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Smokers, Grills, Pitts & More => Weber Smokers & Grills => Topic started by: Tom72 on May 14, 2012, 01:41:15 pm

Title: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: Tom72 on May 14, 2012, 01:41:15 pm
So I'm in the middle (actually more towards the end) of buying a house, so naturally I'm planning what all I'm going to need to outfit my backyard already!  One of my dreams is to have a real pizza oven at some point, but that will be down the road.  Pizza on the grill works except for the fact that you lose all the heat from everything except the stone when you open the grill to put the pizza in.  This causes the pizza to cook through before browning appropriately because all of the heat is on the bottom (yes, I know...I'm a pain in the butt about things like this).  Anyway, I was trying to come up with something I could rig that would work, and then I saw this:

http://www.firecraft.com/product/kettlepizza-22in-outdoor-pizza-oven/full-size-charcoal-grills

Has anyone on here used something like this before?  I think this is a great idea and may solve my problem...just curious if anyone might have any info on this or something similar.  Thanks!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: rvriggs on May 15, 2012, 04:56:01 pm
Kind of expensive but looks very interesting. Hmmmmmmmmm?
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: bearbonez on May 17, 2012, 05:55:27 am
 I have never known weber to make a bad product. I was just looking at the same thing. A firecraft catalog was included with this months bullsheet and the pizza oven caught my eye. I guess it is expensive for an add on...maybe...It's a sight cheaper than a traditional brick or clay pizza oven which in kits run $1k and up. I can see one of these being added to my grill in the near future. Especially since making pizza has been a project I have been working on lately. In fact I have just about used up my king arthur high gluten flour and need to try caputo 00 flour. I have been doing a 24 hour cold fermentation rise on the dough. It comes out ok, but the the oven only goes to 500 deg and not getting the results I would really like.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: Tom72 on May 17, 2012, 09:57:01 pm
That's where I came across it too...that catalog is going to kill me.  I've been trying to master pizza for years.  I'm happy with my results overall, but I still have a way to go.  I'm going to give Caputo 00 flour a try too, because I have not yet had a dough that would go as thin as I want it without tearing.  Now that I'll have a place to grill/smoke, I'm going to experiment like never before.  And the best thing about experimenting?

(http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/l518/mooveebuff/Pizzaa2.jpg)


Even less-than-perfect pizza is pretty dang good!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: bearbonez on May 19, 2012, 04:38:12 pm
 Tom, This site has been very helpful. http://www.pizzamaking.com/ . There is a forum with some good reads (these folks seem to be dead serious about pizza making) and also some great how to's for pizza dough.  There are sticky's that have broken down FORMULAS...I hate that word, recipes are so much easier...from the big guns in NY and Chitown, such as malnalti's, uno, lombarti's. I am keeping my attempts basic. BBQ consumes enough of my life. I just dont have the ambition for a correspondence degree in biochemistry to make pizza, but I think some experimenting on a layman's basis is plenty satisfactory for this child. But, once I am happy with my dough, I think I will be looking for a place to get renet to make my own mozzarella. Beats the heck out of 98% of the take out joints around Austin.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: PAT YOUNG on May 24, 2012, 01:12:56 am
BEAR, Two things, 1st - the last time i bought renet was at the homebrew shop in TUCSON! 2nd- this might not work out for you, but my uncle told me about  a guy who took an old self-cleaning oven and dismantled the lock . Now when he cooks pizza, he uses the self-cleaning mode - it goes up to 700-800 degrees! I've noticed on my oven that if i turn the knob as far as it will go on the bake mode, it is around 600 !
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: Mark on May 24, 2012, 06:11:45 am
Another way to get intense heat out of your oven is to place one rack at the very top and the other at the very bottom rung. Three or four minutes at each level will get you closer to the crust you seek.

Another trick is to brush olive oil on the dough before applying sauce. It provides a moisture barrier so you don't get that sticky layer in the middle. I use a quick spray of aerosol olive oil.

