I finally broke down and purchased a Big Green Egg a couple of months ago and I LOVE IT!! I purchased the Large Egg with nest, along with the plate setter in order to do indirect cooking, with visions of wood fired pizza dancing in my head. The following posts in this category (including this post) will share my processes cooking on the egg, as well as some of my recipes (or links to others whose processes I have tried and liked).
Now on to the Pizza…
I make my own Pizza dough using a recipe from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, which I recommend to anyone who wants to make pizza dough from scratch. The recipe I use the most often is 100% Whole Wheat Dough made with White Whole Wheat Flour – and I use honey in lieu of sugar. The real beauty of the Bread in Five method is that the dough is pre-made and stored in the refrigerator to be used as needed, which is perfect for being ready to make pizza without having to worry about making the dough.
On pizza day, I top off the BGE with charcoal and light it using an electric charcoal starter. Once I have the coals going, I place the plate setter in the legs up position, then put the cooking grid on the legs, then the pizza stone on top of the cooking grid. I have tried legs down with the pizza stone directly on the plate setter, but have found the pizza stone does not get as hot as I would like. Once my cooking surface is as I like it, I open the bottom vent the entire way, and fully open the dual function metal top. I am going for getting the Egg to be at 650-700F, the hotter, the better.
While the egg is heating, I drink a beer in order to give the egg a few minutes to reach about 500F before I build the pizza.
I highly recommend a pizza peel as this is the best way I have found for getting the pizza onto the egg.
I tend to stick with using pesto or a crushed garlic and olive oil sauce instead of traditional tomato sauce, but feel free to build you pizza however you like. I have found the best place to buy fresh mozzarella is at Costco (I buy the sliced one and cut it into small cubes before placing it on the pizza. If you have home grown fresh tomatoes, I would definitely slice them thinly and add them to the pizza. I find that if you de-seed them, less moisture gets into the pizza – although my wife tells me the juice around the seeds is where all the flavor is!! Get all of your toppings laid out and ready before you roll out your dough. A typical pizza in my household would be built like this:
From the dough up:
- Garlic Olive Oil.
- Fresh Spinach (lay them on so the whole pizza is covered.
- Fresh Mozzarella (diced gives you better coverage, but you can use slices).
- Tomato Slices.
- Herbes de Provence and Black Pepper sprinkled over the pizza.
Cut a grapefruit sized piece of dough from your dough and roll it out to your desired thickness – I shoot for about 1/8″ or thinner. Then assemble your pizza to your pleasure…
Do not forget to flour the bottom of the pizza peel well, as you want the pizza to be able to slide off.
Now for the cooking – take your pizza peel out to the egg (check the temperature, as it should be time to lose those vents down a bit – 25% on the bottom and about 1/2″ with the wheel holes open on the top), and as quickly as possible, slide the pizza off the peel (quick, gentle, jerking movements should do it), then close your egg.
After 7 minutes pass, you can open your egg to check for doneness. I like mine to cook right until the cheese just starts to brown – usually around 10 minutes.
Once the pizza is done, I take the stone and the pizza off the grill at the same time (using the pizza peel covered in aluminum foil). This keeps the pizza hot, and gives the crust a nice crunch.
Don’t forget to close your egg vents once your pizza is done!
I will add a few pictures to this post later today.
Pizza Before Hitting the Egg
Pizza Fresh off the Egg!
No Lily Dipping 