The weekend is the time when i get to cook on my kamado joe due to working all week but this weekend i had to work on Saturday morning too, so i had to find something i could cook quickly and easily during the afternoon/evening after i'd got home and the quickest thing i could think of was pizza!
Now i'm not talking about heating up a shop bought affair on the grill this is take out quality, homemade from scratch pizza, and from start to finish its done in almost the same time it would take for your delivery order to arrive!
Pizza is truly a hot and fast cook so its essential that the kamado joe is cleaned out to ensure no ash or small pieces of lump from previous cooks are blocking any of the air flow, also its best to use fresh lump in my opinion but as i'm cleaning the kamado out i put the old lump in my chimney starter so not to waste any then light it
By the time i've cleaned the kamado out and refilled with fresh charcoal the chimney starter is ready to be added to get everything heating up
The set up for pizza is different and requires a good quality ceramic pizza stone too, i use kamado joe's official one but there are many other brands available that will work just as well.
The way i set this up is to have the heat deflector in the upper position, then i add the grill grate, then i place the pizza stone on top of the grill so it creates a sort of air gap between the heat deflector and the pizza stone
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| My Pizza Setup |
The above picture shows my setup with the grill grate between the heat deflector and the pizza stone
Now you just close the lid and open both the top and bottom vent all the way to make the kamado get really hot, i was personally aiming for 350-400c (650-750f approx) and then hold that temperature for a while to let all the ceramics soak in the heat.
Now some people cook pizzas hotter and some cooler each has its pros and cons but i've found the above temps to be the sweet spot for myself
Now the grill is heating its time to make the pizza bases
I first measured out my ingredients
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| Pizza base Ingredients |
- 1 tsp of instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 300g of strong bread flour
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 200ml of warm water
Next make a well in the centre and pour in the water and the olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon untill it all comes together to form a wet dough
Lightly flour a surface for kneading on and turn out the dough onto it as shown below
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| Pizza Dough Ready For Kneading |
Now knead the dough for around 5 minutes until it becomes smooth then cover with a clean dry towel and set aside while we make the pizza sauce
I was making 3 pizzas so i repeated the above again but doubled the ingredients then simply halved the dough at this stage
The sauce is simple and so easy to make, i again got my ingredients together
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| Pizza Sauce Ingredients |
- 1 500g carton of tomato passata
- 50g double concentrated tomato puree
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning
- 1tsp of paprika
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic
This will be more than you need for one pizza (it was more than i used for 3!) but keeps well in the fridge (hence the container with a lid)
Now check the grill, by this point it should be near our target temp of 350-400c (650-750f approx), so start shutting down the top vent to hold it there (i leave the bottom vent wide open for the entirety of this cook) if its not there yet then let it rise before closing the vent, if its over its no big deal we are shooting for a high heat cook so just close the top vent a little and the temp will fall
We need to hold it at this temp while we finish the pizza as its the absorbed heat in the ceramics that cooks the pizza here not the actual fire, the heat of the pizza stone is what cooks the base and the absorbed/reflective heat of the dome lid is what cooks the topping
Now its time to make the pizza up
Get you pizza dough ball and on a floured surface give it a quick knead for a minute then roll out into a rough pizza shape and turn up the edges as shown below
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| Pizza Dough Rolled Out With Edges Turned Up |
The pizza peel id ordered online hadn't arrived yet (thank you Mr Delivery man) so a little trick to help with transferring the pizza to the hot stone is to place the base on some baking paper which is placed on a large plate before adding the toppings then the baking paper is used to slide the pizza on to the stone and will simply pull out from under the pizza once the base is cooked
Now for the toppings
Add some of the pizza sauce to the base and spread it around with the back of a spoon, you want a thin layer from edge to edge then sprinkle a layer of grated mozzarella
Now for the rest ill leave that up to you, the world really is your oyster with pizza, you want veg? mushrooms, onions and peppers are all great
After a meat fix? pepperoni, sausage meat, bacon or even pulled pork from a previous cook all work very well
The best piece of advice i can give when it comes to the toppings (especially if your new to pizzas on a bbq) is to not over load the base, if you do you end up with a burnt base with toppings that still need to be heated thru
Now its time to cook your creations, take them out to your grill and get your self ready for some conveyor belt action, as i said before at this temperature the pizzas cook quick!
With that being said i think its only prudent to add a little warning here, The kamado is obviously Very Hot, so when opening the lid at these kind of temperatures the best practice is to open the lid slowly at first, open the lid an inch or two and hold it for a few seconds to allow some of the super heated air to escape then open fully and add the pizza, doing this, if nothing else saves you from instntly removing all the hair on your arms and possibly face quicker than you can say That's amore
I generally put a pizza on the stone then shut the lid and leave it for around 5 minuites
Heres a picture showing my pizzas on the grill
At the 4 to 5 minute mark lift the lid and check on you pizza, depending on the thickness of your base and the amount of toppings you've added it should be about ready the if the cheese is melted and bubbling its a good sign but i like to lift the edge of my pizza with a spatula to double check the underneath of the base looks nice and browned, if not close the lid and give it another minute, at these temperatures its really all it needs
Here's a pick showing my finished pizzas
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| 3 tasty finished pizzas |
The top pizza took the longest to cook as the base had risen a little more than the other two while resting, but at 7 minutes its nothing to complain about!
So what do you think? any amazing topping combinations i should consider for my next venture into the world of pizza?
Feel free to let me know in the comments
See you next time
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