First Try using GMG Pizza Oven

[Jabiru]

I have cooked every way on this Grill, low & slow, Fast, sear and cold smoke, I love the versatility. So i thought it was time to try out the Pizza Attachment and do a couple of Pizzas for tea. I have never made pizza dough so used Supermarket bases, not a good idea in the end.

It takes a few minutes to pull drip tray and heat shield out. Super easy.

WOW, this thing gets hot. I followed the Instructions, it says run at 430F, get stone to 700-800F, ran my infrared temp scanner 840F. Way tooo hot. The Grill Handle was even to Hot to touch. I had sparks flying, it was like a super hot campfire.

Failed: First pizza took 1 minute and the bottom was burnt badly, topping was great, Chicken and bacon crisped up. Second pizza 2 minutes and slightly burnt on bottom. No pics of pizza fail as I was so busy trying to get something on the plate :) Glad it was just family and not cooking for guests.

Lessons learnt: Next pizza cook Ill run the cooker at 350F, and step it up so I can get stone and oven temp as close to each other as I can. We will also make our own Pizza Dough. I also should have watched more videos about cooking with the attachment.

I reckon this attachment is a winner just the operator needs training :)

Anyone used this before and has any tips to share?

Brand New:

At 840F:

Remnants of burnt pizza base.

 

[sweetride95]

Mama Mia!!!!

 

[fivetricks]

Protip. Pop into a hungry Howie's or other pizza joint by you and ask for premade dough. Not all will sell it but the ones that do sell it for silly cheap.

I brought up hungry Howie's because I but their Xtra large dough all the time for like 2 or 3 bucks. Saves a bunch of time and steps and comes out excellent

 

[Jabiru]

Thanks FiveTricks, I can only ask our Local Pizza Joint. I was also thinking of buying a pre-made dough from Supermarket to keep it simple.
They sell this one: https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/965942/picasso-pizza-dough-ball

 

[johnmeyer]

I recently reviewed a unit that looks quite similar. Here's that review:

Review: Camp Chef Pizza Oven Accessory

I can get the oven to about 700° F and the stone to about 650°. I guess I am fortunate because I've had no failures, and everything has turned out really well. Here are a few things that may help you.

1. Cool it down a little from the temps you are reporting, but don't go all the way down to 450° or 500° because at that point you really haven't gained a thing over using your kitchen oven. Just try my temps for a starter.

2. I have several fancy make-it-yourself dough recipes, but they all call for letting the dough "rise" in the fridge for 2-3 days. One of them recommends using diastatic malt, which is an ingredient I'd never heard of, but which promotes both rising and browning. I'd be happy to share these recipes.

3. If you want to buy your own dough, I've used fresh dough from our local Safeway, and it was serviceable, but if you want some of the best dough you can get, try the dough from Trader Joes (edit: before I posted I looked and see that you live in Australia. So much for these recommendations).

4. My unit is designed to be used with the oven open at the front. However, I'm heating it on my old Weber grill and the only way I can reach the temps I quoted above is to put foil over the opening, both during preheat and cooking. Since you can get yours so hot, I'd leave it open. Then, since the front will be cooler, remember to turn the pizza 180° halfway through cooking. This is actually something all pizza cookbooks recommend, even if you are cooking in your kitchen oven.

5. Don't make the pizza too thick. There was just a post about this a week ago, and the OP was definitely putting way too much stuff on top of his pizza and probably making the dough too thick. For a 13" pizza I use no more than 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, 4 ounces of mozarella, and 1/4 cup of parmesan. I then add one Italian sausage that I've taken out of its casing and cut into bits. That's the sum total of what's on my pizza.

I've been cooking my pizzas for 7-9 minutes total, rotating halfway through the cooking time.

 

[BulldogsCadillac]

I don't have the pizza oven yet, but was told to make sure you don't throw a frozen pizza on! With the stone being 700 -800 degrees and the pizza being 32, it can (and did for this person) crack the stone!

 

[texomakid]

Oh well we all fail once in a while. I've thrown away a cook more than once......... but you know it will be great when you get it right on the next try. I haven't cooked a pizza yet in my Yoder but I plan to and I was planning to use a pizza stone? Would that make a difference in this case?

 

[Winterrider]

If You wanna a very easy 2 ingredient recipe for pizza dough,watch shotgun reds video on youtube. Have made it numerous times. We like it.
1 1/2 cups self rising flour and 1 cup regular Greek yogurt. Will do 12" pizza. Double it, and form in sheet pan.

 

[Jabiru]

John: Thanks for your Informative post, I read your review a few days ago, top notch. I will ty your suggestions next time for sure. Your Pizza attachment is pretty much the same as mine.

Texomkid: I have used just a Stone on My Gasser (lid down) and it works great, takes about 15 mins for me to cook a pizza like that.
I think the only difference with these attachments is it holds the heat up top, so you get an equal top cook and stone temp. They cook real fast. Wether thats a deal breaker when cooking pizza I dunno.

I would go with just a Stone.

Winterrider: Thanks mate. I reckon I am going to do this, your post makes it sound easy too :)

 

[johnmeyer]

I haven't cooked a pizza yet in my Yoder but I plan to and I was planning to use a pizza stone? Would that make a difference in this case?

If I were cooking a pizza in a smoker, I would be tempted to use a pizza steel instead of a stone. Even though I am using a stone both in my kitchen oven and in my outdoor oven, many people are converting to using a steel.

The reason I'd use one in a smoker is that the smoke will eventually coat the stone. Some "funk" is a good thing on a stone, but too much might be nasty. I would think a stone would be a bear to clean. By contrast, a steel can be cleaned easily.

 

[Jabiru]

Great point John, I didn't even know about the steel ones.

 

[johnmeyer]

Great point John, I didn't even know about the steel ones.

Here's a link to one that Cook's Illustrated (CI) picked. This was from a test a few years ago, before CI "jumped the shark" after their leader left and the whole operation went down the sink drain.

Pizzacrafter CI Winner

[edit] Here's a link to their Amazon "store:"

Pizzacraft Amazon Store

 

[deb.williams]

Nice!

 

[Jabiru]

Found where I can get fresh made pizza dough, my local baker.

Uses 00 flour too.. might give the pizzas another shot shortly. Got a brisket in so might use leftovers as topping.