My Pit buddy CeramicChef asked a while ago if I would write a thread to explain what I feel is the best way to bake pizza in a Kamado cooker. Having baked bread on my BGE long before I tried pizza I had some of that experience to draw from. Baking bread and pizza is the same exact cook, just at different temperatures. The proceeding text is what I've learned in the last 5 years, bit by bit, through trial and error. I don't claim to be an expert at it but I've given it lots of thought.
Kamado cookers, we all know, are the Brick Ovens of the BBQ industry.
What is a brick oven and why are they so popular in the Pizzaria business?
The benefits of brick oven pizza...
Since the dawn of civilization, wood-fired brick ovens and pizza have been in existence. Discoveries of brick ovens have been made in the excavations of virtually every ancient culture. Today, the brick oven is as commonplace in Italy as the barbecue grill is elsewhere. There are many benefits of pizza made in a brick oven which cannot be duplicated in a conventional oven.
Higher cooking temperature Γ’β¬β Heat radiates out from the heat source (in this case, a wood fire), is spread around the oven, and ultimately absorbed by the interior brick walls. This heat radiates across the dome very evenly while the floor of the oven remains slightly cooler. When the oven gets really hot inside, the baking temperature can be anywhere between 570 and 660 degrees Fahrenheit. By keeping a continuous small fire going on inside the oven, these temperatures can be maintained. A really good pizza is made in this environment.
Faster cooking time Γ’β¬β Because of the high heat stored in the dense walls, the brick oven is designed to cook pizza very quickly. It takes approximately 2-3 minutes maximum for the pizza to cook. This is very economical if you need to cook a lot of pizzas!
Better crust Γ’β¬β At such high temperatures, the radiant heat from the fire and the heat bouncing off the inside walls of the oven crisps the outside of the pizza very quickly. Any moisture in the dough is thus sealed off. This prevents the base of the dough from becoming soggy and results in a flavorful crust thatβs puffy, yet soft and chewy.
Unique flavor Γ’β¬β Only a wood-fired brick oven pizza imparts that unique smoky flavor that cannot be reproduced in a normal kitchen oven. The high temperature produces other flavors not achieved by slow cooking. However, as heat destroys the flavor of olive oil, there is usually none contained in either the dough or the sauce. Instead, a good-quality olive oil is drizzled over the cooked pizza right before serving.
Crispier toppings Γ’β¬β The intense heat and constant airflow generated in the brick oven seals and cooks the toppings evenly and quickly. The vegetable toppings will be crispier than those produced on pizzas made in the oven. This quick cooking also allows the vitamins and other nutrients in the vegetables to remain. In addition, the cheese does not burn but, instead, lends itself to an appealing color and smoky flavor.
Owning a brick pizza oven has its own benefits; it is both economical and efficient. It is economical in that more than one pizza can be cooked at a time and foods other than pizza can be cooked inside. It is efficient as foods cook quicker, resulting in healthier ingredient and better tasting pizza. Not only that, but your friends and family will be so impressed!
So... With that said, we Kamado owners have the ultimate Brick/Ceramic oven ever created for baking pizza at high temperatures.
The key is to know how to use one to get the ultimate results.
I searched the Big Green Egg website for pizza baking information and found it completely wrong and unhelpful. I searched various websites looking for solid pizza baking information. Nothing! Anywhere.
So I set out to devise a way to use my BGE to my fullest advantage for baking pizza on my own. Understand that my bread baking knowledge was what told me that the BGE's website had no clue of how to bake pizza in the very product they created.
First I studied brick ovens to find out why bread bakers and pizza makers worshipped brick ovens. What I discovered was there was both high temperature radiant heat, high airflow, which produced convection heat too. Plus they used wood to heat up their ovens so you get a slight smokey flavor from them.
Brick Ovens have a similar shape as a Kamado with a pizza stone installed, kind of sort of, the dome shaped top is the key element there. Air comes through the big bottom vent in a brick oven bounces off the top of the dome and heads back down to smother the pizza with convection heat and then goes out the top vent... Just like a Kamado does. So I'm thinking I can set up my Kamado to replicate a brick oven, easy peasy. All I needed was lots of airflow and lots of pre-heating to get all of the Ceramics heated up to produce radiant heat.