Many pizzamakers swear by a dough that has been rising up to 12 hours. It develops a crust with far more character and better chew. I use my breadmaker in the AM and just let it wait all day until I'm ready.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: PAT YOUNG on May 24, 2012, 08:18:41 pm
MARK, When i worked at RALPH'S on 59th ave. and GREENWAY we made the dough the night before and put it in the fridge after we balled it up ! Man i really miss his pizza!! :(
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: AZWildcat on May 30, 2012, 05:46:18 pm
Tom, If that's the pizza that has come out of your weber oven, I'm going to buy one.. now! That looks freakin awesome!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: PAT YOUNG on May 31, 2012, 08:12:44 pm
TOM, It looks like your well on your way to a perfect pizza ! I too have been on a pizza journey my whole life, a few things that ive learned- keep it to 3 items or less , think pizza margarita ! Sauce lightly and do the spoon/ladle circle deal so the sauce winds up even when cooked ! Make your dough a day ahead of time, use high gluten dough, hot, hot oven ! Pizza stone, fresh basil,simple red gravy/ marinara,if you can dont use a rolling pin ( you will just destroy all the air that you spent all night developing !Try a white sauce if you already haven't ! Good luck and post those pics !!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: route66 on June 01, 2012, 01:59:35 am
I like the way you think Pat, simple is better. High gluten flour is the beginning of a great crust and less sauce with fresh herbs is the bomb. I have not had much success giving my dough 24 hours but as you pointed out I use a rolling pin which might be my problem. I use the 4-6 hour approach with when at double in size its pizza ready. Everyone does pizza different and I look forward to seeing others ideas.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: jimj on June 01, 2012, 06:26:55 am
If y'all want to see the Weber pizza add on in action go to Porkateers facebook page. Dennis got one and posted pic's of it in use.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: Tom72 on June 01, 2012, 09:47:39 pm
Tom, If that's the pizza that has come out of your weber oven, I'm going to buy one.. now! That looks freakin awesome!

Thanks!  That's actually just out of my regular oven with a pizza stone...I can't wait to figure out what I want to do as far as a wood-fired pizza oven goes.  I was all about the Kettle Pizza at first, but now I'm starting to get some more creative ideas as I keep reading up online.  I'll post more when I get moved into the new place and start moving on this.

I agree also about keeping it simple...I tend to overload on the cheese, so I do need to work on that...but I try to keep it to two toppings max.  I think I'm over-working my dough, as I have had a lot of problems getting it thin without it tearing on me.  I'm hoping maybe using a better grade of high-gluten flour will make a difference.  I've tried using it immediately after the first rise, and I've also tried refrigerating from 24-48 hours.  I'm going to read more on the pizzamaking.com site and see what else I can learn.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: Tom72 on June 01, 2012, 09:55:53 pm
TOM, It looks like your well on your way to a perfect pizza ! I too have been on a pizza journey my whole life, a few things that ive learned- keep it to 3 items or less , think pizza margarita ! Sauce lightly and do the spoon/ladle circle deal so the sauce winds up even when cooked ! Make your dough a day ahead of time, use high gluten dough, hot, hot oven ! Pizza stone, fresh basil,simple red gravy/ marinara,if you can dont use a rolling pin ( you will just destroy all the air that you spent all night developing !Try a white sauce if you already haven't ! Good luck and post those pics !!

You and I seem to be on the same page with pizza-making.  I need to be better with using fresh herbs...it does make a HUGE difference.  One thing I do like to do is similar to the olive oil method that Mark mentioned to keep the sauce from soaking into the crust.  I like to cover the whole skin with a thin layer of smoked provolone, THEN go over that with a thin layer of sauce, and then the mozzarella and toppings.  Good stuff!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: PAT YOUNG on June 02, 2012, 02:06:57 am
That pizza sounds really good TOM, Throw a couple of BASIL starter plants into a pot and you'll have all the herb you need year-round ! Out on my deck i have BASIL, THYME, OREGANO,spicy OREGANO,ROSEMARY,and a few others but the BASIL, THYME, and ROSEMARY get used all the time! We make alot of what i call SIMON and GARFUNKEL roast chicken - PARSLEY,SAGE, ROSEMARY and THYME ! It's fast, easy, tasty, and fail proof!
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: azkitch on June 02, 2012, 12:34:09 pm
I'm workin' at Streets of NY on T-Bird & 59th Ave..they refrigerate their high gluten dough for 12-18 hours before use, as well as the pizza sauce. The other day, I had them make a pizza w/pesto, shrimp and zucchini. Zowie! I'm thinkin' add some artichoke chunks and run with that.
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: davidbush on July 16, 2012, 04:43:24 am
Nice set-up. I'm glad to see you trying this as I have the same grill. Have you experimented with letting it preheat longer to see the maximum temperature you can achieve?
Title: Re: Weber Pizza Oven?
Post by: PAT YOUNG on August 15, 2012, 10:41:34 am
Kitch, my uncle JOHN made a artichoke and it was either clam or shrimp that was way tasty quite a few years ago!