First Kamado pizza cook

[PhilM]

So pleased with how this turned out. Great flavour and looks awesome. Easily my best ever Q cook. Absolute beginners luck with thanks to all the advice I’ve read on this forum. Blown away...

Mainly meat, a little mozzarella and cheddar with salami: Cooked at 550F for about 5 minutes.



The middle wasn’t quite as hot as the rest so I tried another. This time some cooked, spicy chicken with sweet peppers. Left this one in for 7 minutes and it was fabulous. Crispy base, piping hot all through and a really nice bbq character. Still at 550F:








I used semolina on the pizza stone and peel. No problems whatsoever with sticking base.

[hogdog6]

Delicious looking pizza

[Henrik]

That looks amazing! I haven’t done pizza on my BGE in a long time, inspiring!

[Attjack]

Nice. So you have to elevate the stone high into the dome to achieve even heat?

[PhilM]

My thinking was to try and not burn the base like I have dozens of times on my Weber kettle. I figured as it was my first Kamado pizza, I’d take baby steps. This will be my go-to pizza bake method going forward. Base was crispy and a really nice colour so I’ll try to repeat it a few times in the coming summer.

[EdF]

One thing I've done in addition to the grid extender is to cover the stone with foil while the egg is heating up. Then pull the foil just before adding the first pizza. Helps reduce the temp difference between the dome and stone.

[Skip]

Outstanding pizza PhilM !!

[RonB]

Great lookin' pies for sure.

[PhilM]

My work colleague bought a wood fired oven a couple of years ago and we’ve both struggled with producing great pizza. Our ethos was not to try and duplicate the mass produced pizzas from the big boys but to learn from them then adjust & adapt. We’ve spent nearly two years getting our pizzas round. We’re really pleased with our results now but still taking us far too long. Having my result from The Kamado cook is unbelievably encouraging. We’re going to try and translate that success to the wood fired oven. Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement.

[Skip]

Don't give up. Pizza on the Kamado is more fun than a person should have! There's lots of options out there.

[PhilM]

Skip, thank you for your reply. We’re not looking to produce a commercial pizza, just something we can achieve from humble, home-made beginnings to a pizza we’re proud to serve our families and friends.

Every little positive step is a real boost for us. Organic, free-range, home-cooked. We’re, hopefully, showing our kids what’s possible, (they can make their own decisions as they grow). In the UK this is a really hot topic.

Our Kamado pizza cook is awesome in encouragement. It’s not all about pizza either. We’re meat eaters. We just want to do it with respect to those animals that we’re consuming.

[SmokeyGator]

Nice! My first pizza attempt turned out a little bit overdone, but still good.

My second attempt......not so well. I ttried to do 2 at once, using the heat deflectors as a pizza stone. I turned one pizza into lump charcoal. So don't do that

[PhilM]

Been there, done that, many times. Always learned something.

[Medusa]

Very nicely done! I also use semolina on the peel and it works very well! I think your 7 minutes at 550 really does it...

Carrabbas wood-fired oven is about 600; Certified Margherita is 905 minimum. Recipes from Ken Forkish use 550 in the home oven.

Your 2nd crust looks spot-on!

Here's a rig that uses a Vortex with a Lodge Cast Iron 14" Pan on top. The Vortex was used for elevation only...



IMHO, the pizza could've cooked a few minutes longer ...



FYI, I replaced an older pizza stone with a baking steel when the stone broke in half a few years back.

Have Fun!

--Ed

[Thunder77]

Great looking pizza! I love kamado pizza baking. One thing you can do if you have to cook lower down is use two stones with an air gap in between them. It helps keep the bottom from burning. But you did a beautiful job!

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!