How to Cook Pizza On the Big Green Egg

Wood Fired Pizza at home? The Big Green Egg can cook pizza that tastes just like it came out of a brick pizza oven!

Pizza!  Pizza is one of my favorite foods! My skills at making pizza were polished when I owned my own pizzeria, named Makin’ Pizza!  We made our own dough and prepared the sauce using a special blend of spices.  I even “invented” a few signature pizzas.  In the photo below, I am preparing our alfredo sauce based pizza that featured chicken.

I loved making pizza so much that when we decided to move to Florida permanently, I was determined to have a brick pizza oven added to our lanai.  Until I found out that the one I wanted cost at least $10,000!  Yikes!

While at the local hardware store one day, we were introduced to the Big Green Egg.  Actually, I had heard of them before and basically dismissed them as being ugly.  I was very narrow minded!  Once the salesman got me to listen to all the things the Big Green Egg could do, including cook an awesome pizza, I was sold!  We ordered our Big Green Egg and it arrived already set up!

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I did splurge and purchase the Acacia table with casters.  It makes it so easy to move the Big Green Egg around the lanai! Plus the table top gives us extra room when cooking on the Egg.

Preparing the Pizza

I was anxious to try making pizza on the Egg.  Since I no longer have access to a commercial dough mixer, a friend suggested I make my dough using a bread machine.  My parents happened to have a bread machine so I brought it to Florida on one of my many trips during the downsizing/moving process.  

I found a recipe for bread machine pizza dough on line and I used it to make a batch of dough.  The dough making process takes about an hour and a half so you need to factor that into your pizza making schedule.

 

After the dough has finished rising, you are ready for the next step.

At the pizza parlor, we used corn meal on the pizza peels to keep the dough from sticking.  Before placing the dough on the peel, I sprinkled a liberal amount of corn meal on to the pizza peel.

What is a Pizza Peel anyway?

Think of a pizza peel as a big spatula.  We used a wooden one to prepare the pizza and get it transferred to the oven and a metal one to move it around the oven and then remove the pizza when it was done at the pizzeria.  I ordered a set of three wooden pizza peels to use at home.  The hardware store carried a line of Big Green Egg accessories so we purchased the metal peel from them.

After placing the dough on the pizza peel that has been sprinkled with corn meal, I rolled it out into a 10 ” circle.  I used a wooden rolling pin to do this.  The rolling pin should be dusted with flour so the dough doesn’t stick to it.  I do miss my dough roller and dough table that we had a Makin’ Pizza!

We also had a special tool to perforate the dough at the pizzeria.  I found a fork works well when making pizza at home!  I poked holes in the pizza dough with my folk.  Ideally, poking holes in the dough reduces the number of bubbles you will get in the pizza after it is cooked.

Topping the Pizza

The next step is saucing the pizza.  In order to save time, I did use an already prepared pizza sauce.

After the pizza dough is sauced, I added the cheese and the toppings.  If you look closely at the photo above , you can see some of the special spice blend that we had used in the restaurant.  I may have accidentally brought some to Florida with me….

For this pizza, I used pepperoni, sausage, canned mushrooms (again trying to save time!) and two kinds of shredded cheese.

Ready to Go on the Big Green Egg

With a few gentle shakes,  the pizza will slide off of the wooden peel onto the pizza stone that has already been placed in the Egg,  If the pizza is sticking to the peel, simply lift the edge of the pizza up with a spatula and sprinkle more corn meal on the peel.

The Big Green Egg and the pizza stone will have been preheated to 600 degrees.  The pizza stone needs to be able to withstand high temperatures.  You want to be sure that the stone you use can be used in a ceramic grill like the Big Green Egg.

The high temperature of the Big Green Egg will  allow the pizza to cook quickly. This pizza cooked in about 4 minutes!  As you can see, I didn’t get quite enough holes poked in the dough as I do have a few bubbles!  The bubbles did not affect the taste!  It was delicious!

 

I don’t know…. maybe I should open a Makin’ Pizza in Punta Gorda!

Now that sign hangs in the lanai in the “outdoor” kitchen!

I also have a canvas sign that is displayed in the inside kitchen.

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