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Why I thought the hottest day of the summer that I'd make bread and 2 pizzas I'll never know. I guess it must have been the thought of trying a tip Syzygies mentioned. He used a controller to keep the KK steady at 450F for a bread bake. I figured that I might as well do pizzas since the KK was already hot. I didn't up the temp after the bread bake and next time I will bump it to 475F. I just wasn't sure there would be enough lump left to do that but I am pretty sure there would have been. I have not used this controller for 5+ years but it still worked perfectly. Bread ready to bake. Baked. The crumb. Pizza 1 These little tomatoes just give you a burst of warm juice when you bite into them. Pizza 2

Hi all, Just pulled the trigger on a 23. Had an egg for years. Looking forward to cooking with my KK in Delaware

Hi Kevin, I have used my cold smoker when doing low and slow cooks between 225 and 275. It works great. I use a combination of pellets and wood chips. I like the fact that I can add smoking wood without opening the lid on my KK. Be careful adding wood to the cold smoker when it has been running for a while. The lid gets very hot! I like the fact that the smoke travels through the fire which burns off the volatiles giving you nice thin blue smoke from the get go.

Went with terra blue with a pair of side tables

And YES, the beer was named Purple Crack at our Festival on Saturday. It went over well. When there are over 100 other beers being poured, you have to get folks' attention somehow and a catchy name is always a good trick. There's a gallon or two left and it's going to another Festival this Saturday.

Hatch chiles arrived at the local supermarket last week. Bought 3 lbs. Finally got around to roasting 2 1/2 lbs today. The other 1/2 lb was put up fresh. I made the cage for the rotisserie basket last year out of 1/2" wire fabric. Works great for this application.

I came up with the smoke pot. I've been meaning to try the cold smoker, I just haven't. The cold smoker is a sure thing. There's an art to coaxing the right amount of smoke from the smoke pot. It appeals to those who find open smoldering wood unacceptably smoky, but some people have trouble getting the smoke pot going. Best practice gets a small hot fire under where the pot goes. When I've added a smoke pot after the fire was already stable, I sometimes preheat it, e.g. in a small Weber. The cold smoker uses the same port as a BBQ Guru would, and I'm hooked on the Guru. However, one can adjust the steady flow of air provided by the smoker, and (I'm told) control your fire quite accurately this way. The oxygen supply is consistent, and the heat produced by your fire is pure physics based on available fuel (plenty) and oxygen (limited). Still, one has to be around. The KK needs less heat production after it stabilizes, which takes quite a while. I set my Guru and disappear. (In a dream world a BBQ Guru-like controller adjusts the cold smoker airflow. No one's built that yet. It isn't exactly a PID controller, because the airflow is continuous, not on/off. This should make it an easy Arduino project (for example) as one is simply watching and correcting the rate of flow.)

Biggest advantage is that you can add more fuel to the cold smoker if it is needed, can't do this very easily with the smoke pot.

Great looking bread and pizza MacKenzie!

Great pics, as usual, MacKenzie. You're a Pro!

This turned out fantastic Santa Maria Tri Tip can't wait to eat some more. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Also get MORE coffee char! Both are wonderful but I go through 2-3x as much coffee char as cocochar (certainly cook dependent). Ditto @MacKenzie comments all things baking atop a KK stone ... especially the shaped stone as it is even thicker: A must have. There are some things all things cooking related I can imagine doing without. But my 23" KK isn't one of them! And it isn't just for grilling. As wonderful it is for laying down wonderful maillard effect, smoke ring, etc., on protein of choice its an even better baking vessel. Biscotti, souffles, pies, etc. are no match for it compared to ANY oven/griller I've owned/own. Congratulations on your decision @Cottonswab and prepare to feel like a 'kid at Christmas' ... for a LONG time!

My mouth is watering! That bread and those pizzas looks soooo yummy!

Great looking bread and pizzas. I don't currently have a pc (it died a while ago). So I'm always checking on my phone. I do use a tablet for editing my pictures. Just easier on a bigger device and the brightness is probably closer to what someone would see if they viewed it on a pc.

When I do low and slow, I generally use cocochar and add in 1-2 large chunks of smoking wood for flavor. Let's just say 'oak' for the sake of this discussion... I usually heat soak the KK, then add the oak chunks about 45 minutes before I want to put the meat on...to give it time for the smoke to mellow out. Do you too hate waiting for the oak to get through that initial acrid / big white billowy smoke phase? Well, I've recently started 'pre-charring' the chunks with a MAAP torch, very quickly, just blackening all sides... Guess what...smoke is clean and blue from that point forward... I can't believe I didn't think to try this before. I've done it 3 times now with great results. And no, if it fully ignites, it won't instantly burn up, just take the torch off of it and flip it with a pair of tongs...when you close the lid it will settle. There are always remnants of these large chunks in the basket the next day if I've remembered to shut everything down -- so this doesn't accelerate the burn rate of the chunks enough to matter to your cook.

Impressive. I'm usually scanning these post on a phone but tonight I'm on a big screen and these shots are great. Can't wait to do pizza ...

TY @dstr8 a few batches every summer just enough tide me over until next summer. I usually make enough to give some to family members. This year I gave some to a couple of friends. Screw the family - LOL Next summer you should make a batch or two.

@Aussie Ora - that a very fine looking meal. I love cheek meat and that's looking like some kind of sumptuous feast. Kudos to ya.

Houston, the Eagle has landed! Using the 5'x8' UHaul trailer and a 8 degree ramp worked perfectly. My brother-in-law and I made the 4 hour trek south to pick up Saturday. wrapped the grill in plastic with two tarps folded up under the plastic for a cushion. Put the grill up against the front wall of the trailer and strapped it in. (BTW, the block for under the grill is 4" tall, not 6") - had to cut the 3/4" ply wood i used to make it by hand --> lovely in 98f / 85% humidity no shade - Pit-stop at Cracker Barrel to re-fuel and then home to the Grill Shack. I cleaned it up today, have it burning right now to clear it out - it had a good bit of muck on the insides the pics did not reveal. Now it is beer-o-clock cheers!!

When you really want to hurt a guy take a hammer to what he loves!

That pains me to look at it. Agree with @ckreef, looks like a crime of passion. good luck with the rebuild!