One of my favorite foods in the world is Pizza. The only thing more fun than eating it is making my own on my Big Green Egg. All you need is a BGE, a plate setter, a pizza stone, pizza dough and the toppings of your choice. In the thirty minutes it takes for pizza to be delivered you can make your own in the comfort of your own backyard. No tipping required.
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| Pizza Cooke on the Big Green Egg |
This is where I would post my homemade pizza dough recipe but I’m not going to, because I don’t have one. I’m slacker, I just buy dough from a local pizza place. Sorry, making dough is just not my thing and sometimes things are better left to the pros and Cheryl. A ball of pizza dough will cost about $5-8 and is usually enough for 2 medium size pies, depending how thick you like your crust.
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| Non-stick secret, cornmeal |
I started by stretching out my dough and placing on my peel. Be sure to liberally spread corn meal on the peel before placing the dough on the peel. Cornmeal is the secret to a non-sticking pizza. Spread cornmeal on the peel and the stone so the pie will easily slide on and off. This is another hard learned lesson that I’m sharing with you, my loyal followers. Place the dough on the peel then add your favorite toppings.
Once your pizza is topped and ready to cook you can now fire up the Big Green Egg. Before you light the charcoal, be sure the vent holes in the firebox are clear and the ash is cleaned out of the bottom. For the egg to reach the super high heat air needs to be able to flow unobstructed, lots of air. Add some fresh charcoal and light. Completely open the bottom vent and leave the lid up until the charcoal is burning good and hot. Now take the plate setter and place it upside-down on the grate. This will make a nice little platform for the pizza stone to sit on. If you don’t have a plate setter you can use a couple of bricks. Lower the lid and remove the cap, this will get the air flowing through the egg and bring it up to temperature. After a few minutes the temperate should be approaching 900F. Yes, 900F! How many other grills can do that?? The plate setter will diffuse some of the heat and force it to to circle around the pie and it will give you that crunchy crust like a real pizza oven.
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| Pizza stone on plate setter over super hot coals |
Side note: If you have the original wool gasket on your BGE you will need to replace it after a couple of pizza cooks. I don’t know why they use such cheap gaskets considering how expensive BGE’s are. Anyway, you can get a great replacement Nomex Gasket from Fred’s Music & BBQ that can withstand the high heat pizza cook.
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| Pizza cooking away |
Once the egg is good and hot slide the pizza from the peel to the pizza stone, don’t forget to throw some cornmeal on the stone. It only takes 15-20 minute to cook the pie, it will vary depending on how thick the crust is and the amount of toppings. Just keep an eye on the pizza and be sure it doesn’t scorch or burn.
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| A top view in the BGE |
Once your pizza is done pull it off the egg and admire your handy work. The cheese should be hot and bubbly; the crust will be a crispy golden brown. An aroma of pepperoni should permeate the air around you. Now the best part is that fist bite, you will get all of those great pizza flavors with a kiss of smoke flavor. It’s actually better than your favorite restaurant pizza because you made it yourself and you’re probably using their dough. So next time you’ve got a pizza craving fire up your egg and cook up your own. Just don’t be using a Boboli.
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| Pizza! |
We love pizzas out of our coal fired ceramic oven…errr….Egg!
I never tried cooking them at 900f, I just usually go about 550f. Maybe I should give it a go at the higher temp.
It drops off a bit once its all loaded but I like cooking it really hot. The crust gets really crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.
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That looks great!! I haven't been brave enough to try grilling a pizza. Check out my blog about baking pizza 🙂 diningwithlee.blogspot.com
Thanks for the great blog post! I featured it in The BBQ Grail's 10 Posts Worth A Look for this week. http://wp.me/pwBnV-1Z0
That was a mighty fine pie!
My best friend recommended we try this years ago and I've been too unsure. I always saw it going up in flames. Your post makes it look doable, so will definitely try it.
Lynn, you can always email or tweet for tech support.