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cschaaf

Pizza setup?

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I'm hoping to do my burn in this weekend and thought it would be a good opportunity to cook some pizzas.

 

What is your setup for pizza cooks?

 

I have a baking stone on the way, but I don't think it will be here in time. 

 

I was thinking about putting the deflector on top of the top grate (with the top grate on top of the main grate). Would it work like that?

 

Or, do I need to top that deflector with some spacers and use my pizza stone on top of those?

 

Setup A (top to bottom):

  • Pizza
  • Deflector
  • Top Grate
  • Main Grate

 

or

Setup B (top to bottom):

  • Pizza
  • Pizza Stone
  • Spacers
  • Deflector
  • Top Grate
  • Main Grate

 

Thanks!

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I have never done this because I did order the baking stone with my KK but if I hadn't I think I would put heat deflector on the fire basket and then get heat soak the KK to around 500F and put my pizza on a pizza screen as high up in the dome as possible. Warning I have not tried this it is what I would do if I didn't have the baking stone. Just my 2 cents. :)

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I would go no deflector. Heat soak the KK to desired temp for 1 hour with the temp stabiluzed. Then add the pizza stone on the upper grate and heat soak for 30 minutes (assuming a normal pizza stone). Temp will drop when you put the pizza stone on. Don't touch just let it come back up to temp. Cook the pizzas.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

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Let me clarify my statement.

You said you were doing this during the burn in. I really don't think you want a deflector in place for the burn in. You also said regular store bought stone. Without the deflector in the bottom position you need to be careful about burning the bottom of the pizza on a regular pizza stone.

If this wasn't the burn in you would want the deflector in the bottom position using a regular pizza stone.

If you were talking about the KK baking stone I would go no deflector regardless of burn in or not.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

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For my pizza cooks on the KK I would just put the upper grate on and use the deflector as a baking stone until your new one comes.

It's not like the standard ceramic. I have had great success with my pizza.

I also leave the stone in to heat soak it. I don't take the temp past 550

So setup A is how I do it.

Edited by bosco
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Got it, thanks! I'll plan something else for the post burn in cook.

 

I have the KJ pizza stone which is pretty good, but to be safe, I'll just wait till my baking stone gets here. 

 

It's likely the family would have veto'd the pizzas anyway They don't let me cook them as often as I'd like to. lol

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How do you guys get your fire started for a pizza cook? Light it well in multiple places? How many coals do you think need to be lit for 550F cooking?

I did my first pizza on my 32 this week and it took quite a while to heat soak the KK. I had the whole basket lit and a huge fire going. Not sure if this was the only way to do it, but seemed to take quite a while to get up to temp and at 550F there is a massive fire inside the belly. Would this be normal?

Or would you just slowly bring up the temp over an hour or so? i just lit 3-4 places in the basket, opened the top vent wide open and the bottom vent wide open and let it rip. I think my issue was i didnt have all big huge pieces of lump/charcoal, it was smaller pieces, so maybe i didnt get the air flow going properly which is why it took time to hat up.

My setup was: full basket --> no heat deflector --> main grill --> then the grill that sits on top of the main grill --> KK pizza stone

It was really good fun cooking pizzas, something ill be doing again.

Lump size won't make a Noticeable difference, I use RO a lot which has mostly smalls.

Light it in 2 spots should do. Top vent at 3 turns, bottom vent wide open. (With a wide open top vent you'll get rageing coals quickly but a lot of the heat is blowing out the top vent.) At around 450* close the top vent to 2 turns. At 550* close top vent to 1 1/2 turns and start closing down the bottom vent until it settles at 550*. Let it heat soak for a while after that.

3 turns is the most I ever open my top vent.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

Edited by ckreef
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