Thanks, it was filling too! I find the heavier the toppings the floppier the pizza gets and that's where the parchment really helps.

I forgot there are sweet red peppers in it as well.

I saw the red peppers. Love them.

Did you use a peel or a fork lift?

Kidding aside, it looks absolutely delicious.
Rita

Yo Bob - that looks so good it hurts

Just to update you on my Friday attempt at homemade, it sucked!!!! Should have ordered pizza hut, LOL. Got a little too cocky with thinking I have this new cooker down and started running out of fuel 1/2 way through my first pie. Good news is I know exactly what my mistakes were (dumping my lump vs. packing it for one) and how to fix them. Maybe next week, we'll see. Back to Q tonight, butts!!!

quote:

Originally posted by j biesinger:
I tried making pizza on my kettle with a pizza stone for the first time. The technique seems like it has some potential for making great pizza, however in my effort to make sure the dough was cooked through, the bottoms tended on the black side.

Anybody have some basic rules that they follow when trying this?

Of course it's a temp issue. If it wasn't your pizza would not have been black on the bottom and raw on the top. It's all about placement when cooking pizza on a kettle or the gasser. You have to find the right amount of coals to use and the right amount of pre-heat using a stone. Then you have to get the right distance from the inside of the lid to get the reflective heating off the inside of the lid to cook the top of the pie. OK, and then there's this corn meal talk. It's your pizza you can do what you like, but you'll never go to an Italian pizza joint or Greek for that matter and get a pie with corn meal on the bottom of it. If you do, they ain't Italian or Greek. I hate corn meal on the bottom of pizza. Now you all know I'm OCD with textures, so that's my deal with corn meal. If you like that sort of thing on the bottom of your pie, then have at it, you're the one eating it. Hell, I hate corn meal on the bottom of English Muffins and scrape it off for Gods sake... Anywho, raise the stone up off the grate towards the lid and count the amount of lit briqs used till you get it right. It's all about finding the perfect balance.

Regarding the burnt bottoms: Someone told me that a trick they learned was to have a damp towel handy and wipe the stone with it before putting the pizza on. I guess you do this if you miscalculate your time and the stone winds up heating for a long time before you put your pie on.

when you have a problem with the bottom cooking and the toppings not cooking fast enough, some folks use a raised grid under their stone to get the pizza up "higher in the dome" where it will benefit from the heat from above

quote:

when you have a problem with the bottom cooking and the toppings not cooking fast enough, some folks use a raised grid under their stone to get the pizza up "higher in the dome" where it will benefit from the heat from above

a-ha! now we're getting somewhere. I just bought some fire bricks, sounds like I have my first application for them.

quote:

Originally posted by j biesinger:

quote:

when you have a problem with the bottom cooking and the toppings not cooking fast enough, some folks use a raised grid under their stone to get the pizza up "higher in the dome" where it will benefit from the heat from above

a-ha! now we're getting somewhere. I just bought some fire bricks, sounds like I have my first application for them.

Gesh! no really? I think I said it first right above your post, NO?

J, I've been using a fire brick setup under my baking stone on my Genesis gasser for several weeks now and I'm very pleased with the results. The top browns as well as the bottom. Individual pizzas take about 5 minutes. If I can get to it, I'll post some pictures.