Kamado Pizza 101
Thousands of people try cooking pizza on their Big Green Egg, Vision, or Kamado Joe grill each year, and some have success. We want to make sure that making pizza is a pleasurable experience no matter which grill or what equipment you are using. Our mission is to help people have fun making great pizza. Before you try cooking your first pizza – see these instructions to avoid some of the common pitfalls.
We have been 100% focused on kamado pizza cooking for years - we have faced all of the challenges.
Grill Setup
Pizza in a Big Green Egg
You are probably here because you are excited to make homemade pizza on your grill. Kamado grills seem to be perfect for wood-fired pizza. Kamado grills use real charcoal (wood), they can get really hot, and they are ceramic dome-shaped ovens. What could go wrong?
Setting up the grill is straightforward – Make a big, hot fire, use your plate-setter or deflector, and manage the temperature very closely. If you have not cooked at high temperatures in your kamado for a while there are some tricks to getting the grill up to high temperatures. Good airflow and good, dry charcoal are primary but see HERE for a full list. To start, shoot for 500°F to 550°F.
Add a pizza stone on a spacer above the cooking grate and you are set to go.
Equipment
Pizza 101 Kit
We created a startup kit to make it easy to get the right basic accessories. To begin, you need the right kind of stone for high-temperature cooking and some basic tools to handle a pizza.
This kit is all you need to get started. These tools will serve you well even if you want to expand in the future. We also include a more detailed guide for how to use these items.
Dough
Pizza Dough
To make a great pizza you will need to start with great dough. Dough matters.
The dough you select must match the temperature of your oven. Before you make or source dough, choose the cooking temperature. To get started, the easiest way is to buy raw dough from a good pizza restaurant that uses an electric deck-oven and shoot for a 550°F cook. Pizza dough balls from a restaurant will be better suited than Publix or Trader Joe's dough. If you choose to make your own dough, see this BLOG. For a recipe specifically designed for these temperatures try one of THESE.
Once your grill is steady at the 500F to 550F range you can cook your first pizza. Be sure a burp your egg before you open the grill. Place your wooden pizza peel with the raw pizza on it over the hot pizza stone and then jiggle and slide the pizza peel out from under the raw pizza. A complete tutorial can be found HERE. Close the dome right away. Pizza is one of the few foods that you cook by eye. There is no time and temperature combination that you can calculate to see when the pizza is done. You have to (after you burp the grill!) take a peek. Check the pizza often and turn it as it browns. Check the bottom and pull the pizza out when the crust is done on the bottom. A metal peel is best for checking and retrieving pizza. Retrieve the cooked pizza and slide it onto a cutting board with a flourish.
Now that the first pizza is done you will need to get the egg back on track to cook the second pizza. If the stone is too hot after the first pizza you will need to shut all the vents down and wait until the stone loses some heat. If the grill has cooled too much, open up the vents and get the temperature back to that sweet spot again.
Conclusion
This is the basic how-to of cooking pizza on a kamado grill. This guide should help you get started. The Pizza-Porta was born out of the desire to make full-fledge wood-fired pizza at high, steady temperatures. Capping the top keeps the dome hot and traps heat for convection and radiant cooking. Closing the door retains the airflow control, keeping the stone and the dome at steady temperatures pizza after pizza. Try making pizzas and see if it is something that you want to add to your grilling repertoire.
When you want to take your pizza to the next level, we are only a click away.