First Pizza Cook on the KK

[Parrothead72]

We did our first pizzas last night. We are total rookies and only have about 7 cooks under our belt.  Could not have been easier.  Honestly, way better than anything we have purchased before at any pizzeria in NYC or in Long Island.

 

1. Full basket of Dennis' Komodo charcoal 
2. Vents open full throttle
3. Allowed everything to heat soak (pizza stone on top of the elevated grill)
4. When we got to 525* we through on the first pizza (on tin foil)
5. Pizza was pizza dough we had pre purchased, rolled it thin with some flour, simple pizza sauce, simple shredded mozzarella, some pepperoni, jalapeños, onions, olives (mix of toppings but easy stuff)
6. After about 6 minutes we opened the KK to find just a fabulous looking pizza
7. Repeated 3 more times!

 

[tony b]

Isn't it fun? Took a pizza making class this summer and have had nothing but fun with it. Make my own dough and sauce. Unfortunately, with this killer winter that we're having, I don't get to fire up the KK for pizza and have to use the stone in the oven. Another reason to hope that ole Punxsutawney Phil is wrong and we'll get an early spring!!

[MadMedik]

Looks great. Pizza is a lot of fun

[dstr8]

Love doing pizzas on the KK!   Matter of fact I have another batch of Italian sourdough Neapolitan pizza dough doing the slow rise in the fridge as I write this.  Tuesday will be another pie day for the KK here.  

 

Nice post Parrothead72...and welcome to the insanity

[DennisLinkletter]

That looks tasty.. Thanks for the shots in the future please try to shoot shots of your pizza on your KK. Then I can put them on Facebook..

Remember to get high temps you need lots of airflow..
This is done by placing only large and medium pieces dead center of your basket. Keep those smalls away from the center they restrict airflow and will limit your temps.. Using a hair drier is a fast way to get things going.  If you must burn smalls only pour them around the very outside of the basket against the firebox. 

Baking stone should be on the upper grill without a heat deflector.

In tests using a thermocouple, when the dome needle was buried at 900º the lower grill was 1452ºf ..

Be careful folks..

[Parrothead72]

Still having issues with the darn dough sticking to the pizza peel. Any thoughts on how to get the pizza more transportable - from kitchen to peel and from peel to stone?

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[Hector]

I roll the pizza dough on the workbench, on flour. Once rolled out I sprinkle semolina onto the peel. Then lift the dough onto the peel, add the pizza toppings.

Once I take it out to the Komodo, I give it a sharp shake to make the dough roll off of the peel onto the stone.

Do some searches on youtube and you will see people doing this.

Hope this helps.

Hector

[dstr8]

Same here as Hector explained except I just bench flour instead of semolina...both get the job done though.  Without a video it still sounds like your dough is too wet.

 

And you could try the pizza screen method...however if your dough is too wet you'll have problems getting the pizza off the screen.  

[Parrothead72]

Thanks, gang. I have been buying fresh pizza dough (the balls you see at a pizza parlor) from the local supermarket. I keep them refrigerated.  Maybe i need to get them to room temperature so they are not as cold / wet / sticky?  Will experiment.

[dstr8]

Here's what I do for pizza dough...made three more last night and the dough/crust was textbook perfect.  FWIW I went through many batches of dough before I got it figure out...so be patient but be persistent and keep practicing!

 

I use a sourdough starter recipe for my pizza dough.  The base recipe is from Jeff Verasano; here if interested:  http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm  Nonetheless whatever dough recipe you are using you're going to go from dough vessel you use for the rest/rise to the bench.  

 

At the 'dough is still in the bowl/container' phase (after you proof the dough):  Dust bench flour atop the dough.  Using a silicone spatula gently, moving around the perimeter of the dough ball, coerce the dough from the bowl to the bench.  The area on the bench, approximately a foot square or a little less, you will be transferring the dough should be covered with approximately 1/8" deep bench flour.   So...now with the dough in the bowl near upside down over the bench floured area on your bench (wood or marble) and working around the perimeter of the dough ball with your silicone spatula drop the dough ball onto the floured bench.  You'll end up with the "top" of the dough ball facing down into the flour on the bench and what was the bottom of the dough ball sitting face up on your bench.

 

Dust the now top of the dough ball with a little bench flour.  Now start stretching the dough ball into your pizza pie dough shape.  When I get to about 3/4 the finished size/diameter of the pizza dough I'll pick the dough up and scrape all but a thin film of bench flour from the bench.  And then rotate/stretch the dough to the final shape.  If you've done everything right the dough will be elastic but not sticky.  If the dough is not stretchy but tends to spring back after you try to stretch it typically this occurs when you have too much flour to water ratio in your dough.

 

I use a wood peel...take 1/4 cup or so of your bench flour and put it on the peel...rub it in to the peel over the entire peel surface.  Now shake the excess flour from the peel.  

