I got a new baking stone for the XL Big Green Egg a couple of months ago, but had only used it once or twice. With the weather turning warmer this week, though, I wanted to make pizza, so I did!
I used a really good Peter Reinhart recipe that can be found in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice, or at 101 Cookbooks. It’s a very simple recipe, but it works great, with nothing in it but flour, water, yeast, salt and a bit of olive oil, which is actually optional. The secret to it, though, is to let it sit in the fridge for 18 hours, and to not be in a hurry when prepping the dough. If the dough won’t stretch, let it rest a couple minutes, then try again. I was actually able to do this a bit more pizzeria style, kind of, and I mean only kind of, tossing the dough.
I have to say that I like nontraditional toppings on a pizza. I like traditional, too, but I am more likely to put smoked chicken or pulled pork, using barbecue sauce instead of pizza sauce, or olive oil and garlic instead of tomato sauce. This time, I had a few things that sounded good around, so I made 2 pizzas:
- An heirloom tomato margherita pizza, with olive oil and garlic, fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and sea salt.
- An asparagus pizza with blanched and grilled asparagus, fresh mozz, caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes, peppadew peppers, basil, olive oil and garlic, topped with some balsamic vinegar glaze.
So nothing too weird, and pretty healthy overall.
The first pizza came out pretty good, though I think I should have let the stone heat up a bit more, because the 2nd pizza came out even better. This crust recipe is really good stuff, worth a try if you’re looking for a good pizza dough.
The Big Green Egg got up to about 700 degrees F. Trust me, that’s hot! It’s hot enough to make sure to ‘burp’ the BGE when opening it so that the incoming air didn’t cause flame ups.
Someone on twitter thought it was risky doing an asparagus pizza… I say no way! It’s a great topping. Just make sure it’s not overcooked, but that goes for any use of asparagus.
The pizza cooked just like you’d want it to. The chamber was hot enough to do a great job, and the toppings heated up and bubbled nicely while the crust got a nice brown to it. The end result was pizza that wasn’t too stiff, but that could be picked up by the slice to be eaten.
My wife commented that we would have spent $15 at some wood oven pizza joint and gotten a pizza not as good. I’m glad she likes my cooking! With this crust, I was even able to get the pizzas pretty much round!
I am going to have to try your recipe for pizza. I tried a pizza a long time ago on my grill and can remember having all kinds of problems with the dough.
You have a cool blog. I will follow it. Best to you and your family!
Thom,
Thanks, and I don’t think you’ll be sorry with the pizza. The crust actually is even better a day or two later, I think, so you can make a batch several days ahead of time.
What a great recipe for pizza, thanks Curt for yet another great BBQ recipe! We agree with your wife, it looks just like those you get at a wood fire oven pizza place, but tastes even better we’re sure! We will have to try this out on the BGE sometime.
Heat Beads,
You’ll be glad you tried it. Get the temp up high, make sure there’s an air gap between the platesetter and the pizza stone, and you won’t order delivery anymore!
I just got a Big Green Egg for my husband for his bday. Can’t wait to try it out!
N,
You’ll be thrilled with the bge, I’m sure. I will say you did the best version of indoor ribs I’ve seen (using the indoor smoker). You mimicked an outdoor smoke pretty well, and that cole looks great!
A couple of things to make sure you get with the bge… a platesetter, an ash tool, and a grate lifter. I also like their pizza stones, as they’re thicker than the typical stones.
Do a couple of slow cooks on it to set the gasket, and you’re all set!
P.S. I agree with your husband about prime rib… don’t over-season it. Check out my salt crusted prime rib… http://buckymcoinkumsbbq.com/wordpress/2008/05/27/memorial-day-weekend-on-the-big-green-egg/ You’ll find a slow cook on his prime rib will be hard to beat!
Hey B,
I appreciate the tips … thank you so much! We were just about to try to cook a 2 inch ribeye, but it sounds like I need to do some slow cooks first. I was going to do a ribs redux on the BGE to bring to my sister’s. For some reason, I’m ravenous for ribs! I love the indoor smoker, but as you noted in one of your posts, you lose some of the smokiness when taking the meat and putting it in the oven. Still, those were very good ribs. I’ll be sure to check out your other links. I’m so glad I searched on the BGE on tastespotting and found your blog.
N,
Yeah, I would do as they recommend and do a couple slow cooks first. You can speed this up by just heating up the bge to about 250 for a few hours, cool it, then do it again. You should be ready to grill after that.
Try doing the ribs without the foil for a comparison. One of the advantages of the bge is the moisture retention. Spares should take about 6 hours or so at 225, but they’re also forgiving enough that they should still turn out great as you’re learning how to tune in the temp.
And I’m glad any time someone notices me on tastespotting!
Hi BGE mentor,
The BGE is fired up and I have a four racks of ribs on. Temp. has been holding steady — I haven’t really had to make any adjustments. I’m looking forward to seeing how they turn out. We’re going to grill some 1 1/2″ rib-eyes tonight. The dealer said they’ve had no problems with people going straight to grilling. By the time we grill, the Egg will have been cooking at a low temp for 5 hours already, so hopefully all will be well.
Ninette,
I wouldn’t call me a bge mentor… but I know some guys that could be!
It sounds like dinner is at your house! When you do grill at high temp, if the lid is down, be sure to just lift it up a touch, count to five, then open it the rest of the way. Otherwise, you can get flashback, and have flames come up.
Holy Smokes! The ribs just finished smoking on the Egg and they are AMAZING!!! The ribs I made the other night were great, but they in no way can be compared to these ribs. it’s kind of sick, actually. I feel like I’ve been transported into a whole new world. No wonder people are crazy about this thing.
N,
I’m glad you were happy with the results. It’s not just the egg that can do that; other smokers do a similar job on ribs. However, not many smokers are as versatile as the egg, allowing you to grill, bake and smoke on the same unit.
Curt, check out http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/2009/04/pork-spareribs-redux-this-time-on-big.html. I’ve thanked you for all your help.
How did you set up the BGE for the pizzas-did you use the platesetter? It kind of looked from the pictures like you set the pizza stone direct on the grill, does that work?
BGE newby here, so very stoked to try some things out,
Dan
DBo, it’s got the platesetter set on the grate, with a pizza stone above it, with an air gap between the 2 (if you have the green feet thingies, you use them for that). You want the gap, or the stone will be too hot for the pizza, and it will burn.
Curt – that’s great. Thanks for such a great blog.
Dan
I know this is a bbq blog, but I have to say that those heirloom tomatoes were gorgeous.
shamrock,
The heirloom tomatoes were great… and I like to think the blog is about more than just barbecue!
In fact, the blog is about to change names, hopefully within the next month!