Pizza

Say the word Pizza, and the world smiles with you. Its universal appeal is irrefutable. So, what beats pizza? Homemade pizza. And pizza on the Egg is the best of homemade. I have done it a number of times, always with family around to help with logistics, eating, etc. There are a lot of moving parts with this.

Ellen is away with the grandchildren and I started thinking about pizza and could I make it alone. I mapped it out in my mind, decided it could be done and set the date.

I bought frozen pizza dough from Central Market along with some baby bellas for the mushrooms. I already had Canadian bacon and the Mozzarella. Picked up a jar of red Italian sauce and I was good to go.

First thing first – fire up the egg. Just by coincidence, I needed to open a fresh bag of Fogo charcoal. Meaning that I would be gifted with nice large lumps of charcoal. I poured a generous amount into the medium Egg and lit her up.

Next up, prep the pie. I had pulled the dough from the fridge over an hour ago, so it was nice and soft. I dusted the smooth side of a cutting board with flour and worked it into a nice circle with my hands before finishing off with a rolling pin. Sauce first – never too much. Rookie mistake. Then added the sliced mushrooms and Canadian bacon. Cover with a nice layer of cheese and I was ready to cook.

To get the Egg up to heat, I had removed the Smokeware cap thereby allowing full airflow through the top of the Egg. You can literally watch the thermometer move as the temperature increases. For pizza, you want a target temp between 600 and 650. It’s important to allow enough time to bring the entire egg to temp and to settle in because you need the benefit of the hot ceramics overhead.

It had been a while since my last pizza dinner, so I wasn’t sure how long the pie would take. And, at this temp, you don’t want to be peeking too often, though it doesn’t take too long for the Egg to regain its heat after closing.

After 2 minutes, things were starting to look good.

For the configuration, I had the platesetter legs up with the grill on the legs and the pizza stone on the grill. I had typically cooked with platesetter legs down with the pizza stone resting on a few balls of rolled aluminum to separate it from the platesetter. I like this new configuration much better. It’s easier and provides lots of airflow between the platesetter and the pizza stone. I dusted the pizza stone with a little corn meal to prevent sticking.

The pizza took just over 8 minutes to cook. Perhaps a little longer than previous pies, mostly due to the fact that the crust was a little thicker than most. I am truly a thin crust aficionado. Next time, if I use the same frozen dough, I will cut about 30% off.

One check I use for doneness is to lift the crust at the edge, and if the whole pie lifts up and doesn’t warp or fold in the middle, you are done.

What can I say….. It was awesome. As I mentioned, homemade pizza is hard to beat, especially if cooked in an outdoor oven that has an essence of wood fire with it. You can definitely taste a true wood fired oven nuance to the pizza.

My only take away from this cook is less crust. Or thinner crust. Same thing. The flavor was great, just thicker than I prefer. Cutting back on the crust will certainly reduce cook time.