Lodge pizza pan or Big Green Egg Stone or something else?
Looking for something new for making pizzas. I’m trying to decide between the BGE stone and Lodge baking pan. I like thin crust pizzas for what is worth. Which one would you recommend or is there something different that works best?
Cooking gadgets
Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Center
Weber Summit Platinum D6
Blue Rhino Razor
Dyna-Glo XL Premium Dual Chamber
Camp Chef Somerset IV along with their Artisan Pizza Oven 90
Anova WiFi
Thermometers
Thermapen Mk4 - ThermaQ High Temp Kit - ThermaQ Meathead Kit - ThermaQ WiFi - ThermoWorks IR-GUN-S - ThermoWorks Signals & Billows - ThermoPop -ThermoWorks ProNeedle - ThermoWorks TimeStick Trio x2 - and a Christopher Kimball timer - NO, I do not work for ThermoWorks...I just like their products.
Other useful bits...
KitchenAid 7-qt Pro Line stand mixer
A Black & Decker food processor that I can't seem to murder
A couple of immersion blenders, one a "consumer" model & the other a "high end" Italian thing. Yes, the Italian one is a bit better, but only marginally
Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus 8-qt + accessories like egg-bite & egg holders
All-Clad pots & pans, along with some cast iron...everything from 7" Skookie pans to 8.5qt Dutch ovens
Weber GBS griddle, pizza stone, and wok
Knives range from Mercer to F. Dick to "You spent how much for one knife? One knife?!" LOL
I've only ever used stones...but I like the idea of the durability of CI.
That said, with the lip on there it seems it would be more difficult to lift it off. For a thick crust that might not be as much an issue, but a thin crust might be burnt long before it could be extricated from those confines.
Another option, which I have personally not used but some swear by, is a baking steel. It ups the ante over the Lodge but offers similar properties I would think...along with being able to use a regular peel to lift the finished pizza off. https://www.amazon.com/Baking-Steel-...lbonsitepub-20
Last edited by surfdog; February 23, 2020, 05:54 PM.
Reason: Shpelling ;-)
The nice thing about a cast iron pizza pan is that it's useful for other things than pizza. I use mine as a griddle on my Weber, as a plancha for making tortillas, I've roasted veggies on it in the oven, and I'm sure I'll find other things to use it for. Eventually probably even pizza.
I tried the Lodge CI stone last year. I had a problem with burning the bottom of the crust with it. The Ci is great for smash burgers, blackening steaks, and most things you would use a griddle for. I use a Cast Elegance ceramic stone now for pizza and have nothing but good things to say about it.
depends what your cooking it on. I tried a papered chef. It exploded in a large egg. The bge stone can handle the heat and is much much thicker. On an egg raising anything up even with the edge helps. Trying to get under the pizza if its recessed is a challenge. I tried some cast iron stuff. If the pizza is larger than the CI it's a challenge, if any of this helps.
I love the Lodge pizza pan. Advantages are that it will never break, and it doubles as a griddle. I preheat mine just like you would a stone, and then put the pizza dough on it, build the pizza, then back into the grill or into the oven.
Edit:
Our process to-date has been to preheat the Lodge to 450 or 500 in the oven. I just put it in there cold when I turn the oven on. Once its all hot, I stretch the pizza dough roughly into shape on a floured surface, then we pull the Lodge, and put it on a silicone trivet on the counter (tiled counter that can take some heat as well), and we move the crust there, push the edges into place with a spoon or something to avoid burning fingers, spread sauce and add toppings. Things are starting to cook while you do this. Then back into the oven for until things look good, 10-15 I would guess. We then pull it, the first pizza slides off easily onto a cookie sheet, and we do the second one.
I plan to purchase a second one next time I catch it on sale, so that we can do two pizzas at once. Then again, any time I try that, the pizza on the lower rack always takes longer. I also plan to eventually try this on my kettle, and think I will use the SNS to do indirect as hot as I can make it, maybe with the Lodge elevated on my Hover Grill. I bought the Lodge to replace a stone that cracked years ago.
Last edited by jfmorris; February 24, 2020, 08:15 AM.
jfmorris You pretty much nailed it! The Hover Grill does a great job on the 26" Weber of getting the pizza up near the dome. I love my Lodge pizza iron and it is probably one of the better accessories I have asked for a Christmas present. We also like to use it for smash burgers.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
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Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
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FireBoard (Base Package)
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Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
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I would go with the stone if it were me. The thickness of the stone is great and it will hold even more heat than the cast iron pan from Lodge. I have them both and I love the Lodge, but when it comes to pizza on my BGE, I always use the stone.
The stone won't burn your crust as quickly as the metal options, but inside a grill the heat alone can crack a stone. I switched to baking steels on the grill after over heating and cracking a thick corderite stone.
We had a pizza stone but it cracked, we now have a Lodge cast iron pan and we like it and we have had good success using it we bought it at Target. We have not used it for anything else yet. We make the pizza on the pan then put it in the oven in about 20 min we have good pizza. We put corn meal under the pizza.
I have the Italia Pizza oven attachment for my camp chef. It's a stone, and have had it over 1000° many times, no issues. The key it heating it up slowly (those camp chef burners put on a LOT of heat), and making sure is it really dry before putting the gas to it.
I will use any option from a stone (thermarite), CI and or a screen. The CI is my go to for most of the time. I will use the stone set up in my grill with a makeshift oven attachment to it. I can get my chargriller up to 700F in the summertime, this time of year, it's hit or miss. I still need to clean up the cut on the opening, but it works quite well. I will also use the screen on my smoker and make some pies that way.
One thing to consider - the Lodge pan has that lip round it which will make it pretty hard to use a pizza peel if you ever want to. I used to have 2 ceramic pizza stones, but when 1 broke I decided to switch to unbreakable steel that still works with a peel.
Thanks everyone for the input. I’ve started down this pizza making rabbit hole after posting this question. I’ve read a lot of stuff on here, checked out reddit, and visited pizzamaking.com. All this has led me to realize I have no idea how I want to make pizza and I certainly don’t know what I want to bake it on lol. Maybe I can sell my golf clubs and buy all the options people mentioned.
Haha its not that hard. Just start with a recipe for dough, some toppings, and any ole pan. I like my Lodge, but the first few times I made it, I used a Lodge 12" CI skillet. Use a pan, skillet, whatever to get started - no big investment needed.
Yep, what he said. Any relatively flat pan with work. As with most things, specialized gear can often make the task easier...but they’re not essential.
Make a couple and then determine what would best serve your needs & budget. Then you’ll be able to make an informed purchase and know you got it right.
BGE accessories are way overpriced. I've owned a Pizzacraft cordierite stone (around $50) for three years. It lives 24/7 in the oven and has held up "perfectly".
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