 

One more tip:  Don't oil the dough ball!  I imagine you purchase the dough in a plastic bag.  So after you get it home transfer it to a plastic or glass bowl.  If the dough is sticky then just dust it with a little bench flour after you re-ball it (assuming it needs to be re-balled).  Here's how I prep the proof bowl, from Jeff's instructions:  One or two drops of oil MAXIMUM in the bowl.  With a paper towel wipe all but a thin film of oil from the bowl.  Think "film"!   If you have more than this amount of oil the oil is going to make working with the dough, on the bench, even more difficult.  

 

Place the dough onto the peel and again re-shape...then sauce, ingredients, etc. and immediately into the oven/KK.

 

Hope this helps you.

 

Dan

[dstr8]

Thanks, gang. I have been buying fresh pizza dough (the balls you see at a pizza parlor) from the local supermarket. I keep them refrigerated.  Maybe i need to get them to room temperature so they are not as cold / wet / sticky?  Will experiment.

 

Oh definitely get the dough to room temp/near room temp apart of your proof!   Leave the cover loose over the bowl when you remove it from the refrigerator.  Typically I plan on about a 2-hour proof at room temp...which right now is about 62 degrees F.  You can always speed the dough proof by putting in a gently warmed oven.  But you can't retard the proof...again you will need to experiment.

 

 

[Smokydave]

My pizza cook last night.  Regular dough, let sit in the fridge overnight.  Cornmeal on the pans. I roll/stretch and then put them on aluminum pizza pans with the cornmeal.  About 6-7 minutes on the KK, then I slide off the pans and onto the stone.  Not too bad.  One margherita for my wife and one meaty one for the kids.  I ate both.    

 

It was getting dark out so the pics aren't great.

 

 

 

 

Eye candy--I was just fooling around.

 

[mnacht]

To prevent sticking I start my pizza on a aluminum pizza screen placed directly on the stone. It makes for easier transfer to the KK as well. Once it cooks a bit, I remove the screen and finish directly on the stone. Works every time!!!!

[tony b]

I use parchment paper for both pizza and bread. About 3/4 of the way through, just remove the paper then to firm up the bottom.

[Parrothead72]

mnacht - i just read this. Thanks. I presume the screen doesn't have a handle or if it does can you still close the KK? I presume after a minute or two you just shake the pizza off the screen onto the stone?

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[normstar]

I've seen them use the aluminum screen at our favorite pizza place here in LA, I've always thought it was to help crisp up the bottom. I'm going to have to find one!

[dstr8]

BTW/FWIW/FYI

 

You can get the pizza screens, in a wide variety of sizes/diameters, at any commercial kitchen supply store.  They offer them in solid, hole punched and screen type variants.  

 

I do find Firemonkey's tip for blowing a puff of air/breath under the pie, just before I slide the pie from the peel onto the hot pizza stone, invaluable when I either let the assembled pie sit a little too long, too many ingredients or when my dough is just slightly too moist.  

[mnacht]

Screen does not have a handle and fits directly on the stone. KK closes with no problem. As dstr8 states, they come in all sizes. I use a pizza peel or long spatula to lift pizza up and remove screen with an ov glove on my hand. I purchased my screen from a local restaurant supply store.

[Syzygies]

I was a screen/parchment paper pizza guy, but we ditched all this on our most recent recipe revamp.

 

There's a knack to developing some skin (not too much or too little) on the outside of each dough ball as it rests. YMMV as this depends totally on dough recipe, house humidity. But get this right, and use the skin as the underside, and one is in a different world for transferring pizzas on peels.

 

Second tip is to use generous flour on one's board. I had thought this was an amateur move (and parchment paper isn't?) but I see it everywhere. I was just in Istanbul where they make the most astounding pizza and calzone equivalents (Pide, Börek, etc. Thin crusts with stellar fillings), and they might as well have been assembling in a kid's sandbox filled with flour. Far from a beginner move, it allowed use of a supple dough that beginners dare not try.

 

I do use pizza screens as an emergency maneuver, both with pizza and my regular bread baking. If the stone turns out too hot (radiant heat is at best loosely links to air temperature) I can always quickly switch to a screen, and put it on the upper grill. Now I'm closer to the dome walls, and too much radiant heat from above becomes my new problem. Juggling act...

[dstr8]

Counterpoint:  When using too much bench flour, that adheres to the bottom side of the pizza crust, and the high temperatures required for true Neapolitan pizza (750*F and north) the excess flour will burn and add a not-so-pleasant bitter burned flavor to the crust.  

 

For crusts containing sugar and oil, typically baked at much lower temperatures (500-550*F) maybe it doesn't matter so much...

 

As many pizzas as I make in a month's time I still find getting the dough exactly and perfect a mini-challenge for Neapolitan style pizzas.  Too dry and the end result is mostly devoid of the big air pockets that result from a wetter dough.  Too wet and the toppings get to the hot stone before the dough  Just right and its pure amateur pizza making bliss

 

All in all...just like all the other foods we cook on the KK making pizza dough and pizzas has made me significantly more critical of restaurant pizza...most of which we completely ignore today.