Pizza in Isle Royale

[maxed_out]

Hey folks, my lovely wife says its a go so I can try to make a pizza in the isle royale tonight. Heres what I'm thinking....

Fresh dough, fresh mozzarella, sauce, basil, maybe some peppers and mushies.

So I was gonna, burn her hard, then stop for about 2 hours to get some nice coals.
Then I was gonna place some firebricks on the coals.
After that, put my assembled pizza on my pizza stone and in.

You guys wanna offer some suggestions. I'll try them.

Its 1pm here so I got a couple of hours to play before the launch.

thanks!

 

[begreen]

* Preheat the stone on the top of the stove. Otherwise the sudden shock of heat may crack it.
* Push the coals away to the back of the stove
* If you have an IR thermometer, check temp of stone and judge the time accordingly. If the stone is very hot, prepare for short bake time.
* rotate the pizza on stone to even out cooking, watch for burning. You can not go by the cheese melt or top crust darkness, go by the bottom of the crust. Pull out the pizza when the crust bottom is done and finish cooking under the broiler if necessary.


Have a camera ready and let us know how you make out!

 

[joefrompa]

You can cook a pizza on a stone IN the wood-fired stove? Holy crap, how have I missed this?

What wood is ideal for flavor? I'm gonna go start checking out stones online...

Joe

 

[homebrewz]

You can cook a pizza on a stone IN the wood-fired stove? Holy crap, how have I missed this?

What wood is ideal for flavor? I'm gonna go start checking out stones online...

Joe

Check out this thread to read about BG's attempt and the ensuing discussion.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/69287/

A kiln shelf from a pottery kiln makes a great pizza stone and is cheaper than one from a kitchen store.

 

[maxed_out]

This is great so far,
preheat the stone on top, will do
do you think I need another layer of firebricks?
I have oak, maple,ash, locust,cherry,mulberry (elm no way) available, which one you guys think?
Wifey says san marzano tomatoes
camera-will do

 

[begreen]

Our homemade sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, they're good. But if I might suggest for your first try, make a plain, test pizza with a decent store bought sauce. There may be a loser or two before the right formula and timing is found.

I like the idea of cherry. It coals well and might impart a nice subtle flavor to the crust. Don't use locust, too many sparks.

Homebrewz, thanks for the tip. I am looking at kiln shelves on the Sheffield Pottery site. A 16"x16" seems to cost the same or more as some pizza stones. Is there a good place to get these? Also, what should it be made of, refractory, cordierite, silicon carbide?

 

[homebrewz]

Homebrewz, thanks for the tip. I am looking at kiln shelves on the Sheffield Pottery site. A 16"x16" seems to cost the same or more as some pizza stones. Is there a good place to get these? Also, what should it be made of, refractory, cordierite, silicon carbide?

I'm going on what my professional potter friends told me. They used to make pizza stones and sell them along with a recipe for dough. They've since stopped that and now just use a kiln shelf. So, when I asked them about making me a pizza stone they just picked me up an extra kiln shelf from the local pottery supply place. There is a pic of mine below, dirty from dozens of loaves of bread and pizzas over the years. My friends also said when it got really dirty, they would just fire it in their kiln to clean it up!

I just called the local pottery supply place to double check. What I got from them was a 16" x 15" 5/8" thick octagon stone made from cordierite. I think its a high-refractory clay material used for shelves in electric kilns. I bet if AdiosPantalones chimes in he could elaborate on this better than I could. The local place sells them for just under $20. I believe pizza stones typically are in the $35 to $40 range.

 

[madison]

If I get your idea, you are going to have the stone raised up on the firebricks so it is not in direct contact with the embers? Good idea, otherwise, I would clean out the stove, and/or push the few remaining coals to the back corners to avoid the stone getting too hot and too hot too fast...

 

[VTHC]

This is great so far,
preheat the stone on top, will do
do you think I need another layer of firebricks?

You definitely want to have your pizza stone at temperature BEFORE putting the pizza on it, but as BeGreen said, preheat it before putting in the stove. If you can get some distance between the pizza stone and the coals (like 4-5 inches) by building a "bridge" between the firebricks with your pizza stone - you can probably use coals right under the stone... Otherwise, do as BG said - push coals to sides of pizza stone. It's a little tricky getting the coals at the right temp/quantity but doable. You will probably have to rotate the pie to get even cooking too. A pizza peel comes in really handy.

