlike crunchy pizza crust rather I much prefer a thicker firm substantial chewy bite.

Working for Domino's as a delivery driver for two years I came to appreciate the usage of a pizza screen which is typically a thin circular mesh/screen made more rigid by a solid metal rim around it's outside edge.  Almost any restaurant supply outlet should carry an assortment of sizes and a quick Google search turned up good sampling ranging from $3.50 to $9.95 USD.

The $23.32USD result from Sam's club looked way too thick with an almost hubcap like outer rim.  Paying more doesn't always mean better.

When you look at a new screen (if you can set it down on a flat surface will help) it will tend to slightly bow up or down in the center.  The side that bows downwards lifting the outer rim a bit will be the side you want down when you place the pizza on the pizza stone or in PZ's case the stone hearth.  The weight of the pizza will overcome the slight lift I mentioned caused by the screen having a top and bottom side.

For first time use a spritz of a non-stick vegetable oil spray (here in the U.S. I'd use PAM) and let it cure on the heat for five or six minutes.  Once cured like this you can cook dozens of pies without having to respray or at least until you wash the screen.

Benefits of using a screen?

* First off it makes moving the pizza from counter to your heat and getting it back out again to the cutting board with a wood or metal peel a breeze with a bit of practice.

* When slapping out your dough and have it about the right size drop it on the screen and stretch it to fit.  It's a lot easier to end up with a round pizza if you are fitting it to a screen.  ;)

* Spinning a pie in place in combination with a peel to regulate the heat becomes a lot easier.

* Removes the need for copious amounts of flour or cornmeal coating the bottom.  Cornmeal is gritty and just never tasted or felt that good to me on the bottom of loaves of bread or especially pizzas where its the first thing to hit my tongue.  :-D

* If the top of a pizza is cooking faster than the crust anytime after the first couple minutes the bottom of the crust is no longer doughy and won't stick to your stone so the screen can be pulled out from underneath it (using the peel to lift it off and return it to the heat).  Direct contact with the stone will cause the crust to cook faster.

                                             And the opposite side of that coin

For those who favor the barbarian sized garbage pizza absolutely loaded with a redonkulous amount of toppings.  An extra screen under the pizza (I've seen two extra screens used on a Domino's "Everything" pie) will provide more time for the top to cook without incinerating the crust.  :-X



My favorite thing to put into pizza?  My teeth of course.  >:D

[nexor]

Looks good Binn, what we did in the shop was to roll out the dough to the preferred thickness, then put it in the oven to prove for a minute or two, that depends entirely on you, the longer it proves the quicker your end result, before removing the proved dough from the oven sprinkle some cornflower as PZ suggested onto your worktop, then lay the dough on top and let it cool down, prevent sweating and the dough will not get soggy, it can also be stored in the fridge for at least a day or two lying flat. Once the dough has cooled down you can put your toppings on, it doesn't matter what you use to transport the pizza to the oven, just dust the top with a little baking flour and slide it under the pizza. Because the dough had been proved it will not collapse or break up.

The standard Pizza "paddle" as we call it is a round steel disk with a handle usually made from stainless steel, it should be slightly larger than what your biggest Pizza would be.

To make things easy for me, my dad used Masonite to cut disks for me for the three sizes of Pizzas we sold, that made it quick and easy to cut the dough after being rolled out.

[Binnatics]

Lol, we are a bunch of scientific ex-pizza-menters together! :-X ^-^

I like your (Domino's) approach Mandru, that seems to make w@&k a lot easier in many cases, and the fact that it's made of gauze / netting is perfect. It's like it isn't there to the fire :-X ^-^

Nex, Masonite's a good idea1 I might figure out if it's available here :-X :)

[nexor]

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This is mine, 380mm in diameter or 15 inches

[Binnatics]

That's a nice piece of hardware Nexor!!!  :-X :-X

[PZ]

It's only 9:30 AM here and I'm already ready for lunch

B-))

[nexor]

This paddle served an average of 50 Pizzas a day, six days a week, I had two of them