I need some help on my pizza game. I attempted to make some pizzas on my kamado joe last night(with a stone, not dojoe) and it was a disaster.
First of all I think the temperature was too low in the KJ. I struggled trying to get the inside temperature above 400f.
For the first pizza i did, the problem was that my pizza wasn’t cooking well and remained ‘doughy’. The crust wasn’t getting crispy.
The second pizza I did made the bottom complete stick to the stone, so when I tried to peel it off, it completely destroyed the whole pizza.
I removed my stone for a bit to make the dome get to max temperature (got it to 570f), then I put the stone back. The next pizza I made completely scorched the bottom and the top looked undercooked.
I need some advice on what i’m doing wrong.
My best guess right now is that my dough wasn’t stretched enough and still was a bit too thick (i’m still learning).
This was the dough recipe I followed for a ny style pizza (in percentage)
Flour: 100
Water: 61
Sale: 3.2
Olive oil: 3
Sugar: 2
Yeast: 0.5
Any help is appreciated!
The photo is of the last pizza i did, with the sorched bottom
by VHS124
20 Comments
You need to get it way hotter. At least 700f. Next use parchment for the bottom of your pizza. It really helps stuff not get stuck.
For hot temps you need to completely fill your basket with big block charcoal. Lower quality stuff will never get hot enough.
Dude if you don’t know how to make your grill hot, you need to go back to square one and figure out how to actually use it.
use more charcoal
I make sure the stone as well as they crust has got plenty of flour. Helps against sticking.
Your hearing the pizza stone directly with the charcoal, which will get much hotter than your baking temp. You need to use the deflectors, then air gap the stone above them so the stone only sees ambient heat and not coal heat.
You need to set this all up with the pizza stone as high in the some that you can get it so that the dome ceramics are cooking the top of the pizza.
The vents should be all the way open upper and lower. I’ve even taken the top vent off fully to get enough exhaust and overall air flow.
Fully clean out all your ash etc you need max airflow Start with a Full charcoal basket and get it to at least 600F
Let it stabalise for 20min and your stone should be brought up to temp with your grill.
Use cornmeal on your pizza peel to help the dough slide off (this can take awhile to learn I’m.still.learning this one)
Maybe try a different dough recipe? Could be way to wet? I like Caputo Flour website recipe 4hr dough.
At 600f I cook my pizza dome closed for 8 min and it works a treat.
Good luck!!!
Probably heretical here, but for a NY style pizza, just use the oven.
That aside, the temp you need to hit is 550 degrees (same as the max in most residential ovens, but I repeat myself). This isn’t just ambient temp, you need to make sure the stone itself is that hot else you’re going to wind up with soggy/sticky dough.
You can pick up a laser thermometer for about $20. That will help out quite a bit
Have you tried deep-dish pizza? 🍕 https://rumble.com/v6yh7go-chicagos-famous-deep-dish-pizza.html. This is definitely better than your pizza, but you can try it again. Practice makes perfect.
I cheat and use parchment paper till the dough gets cooked a touch then slide off. Usually avoids some of the burn and sticking
Looks ok
I open all my vents all the way. I then out my deflectors in the higher position. I then put 4 metal spacers on the deflectors and put the pizza stone on top of them.
Looks like this:
Dome lid
Pizza stone
Air
Metal spacers
Deflectors
Charcoal
Basically getting as much hot air swirling to the top of the dome without it being direct heat. I can get it to 700+ this way. And I always use parchment paper to help with sticking.
https://youtu.be/9Db8YVKZqlg
Watch that, do what he says, then report back
Put down your deflectors on top of your grill grates and next put 3 one inch high heat pipe connectors to be used as spacers beneath your pizza stone. Use a full firebox of high quality lump charcoal and leave the grill open until all the lump is lit. Probably about 20 minutes here. Use a pizza peel and generously apply ground corn meal on the peal before you put on the dough. The corn meal will act wheels and will somewhat protect the bottom of your dough on the stone. Magic happens somewhere between 550-650 degrees and generally takes 8-10 minutes. Scrape off the stone between each pizza you cook. Each dough recipe likes different temperatures. Kroger, Mariano’s and Trader Joe’s dough seems to be happiest around 550 degrees. The space between the deflectors and the stone allows the dough and toppings to cook evenly
Either or, I’d eat that.
I cook mine at 750-800 degrees and use no sugar in my dough as it will tend to burn too easily at these higher temps. I use two deflector plates on the bottom with a few cheap sockets that go on top. On top of those I use a pizza stone. That air gap helps the bottom of the pizza not to burn up.
Ensure you have good airflow and fill that basket up. Be sure to let the top get heat soaked before cooking pizza-you want that radiant heat coming from the top.
Plenty of good advice about working on your airflow and getting up to a higher temperature, but the most important thing hasn’t been addressed.
What type of flour are you using? Not all flour is the same, and the temperature will vary by hundreds of degrees for their respective cook.
Take some time and get a proper 00 pizza flour, most will literally give you the recipe for pizza dough, then you can cook it at the manufacturer recommended temperature. Anything other than that, you are just guessing and likely to fail.
For hot and fast cooking, like pizza, I use Costco briquettes. I find it’s a waste of good quality lump charcoal, plus you get to the high temperature much faster. Fully load the basket and fire it up using the stone / deflector / air gap setup as described by others, but make sure the stone ends up as high as possible so the radiant heat from the dome reaches whats cooking. I get the temperature dial to around 700F, and then after another 10 minutes or so, an IR thermometer reading on the stone is at 650F. Pizzas take ~4 minutes. Wait for the stone to get back to 650F for the 2nd and 3rd pizzas. Keep trying ! Took me a few attempts before I felt like i had it right.
I find pizzas nearly impossible to get right on the Kamado. I got a second hand Ooni, after years of trying Kamado pizzas, and that’s perfect every time
I put the diffuser stones on the highest level and put some 3/4” copper Ts and the pizza stone on top. 600F is my go to temp
1. Ditch the stock plate & get a charcoal basket for better air flow.
2. Sort your charcoal and use small pieces, but not so small that is clog are flow.
3. Set up stone with gap between deflectors and stone, set deflectors at high setting for best airflow.
4. Fill basket as high as possible. Open top & bottom vents completely and pre-heat both stone & dome.
5. Eliminate sugar in dough if baking over 550 degrees. Make sure dough is rested, pliable & soft but cold when shaping. This will help keep dough thinner.
6. Work quick, you can work lay out your shaped dough & toppings on a dusted peel as quick as possible to prevent sticking. Be reminded that higher hydration will either need more flour dusting or more speed.
7. Check temp of stone before launching, better yet, check just before putting everything together. Your dough cannot wait on the peel, unless you are using parchment under it.
FWIW, I eventually gave up trying to make a pizza on the kamado & stone & just went with an Ooni. I now have much better control over temps.