I posted this on a thread before, but I'd like to document some results on the internet with my findings. Hopefully, this helps others.

Here is the recipe I've used before for pan pizza, pizza on the stone, etc.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/07/basic-new-york-style-pizza-dough.html

• 22.5 ounces all purpose flour., plus more for dusting (630g; about 4 1/2 cups) RECIPE CALLS FOR BREAD FLOUR
• .5 ounces sugar (15g; about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
• .35 ounces kosher salt (10g; about 1 tablespoon)
• .35 ounces instant yeast, such as SAF Instant Yeast (10g; about 2 teaspoons)
• 1.125 ounces Extra Virgin olive oil (32g; about 3 tablespoons)
• 15 ounces lukewarm water (420g; about 1 3/4 cups)

My main goal is to cook the highest quality new york/neapolitan style pizza I can, within budget constraints. I'm hoping to crack the pizza code for kamado without having to buy extra equipment.

First pizza last night.


This pizza was cooked at 550 degrees on a pizza stone in the regular home oven. White pizza with ricotta, parmesan, lemon, and garlic. I let the stone preheat for a good 2 hours at 550. When I started shaping the dough, I put the stone at the top of the oven and turned the broiler on high. Overall it was good, but the top crust just would NOT brown, and the crust ended up pretty crackery and tough but still underbrowned on the bottom. Not ideal.





Same dough, cooked at ~625 ish on the kamado. The pizza stone was on a secondary level above the initial grate, and had a heat deflector on. Essentially, lots of space between the fire and the stone. Granted, this dough recipe was intended for the home oven (added sugar for enhanced browning), which is I think why the bottom was so charred. Not to mention the still pretty intense heat coming from one direction. There is an obvious difference with the top heat not being a factor here. The texture of the crust was great and had much better oven spring than the oven pizza, but the bottom was BURNED. The char looks okay in photos, but was not good.

Next time, I think I'll use a more traditional neapolitan dough (no sugar), and back the heat off to 550 for the kamado, then shut the vents off upon launch to trap the heat in. Another caveat is that I used AP flour. I'll try "00" flour with no sugar or oil and see where that gets me.

Any input is much appreciated here.

Looks like your hydration is a little high. Close to 67%. I'd dial it back. Not much. Maybe down to 65%.

You say you are trying to get the best New York/Neapolitan style you can get without getting extra equipment. I don't think you need extra equipment, but those are two different styles of dough and require two different temps. You can cook a great NY styles around 760 F. Neapolitan needs to be around 930 F. Both use different flours and different hydration levels.

With the equipment you are using, I'd shoot for the NY style. You'll get a crispy exterior with a chewy interior. Foldable, but it will support the weight of many toppings. Use either bread flour, or if available, 00 Flour. Check out pizzamaking.com. There is a plethora of information there and it has helped me greatly.

Thanks a lot for the input. I've browsed there a little bit, and I will definitely do so in the future.

My son works at Howdy's pizza in CS. They advertise themselves as Texas grilled pizza. He said they first grill the crust to par bake it, then pull it, add toppings and then finish it in the 650 degree oven. We are going to experiment with that next time we do pizza on the Akorn.

That's what I do except I do it in the oven at 550. Whichever side is face down on the stone during par baking goes face up with the toppings. This really helps with wet toppings like pizza sauce.

I've also experimented with using a cast iron pan to par bake but found the oven par baking easier and better.

That's a great idea to parbake! How long do you bake on that side before flipping?

wow that looks great.

fav13andac1)c said:

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That's a great idea to parbake! How long do you bake on that side before flipping?

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Usually just a couple minutes max, just enough that it starts getting a little browning.

That's a good looking pie. Yeah, I ended up buying an Ooni pizza oven. Lehmann's recipe is a good one. I'll get my pizza oven up to about 760 with his recipe. As soon as I throw it in there, I I drop the flame down to its minimum. Cooks in a couple of minutes. Great crust and doesn't burn the toppings.