Anyone got any success doing pizza on the KJ?
I’ve tried various grill set ups, heat deflectors on the bottom, on the grill racks, used bolts to raise the pizza stone, used foil and latest attempt was as the pic. (Ignore the cracked deflector, I dropped it just now).
Cook at 300- 350c and the base just doesn’t rise. Is crunchy and hard or raw or burnt!
I’ve tried ooni dough, northern dough co, pizza express and making my own.
Not sure if it’s the set up or the dough that’s wrong. (Uk based if you have dough recommendations)
Thanks
by lasttruekryptonian
10 Comments
I too was having problems getting a good pizza cook (I’m still a noob to my cooker). I found this video and it was very helpful in allowing me to get an excellent pizza result!
https://youtu.be/jtA-jQx2tPs?si=Kovj5CdVxiHwDA8P&t=211
I make pizza almost every Friday. Kamado pizza is tricky… Here is my post from a few weeks ago (I’ll likely do another tomorrow). See the comment for recipe and instructions. Give it a try!
https://www.reddit.com/r/KamadoJoe/s/fxCq7A2suJ
That’s really odd. The fact that you tried multiple types of dough suggests it is the set up that is the problem, rather than your dough. The most likely explanation is that the pizza stone isn’t getting nearly as hot as you think it is. Perhaps your dome thermometer needs to be recalibrated and/or you’re losing a bunch of heat when you open and close the dome.
Pizza is one of the best things I make on mine, and the crust gets cooked perfectly in about five minutes when I have the temp at about 350C. I use the Pizza Joe insert and a pizza peel so that I don’t have to open and shut the dome for each pizza. The instructions for the Pizza Joe insert say to leave the dome vent completely closed, which helps keep the oven temperature high.
Hmmm….
We do pizzas all the time and they come out great.
Your set up sounds fine. The temp sounds fine.
I am guessing one of two things.
(1) You are being impatient. The pizza stone and dome are not hot enough.
(2) The dough
I use an infared thermometer to see when the pizza stone is ready. Like this one.
[https://www.diy.com/departments/magnusson-infrared-digital-thermometer/1780214_BQ.prd](https://www.diy.com/departments/magnusson-infrared-digital-thermometer/1780214_BQ.prd)
Here is a US version for a fraction of the price. I don’t know why B&Q doesn’t carry one like this.
[https://www.homedepot.com/p/ThermoPro-Digital-Infrared-Thermometer-Gun-Non-Contact-Laser-Temperature-Gun-TP30W/](https://www.homedepot.com/p/ThermoPro-Digital-Infrared-Thermometer-Gun-Non-Contact-Laser-Temperature-Gun-TP30W/)
Give your KJ time to warm up the dome and the stone before making pizza.
For dough, I get mine from a local italian shop. They make it Naples style with only flour, yeast, salt, and water. No oils or sugars. It is designed to cook at those high temps very fast.
We roll out the dough on to parchment paper. We trim the paper the size of the pie. We add the toppings.
I put the pie on the stone with the paper. after about 30 seconds I can grab the paper with thongs and tug it away.
After about 2 minutes I rotate the pie 90 degrees.
After 2 more minutes, I lift the pie and check the bottom to see if it is done. It might be. Or it might need another minute. 2 at most.
That’s it!
I think 300-350cc is too hot. My best pizzas are cooked at 450f dome temp after everything is up to temp for 30 minutes or so. I started out trying to cook hot like you, but always ended up with the bottom of pizza burnt and the top raw. I also find it easier to roll the dough out on parchment paper, so it slides on and off the peel easier. I just cook it with the paper under the crust.
Here’s my (so far) fool proof way of doing pizzas.
My setup is having the deflector plates on the lowest setting by the fire. I then use my accessory rack and set my pizza stone on that. I get the KJ settled at about 500 – 550 degrees.
For making the pizzas, we get dough from our local pizza joint. The key for me has been using pizza screens. I form the dough on the pizza screen, then add sauce and toppings. Make sure you spray the pizza screen with nonstick spray before putting dough on.
Then I bake the pizza on the screen for 2-3 minutes until it’s just cooked enough. I use my welding gloves and gently slide the pizza off of the screen onto the stone directly to finish cooking. Let it go another 5-7 minutes and when it’s cooked to your likeness then take it off and enjoy.
Tried the same on mine many many times with different doughs and setups. Bought an ooni pizza oven and immediate results. Recommend a polish dough (use pizzapp).
I use the same set-up, but get the grill cranking to 500+ degrees.
Edit: NM – just saw they said 300-350 C.
Buy a DoJoe they work great.
place racks, then deflector then pizza stone directly on deflector. Get everything to 600 degrees. Pizza in about 3 minutes with the leopard spots. 😋