Pizza Napoletana

[tony b]

4 hours ago, jonj said:

All this KK Shopping Network peer pressure!

  That's how we roll here!

[Scott.W]

Love it. I’m ordering a steel plate. I did not use the deflector that came with the KK just the pizza stone. Came out great though needed a crispier crust. 

[KKash]

All this KK Shopping Network peer pressure! Okay, I ordered the Modernist Cuisine steel yesterday:
https://shop.bakingsteel.com/collections/steels/products/modernist-cuisine-special-edition
I first made a template to be sure it fits the way I expected on the various grates.

No kidding about the peer pressure!!! I’d never heard of a baking steel until Dennis post earlier...!


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[LK BBQ]

I ordered this one from Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JAFTN8G/ref=dp_cerb_1

I had more constraints.  In a 19" KK, I had less room to use a square or rectangular shaped steel.  This one was the right size, I think.  It is only 1/4" thick, but I realized that the price is good and that I could simply stack two of them together if I wanted more heat capacity.  It is actually easier to lift, move, and store 2 lighter ones stacked together than have 1 heavy one.  For that reason, I'd recommend 1/4" steels.  

 

 

[LK BBQ]

All, I found this video and recipe explaining Tony G's approach.  

 

 

The recipe is here.  https://www.winemag.com/recipe/tony-gemignanis-pizza-napoletana/

 

 

 

[Basher]

He makes that look so easy LK. Thanks for posting


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[Pequod]

Tony G. is the real deal. His book, "The Pizza Bible" is pretty much the only pizza book I've come across that is worth the price. He's even respected at pizzamaking.com, which is saying a LOT, because they pretty much hate everybody. 

[tony b]

OK, you folks set the hook! Just ordered his Bible from Amazon. Will be here tomorrow! (Does that rock or what??)

[KKash]

About to kickoff some pizzas in the 42 KK.

A couple of questions:

1.
Just got a pizza steel, never used one, had only used pizza stones before.
Does it make sense to put the steel on top of the pizza stones?

2.
I have the fire basket split 50:50, so left side is over the heat and right side is not. Do we think the steel should be over the heat side, or not?
I do know that the side over the heat cooks faster from prior cooks with the pizza stones.

Thanks all!


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[Wingman505]

1. Everything I’ve been reading is you may want to block the indirect heat to the steel as it can get hot very quickly and scorch the bottom of the pizza.  My steel comes in on Tuesday.  😊

2. I think you would so that heat rolls over the top and radiates back down onto the pizza in as uniform a manner as you can achieve.  The steels were designed to produce brick oven crust in a residential oven.  In this way, I bet you can just setup the stone on the indirect side and use the KK like an oven, but I think I’d want the heat radiated down evenly.  I feel placement in the center best achieves this, but I don’t know a damn thing about thermodynamics.  😄

[Wingman505]

On 6/9/2020 at 5:37 AM, Pequod said:

Tony G. is the real deal. His book, "The Pizza Bible" is pretty much the only pizza book I've come across that is worth the price. He's even respected at pizzamaking.com, which is saying a LOT, because they pretty much hate everybody. 

We just had this book delivered.  We are very excited to begin learning from it

[KKash]

1. Everything I’ve been reading is you may want to block the indirect heat to the steel as it can get hot very quickly and scorch the bottom of the pizza.  My steel comes in on Tuesday.  
2. I think you would so that heat rolls over the top and radiates back down onto the pizza in as uniform a manner as you can achieve.  The steels were designed to produce brick oven crust in a residential oven.  In this way, I bet you can just setup the stone on the indirect side and use the KK like an oven, but I think I’d want the heat radiated down evenly.  I feel placement in the center best achieves this, but I don’t know a damn thing about thermodynamics.  

Cooked 4 pizzas today and was able to experiment:

First 2 pizzas were cooked on steel that was directly on top of pizza stone, that was directly above the heat side of the KK. They cooked “ok”, but crust base was not improved from prior cooks that were directly on pizza stone.
I admit that I might have not been 100% heat soaked at that stage.

Second 2 pizzas were cooked on steel that was indirect heat (see photo) and without pizza stone beneath steel. The crust on these was very good. Did not have to do anything other than wait 9ish minutes for cook.
I believe heat soak was also fully accomplished at this point also, at about 550.




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[jonj]

Very helpful experiment! Cooking pizza tonight for the first time with my new steel. 

[KKash]

Very helpful experiment! Cooking pizza tonight for the first time with my new steel. 

Good luck with it! Not sure if the half pizza stone I left in the grill (see prior picture) is significant or not, I didn’t leave it there intentionally, just didn’t think to try removing it.


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[AJR]

Nice experiment, KKash.  My guess is the stone directly below the steel leached heat from it, or prevented it from reaching as high of a temp as you wanted on the steel.  When I cooked my pizzas (granted, I've had limited time to experiment thus far), I had foil/drip pan on the rack below the steel, and heat-soaked the steel directly on the grate for a good hour before starting my first pizza.  The crust was awesome.  I'd also guess, from other comments I've read from Dennis and others, that you're just burning unnecessary charcoal to heat up the stone if you're not using it in there.

[KKash]

Nice experiment, KKash.  My guess is the stone directly below the steel leached heat from it, or prevented it from reaching as high of a temp as you wanted on the steel.  When I cooked my pizzas (granted, I've had limited time to experiment thus far), I had foil/drip pan on the rack below the steel, and heat-soaked the steel directly on the grate for a good hour before starting my first pizza.  The crust was awesome.  I'd also guess, from other comments I've read from Dennis and others, that you're just burning unnecessary charcoal to heat up the stone if you're not using it in there.

I think you’re 100% correct. Getting rid of the stone made a huge difference...but I suppose I had to test it to find out for myself!!


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