Burnt on the Bottom
Last night, I made some homemade pizza using a Weber gas grill, too hot to use the oven in the house. I cobbled together a French bread recipe from Uncle John's Bread Book (the crusty french bread recipe on p.112 if you have the book), a You Tube video about putting the pan higher up in the gas grill and some advice here.
I made the French bread recipe (although halving it) followed the rising times (used the French Fold, too), and put the dough in a rectangular pan sprayed with Pam to keep from sticking. The pan was placed on four tin cans placed on the grate and I turned up three burners to get a heat reading around 550 degrees.
It cooked for about 15 minutes when it looked brownish and pulling away from the pan. I then put the toppings on and cooked about another 10 minutes. It came out really nicely except the bottom was burnt black in the middle but not on the ends.
So why the burning? Was it the Pam spray? A little too hot? Too much time on the first bake through before adding the toppings?
As I recall, the recipe was 3 cups AP flour, one packet yeast proofed in warm water with sugar and a bit of salt, 2 hour rise, shaping, one-hour rise, baking. It tasted fine; I just wanted to get rid of the black burnt on the bottom.
Thanks for any help
Neal Lavon
Takoma Park, MD
USA
my foray into, 'the pizza from the grill' has yet to happen, but I've been experiencing great luck with bread baking on my four burner, out back. The key to success, for me, was turning down the burners and moving the item away from the direct heat. The times that I have experimented with higher heat and using all four burners, at low heat, brought me burnt-bottom loaves (even with the use of a pizza stone atop an old toaster oven grill plate).
I preheat my grill, using all four jets set on the LOW setting, for ten to fifteen minutes, allowing the heat to reach 400 degrees, I then cut the inner two jets off, raise the lid, pop the loaf onto the stone and allow it to bake for 25 minutes, open the lid, and turn 180 degrees and continue baking. (Depending upon the outside temps, my complete bake time is anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes total time).
Now I've got the urge to try baking that pie. Curiosity has clicked in on this cat. I'll have to report back tomorrow evening and let you know how the test kitchens trial run went. Until then...happy baking. Don't give up the ship. Your recipe sounds great and not part of the reason for the dark of the problem. I simply think it's a core heat concern that can be remedied by a bit of lower temps in part of your processes.
These happy campers love trading their secrets. Right now they are all busy eating those pizzas they've created. I can hear them, can't you? chomp, chomp, chomp. ;)
I guess the issue with me was that I wanted to get it nice and hot, pizza oven style. Perhaps it was too hot and that led to the burning. Next time, I'll turn off the middle burner (I have three instead of four) but overall, it was a sucessful experiment, I'd say.
Just gotta watch that bottom :-)
Thanks for the reply.
Neal Lavon
Takoma Park, MD
USA
Neal,
I agree with Grapevine about using indirect heat but, also, after you par bake your dough, turn it over and add your topping to the now upside. You should find that your pizza will bake better and both sides will be done. I have done this a lot and it works just fine.
Good luck!
Cheesecake man (Rick)
Well, there's an idea. I'll try that out the next time I bake on the grill. Seems to make sense to me!
Appreciate it!
Neal Lavon
Takoma Park, MD
USA
...well, not really, but at least I got your attention (hehehehe)...I wish I was really laughing, but I'm in the midst of a boot-fest against my backside.
I knew better. Why heck, I even preached about it in my bread baking scenario, 'lower heat, turn off inner jets, blah, blah, blah'. BUT then, well, let's just blame it on the phone call. No, I'm sure it was the photo-op that distracted me. Oh wait, maybe it was the hungry teen? Oh toot, let's just ignore the carbon dating that took place and say it was an experiment gone, awry. Yeah, that sounds good. Let's use that excuse. Is anyone still following this, or am I just interacting with those voices in my head that chastise the part of me, you know the part, the one that says, "Pride goeth before the fall"? Oh well. At least we can all join in and have a good chuckle. REMEMBER:
I'll post those 'crispy-fried' moments ASAP. Until then, enjoy my search for a trusty fire extinguisher.
:0
Look into "Cook's Illustrated" recipe for grilled pizza. It's a winner, and you should be able to view it for free. They discuss the common pitfalls of grilling pizza dough.
Mike
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Redundancy is your friend, so is redundancy
I remember seeing that some time back. I went searching for it recently and could not find it but I can look around again. I do remember the web video, using plum tomatoes and some creamy type cheese that didn't burn.
They did theirs right on the grate, if I remember correctly, and the dough was very thin. I'll try looking for it again. I like my pizza dough on the bready side, hence the French bread recipe for the dough. It might be that only thin dough like I've seen on this topic, is the way to go.
Neal Lavon
Takoma Park, MD
USA