I cooked pizzas in my old Morso 1125 with the bridge technique - but that sucker had a pretty big firebox. I usually got a medium small fire going and let it burn down to coals (rock maple and cherry), and then i would have 1-2 inch kindling ready to add (north south under pizza stone about 5-6 inches from bottom of stove) as needed to get the right heat. If you have an IR thermo i would aim for 550-600*F on the pizza stone. Make sure you close the door so you get cheese melt... Good luck and have fun with it! Oh... and pics or it didn't happen! :cheese:

 

[maxed_out]

Turned out great, heres the pics.

BG, preheat was key.

We made 2 and the neighbors went wild.

 

[begreen]

Nice! Looking very tasty. To reduce burning, I'd pull it out about 30 seconds earlier next time. But it looks like the firebrick support really helped avoid the bottom burning. Did you get a temp off the stone?

 

[maxed_out]

Hey thanks, tasted great. Stone was 550-600.

I think we got some burning because of how I set the coals up. Not too even. Hard to see in the pics. Pie #2 was perfect as the coals were a little more burned down.

 

[The Dude]

That is awesome! I'm so happy to have found this thread. Great job!

I am very close to installing my first wood stove, and I am looking forward to cooking with it just as much as I am heating with it. I haven't heard much about that from anyone locally when I mention a wood stove, but I know how to cook with wood and I wasn't afraid to do this even if no one else does. But it's great to see you guys talking about it. My stove (Harman TL-300) has an inset grill accessory that can be put in the top-loading slot, which is nice, but I've wanted to use the stove as an oven too just like what was described here. I am so excited to see that it being done.

 

[begreen]

Great info maxed_out. My wife just said we have to try this again. Maybe tomorrow night. What wood did you end up using? Could you taste it in the crust?

 

[DonNC]

Wow. Make ur own pizza. I thought the bread was cool but this is awesome. Pizza is my favorite food group.

If you can show me how to make beer with this thing before the superbowl I will be forever in your debt

 

[Wingman]

I've done a lot of grilling of pizza and the love the smoky flavor...more so directly on the grill vs. the stone. I have generally used mulberry for that, so i think the would've given the best flavor. Also, another cheese suggestion...Provel. Oh, and google beer crust reciepes, quick and delicious.

 

[hotprinter]

We made 2 and the neighbors went wild.[/quote]


REPLY:
B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

I would melt some butter, add some garlic to it and brush it on the crust. Then top it with sesame seeds...

I also love artichoke hearts on pizzas, delicious!

 

[maxed_out]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm no cook. Its something we wanted to try. when we do the next one we're gonna add some sharp provolone to the mozz.

We used cherry wood and you could taste gentle smokiness in the crust.

I think theres a "window" of time when you can get away with this-we were well into the coaling stages. Pizza #2 took a little longer as we were further along in time but it cooked more evenly and the crust was perfect.

So what am I having for breakfast, that last slice of pizza of course.

 

[VTHC]

Those look great! Not too shabby for your first time! My first few pies were a disaster...
Coals have to be burned down more than you would think. It's kind of the art & science behind the timing.

I have a major hankering for pizza now!

 

[DanCorcoran]

VTHC,

What diameter pizza are you able to get in the Shelburne, or were you talking about the Morso?

 

[mbutts]

Had the word "pizza" in the title, had to pop in for a look. MMMM Nice looking results. Well worth the effort you put into it!

 

[OhioBurner©]

Our homemade sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, they're good.

+1 we tried those last year for the first time - never seen the variety before. Will be using those for sauce again - very meaty tomatoes and the plant did very well. Only problem - we only planted 1! Well I guess there is another problem, since I had never heard of them and I had just taken a trip down to San Marcos Texas I always get em confused and just call em San Marcos tomatoes lol.

 

[Jutt77]

Good job, looked good! I'll have to give this a shot. I already have a stone. Good call on the San Marzanos...

 

[hotprinter]

MMMMmm GOOD! I would melt some butter, add some garlic and brush it on the crust, then sprinkle sesame seeds an the wet butter. ALSO, try putting some foil around the edge of the crust, should keep it from burning (my wife "tents" the edge of pie crusts like that to keep them from over cooking)

 

[VTHC]

VTHC,

What diameter pizza are you able to get in the Shelburne, or were you talking about the Morso?

Haven't tried in the Shelburne yet. I think it would be a little too small, at least too close for comfort for my pizza stone setup.