Then I got to thinking about the airflow and exactly how that air would travel though my cooker. Logic told me that the new air would enter through the bottom vent and travel toward the back wall of the ceramic shell, that explains why the hot spot in a Kamado is always toward the back wall, and bounce upward through the lump, and then to the top of the roundish dome, and bounce back down toward the bread/pizza and the go up and out the top vent, in a circular motion. I visualized that happening in my mind... That told me I needed to elevate the pizza/bread up into the dome, about to the dome temperature gauge level, to have that convection heat hit the bread/pizza many times in that circular cycle. Thinking the combination of radiant heat from the ceramics and convection heat of the airflow was the magic for baking pizza and bread. Just like in a brick oven.
Having figured that out I deducted I needed to bake my bread/pizza without my top vent on at all. Thinking that step would greatly increase airflow through the cooker. After trying that I had a head slapper, ah ha, moment too. I realized I could peer through the top vent while my bread/pizza was baking to inspect its progress without opening the dome, which would cause me to lose the heat I had so diligently developed.
So... At the end of my research I deducted that to make my Kamado replicate a brick oven I needed to maximize the airflow. Use the radiant heat only a Kamado can give you and position my bread/pizza in a position to reap the benefit of the convection heat too.
I dump a full load of lump in. I mount the heat deflector. I put on the regular grate. I put the Grill Dome grate on top of the regular grate and put my pizza stone on top of that. That setup will place your pizza/bread at about the dome thermometer level. Which I also discovered had a hidden advantage too. When baking pizza or bread at 550Β° to 800Β° you can't use any external thermometers to track your cooking temp or you will fry them. The Tel-Tru thermometer is accurate at the level it is placed in the dome.
Another tip on baking pizza or bread... Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on your pizza peel to transfer your pizza onto the pizza stone instead of corn meal like most websites tell you to. The YUGE advantage to that method is if you have a hot spot and your pizza is browning unevenly, you open the dome, pinch the parchment with your thumb and finger and rotate it 180Β°.
I will also say this... You can bake pizza at 500Β° to 550Β° very successfully. However baking pizza at 650Β° is better. 800Β° for Neapolitan thin crust pizza is much, much better and also REQUIRED in Italy if you claim to sell Neapolitan pizza!
Notice the size of my 14" pizza stone. I used to have a wider one but I felt it restricted my airflow to much.
Here's my setup for pizza/bread cooks...
Kamado cookers, we all know, are the Brick Ovens of the BBQ industry.
What is a brick oven and why are they so popular in the Pizzaria business?
The benefits of brick oven pizza...
Since the dawn of civilization, wood-fired brick ovens and pizza have been in existence. Discoveries of brick ovens have been made in the excavations of virtually every ancient culture. Today, the brick oven is as commonplace in Italy as the barbecue grill is elsewhere. There are many benefits of pizza made in a brick oven which cannot be duplicated in a conventional oven.
Higher cooking temperature Γ’β¬β Heat radiates out from the heat source (in this case, a wood fire), is spread around the oven, and ultimately absorbed by the interior brick walls. This heat radiates across the dome very evenly while the floor of the oven remains slightly cooler. When the oven gets really hot inside, the baking temperature can be anywhere between 570 and 660 degrees Fahrenheit. By keeping a continuous small fire going on inside the oven, these temperatures can be maintained. A really good pizza is made in this environment.
Faster cooking time Γ’β¬β Because of the high heat stored in the dense walls, the brick oven is designed to cook pizza very quickly. It takes approximately 2-3 minutes maximum for the pizza to cook. This is very economical if you need to cook a lot of pizzas!
Better crust Γ’β¬β At such high temperatures, the radiant heat from the fire and the heat bouncing off the inside walls of the oven crisps the outside of the pizza very quickly. Any moisture in the dough is thus sealed off. This prevents the base of the dough from becoming soggy and results in a flavorful crust thatβs puffy, yet soft and chewy.
Unique flavor Γ’β¬β Only a wood-fired brick oven pizza imparts that unique smoky flavor that cannot be reproduced in a normal kitchen oven. The high temperature produces other flavors not achieved by slow cooking. However, as heat destroys the flavor of olive oil, there is usually none contained in either the dough or the sauce. Instead, a good-quality olive oil is drizzled over the cooked pizza right before serving.
