caliking
06-30-2010, 02:55 PM
Hello Brethren.
Begging your forgiveness, but no pron this time:icon_blush:. I assure you it did happen, but it was one of those first-time cooks, where I was focusing on strategy (timing between making dough, making sauce, cutting veg, starting fire, etc.), so I wasn't thinking about photo documentation :doh:.
I made a half all-purpose flour/half whole wheat dough for the crust and threw some rosemary from the garden in. I used the Cook's Illustrated 75-minute dough recipe. The key is to heat your oven to 200F, then turn it off and let the dough rise in it for 40 mins. The sauce was from Contadina crushed tomatoes in puree, Italian seasoning, with extra garlic and a splash of olive oil.
My pizza stone is kinda thin and cheap and I've never been quite happy with it. After reading about one of the brethren who saw folks making pizza on the grill using a cast iron skilled turned over, I went to Academy Sports and bought a cast iron skillet lid ~15" for ~$15 vs more $$ for a cast iron skillet of that size. I had also recently bought a 15" griddle for about $20 from an Indian store, which I had intended to use as a lid for my tandoor, but discovered that it made an awesome pizza peel as well (flat, round, same size as cast iron skillet lid, has a handle).
Opened all the bottom vents on the kettle grill set an upside-down deep aluminium foil pie pan in the middle of the charcoal grate. Then poured a third of a bag of Kingsford Comp briquets around the pie pan, to make a ring of charcoal. Lit up a chimney full of briquets and then poured them in the kettle when ready. Placed the cooking grate on, with the overturned cast iron skillet lid set on 2 bricks (to keep it level). Opened the top vent and
then let the charcoal fire up and the cast iron lid warm up for 40-45 minutes. The Trager thermometer on the kettle lid maxed out - I think it may have hit 600-700F.
Made 2 pizzas - first was a margherita (fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella from costco, tomatoes, sauce), the seconda was random (red bell pepper, basil, mushroom, parm, sauce). Left the first one on for 10mins - the top looked great, but half of the bottom of the crust burned. The second pizza was cooked for 5mins and still the crust burned ( but less than the first one). Cut off the burned sections and salvaged the rest. They tasted absolutely awesome!
What I learned:
- 2-3 mins might be enough to cook the pizzas.
- Seasoning the cast iron lid may be necessary (apparently it was pres-seasoned, non-Lodge though)
- Schedule of events should be : start the sauce, make the dough, start the fire, cut the veg (unless you want to eat dinner at 11pm like we did :becky:.
I'm new to making pizza on the kettle, so any tips would be appreciated. Would like to try firing with wood for a more authentic wood-fired flavor. Will work on generating some pron next time!
Begging your forgiveness, but no pron this time:icon_blush:. I assure you it did happen, but it was one of those first-time cooks, where I was focusing on strategy (timing between making dough, making sauce, cutting veg, starting fire, etc.), so I wasn't thinking about photo documentation :doh:.
I made a half all-purpose flour/half whole wheat dough for the crust and threw some rosemary from the garden in. I used the Cook's Illustrated 75-minute dough recipe. The key is to heat your oven to 200F, then turn it off and let the dough rise in it for 40 mins. The sauce was from Contadina crushed tomatoes in puree, Italian seasoning, with extra garlic and a splash of olive oil.
My pizza stone is kinda thin and cheap and I've never been quite happy with it. After reading about one of the brethren who saw folks making pizza on the grill using a cast iron skilled turned over, I went to Academy Sports and bought a cast iron skillet lid ~15" for ~$15 vs more $$ for a cast iron skillet of that size. I had also recently bought a 15" griddle for about $20 from an Indian store, which I had intended to use as a lid for my tandoor, but discovered that it made an awesome pizza peel as well (flat, round, same size as cast iron skillet lid, has a handle).
Opened all the bottom vents on the kettle grill set an upside-down deep aluminium foil pie pan in the middle of the charcoal grate. Then poured a third of a bag of Kingsford Comp briquets around the pie pan, to make a ring of charcoal. Lit up a chimney full of briquets and then poured them in the kettle when ready. Placed the cooking grate on, with the overturned cast iron skillet lid set on 2 bricks (to keep it level). Opened the top vent and
then let the charcoal fire up and the cast iron lid warm up for 40-45 minutes. The Trager thermometer on the kettle lid maxed out - I think it may have hit 600-700F.
Made 2 pizzas - first was a margherita (fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella from costco, tomatoes, sauce), the seconda was random (red bell pepper, basil, mushroom, parm, sauce). Left the first one on for 10mins - the top looked great, but half of the bottom of the crust burned. The second pizza was cooked for 5mins and still the crust burned ( but less than the first one). Cut off the burned sections and salvaged the rest. They tasted absolutely awesome!
What I learned:
- 2-3 mins might be enough to cook the pizzas.
- Seasoning the cast iron lid may be necessary (apparently it was pres-seasoned, non-Lodge though)
- Schedule of events should be : start the sauce, make the dough, start the fire, cut the veg (unless you want to eat dinner at 11pm like we did :becky:.
I'm new to making pizza on the kettle, so any tips would be appreciated. Would like to try firing with wood for a more authentic wood-fired flavor. Will work on generating some pron next time!