Crispier toppings Γ’β¬β The intense heat and constant airflow generated in the brick oven seals and cooks the toppings evenly and quickly. The vegetable toppings will be crispier than those produced on pizzas made in the oven. This quick cooking also allows the vitamins and other nutrients in the vegetables to remain. In addition, the cheese does not burn but, instead, lends itself to an appealing color and smoky flavor.
Owning a brick pizza oven has its own benefits; it is both economical and efficient. It is economical in that more than one pizza can be cooked at a time and foods other than pizza can be cooked inside. It is efficient as foods cook quicker, resulting in healthier ingredient and better tasting pizza. Not only that, but your friends and family will be so impressed!
So... With that said, we Kamado owners have the ultimate Brick/Ceramic oven ever created for baking pizza at high temperatures.
The key is to know how to use one to get the ultimate results.
I searched the Big Green Egg website for pizza baking information and found it completely wrong and unhelpful. I searched various websites looking for solid pizza baking information. Nothing! Anywhere.
So I set out to devise a way to use my BGE to my fullest advantage for baking pizza on my own. Understand that my bread baking knowledge was what told me that the BGE's website had no clue of how to bake pizza in the very product they created.
First I studied brick ovens to find out why bread bakers and pizza makers worshipped brick ovens. What I discovered was there was both high temperature radiant heat, high airflow, which produced convection heat too. Plus they used wood to heat up their ovens so you get a slight smokey flavor from them.
Brick Ovens have a similar shape as a Kamado with a pizza stone installed, kind of sort of, the dome shaped top is the key element there. Air comes through the big bottom vent in a brick oven bounces off the top of the dome and heads back down to smother the pizza with convection heat and then goes out the top vent... Just like a Kamado does. So I'm thinking I can set up my Kamado to replicate a brick oven, easy peasy. All I needed was lots of airflow and lots of pre-heating to get all of the Ceramics heated up to produce radiant heat.
Then I got to thinking about the airflow and exactly how that air would travel though my cooker. Logic told me that the new air would enter through the bottom vent and travel toward the back wall of the ceramic shell, that explains why the hot spot in a Kamado is always toward the back wall, and bounce upward through the lump, and then to the top of the roundish dome, and bounce back down toward the bread/pizza and the go up and out the top vent, in a circular motion. I visualized that happening in my mind... That told me I needed to elevate the pizza/bread up into the dome, about to the dome temperature gauge level, to have that convection heat hit the bread/pizza many times in that circular cycle. Thinking the combination of radiant heat from the ceramics and convection heat of the airflow was the magic for baking pizza and bread. Just like in a brick oven.
Having figured that out I deducted I needed to bake my bread/pizza without my top vent on at all. Thinking that step would greatly increase airflow through the cooker. After trying that I had a head slapper, ah ha, moment too. I realized I could peer through the top vent while my bread/pizza was baking to inspect its progress without opening the dome, which would cause me to lose the heat I had so diligently developed.
So... At the end of my research I deducted that to make my Kamado replicate a brick oven I needed to maximize the airflow. Use the radiant heat only a Kamado can give you and position my bread/pizza in a position to reap the benefit of the convection heat too.
I dump a full load of lump in. I mount the heat deflector. I put on the regular grate. I put the Grill Dome grate on top of the regular grate and put my pizza stone on top of that. That setup will place your pizza/bread at about the dome thermometer level. Which I also discovered had a hidden advantage too. When baking pizza or bread at 550Β° to 800Β° you can't use any external thermometers to track your cooking temp or you will fry them. The Tel-Tru thermometer is accurate at the level it is placed in the dome.
Another tip on baking pizza or bread... Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on your pizza peel to transfer your pizza onto the pizza stone instead of corn meal like most websites tell you to. The YUGE advantage to that method is if you have a hot spot and your pizza is browning unevenly, you open the dome, pinch the parchment with your thumb and finger and rotate it 180Β°.
I will also say this... You can bake pizza at 500Β° to 550Β° very successfully. However baking pizza at 650Β° is better. 800Β° for Neapolitan thin crust pizza is much, much better and also REQUIRED in Italy if you claim to sell Neapolitan pizza!
Notice the size of my 14" pizza stone. I used to have a wider one but I felt it restricted my airflow to much.
Here's my setup for pizza/bread cooks...
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