Weber Q pizza query

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goughi
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:29 pm

Weber Q pizza query

Post by goughi »

Hi I would like to know what the concensus is on the best setup for pizza on the Weber Q320. I am buying a BBQ-EZY sheet. I'm asking because I don't want to go out and buy various accessories such as a pizza stone if I don't really need them.

I have been looking at various posts here and elswhere on the net and have seen the following recommended (amongst others):
1 Pizza base directly on grate
2 Pizza base on to teflon sheet directly on grate
3 Pizza base on to teflon sheet on pizza stone on the grate
4 Pizza base on to teflon sheet on pizza stone on trivet
5 Pizza base straight on to pizza stone
6 Pizza base on to metal tray, perforated metal tray, vegetable cooker then on to a pizza stone, on to grate, on to trivet etc, etc.

At the risk of answering my own question I'm guessing that, like most other things in life, there is no single best answer. I may just try a minimalist approach and see how I go before I buy anything else?
Captain Cook
Posts: 3968
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:49 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by Captain Cook »

Hi Goughi, welcome to the forum.
As you have seen there are many ways to cook a Pizza on the Q.
My experience comes from both demonstrating cooking on the Q and cooking Pizzas at home is that the Pizza stone and tray method as recommended by Weber is the best way. You will find that people use whatever they have on hand to cook them.
The idea of the stone is to remove the moisture from the air/crust to give you a crispier base.

Cheers

Capt'n
mustud52
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:47 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by mustud52 »

Captain Cook wrote:Hi Goughi, welcome to the forum.
As you have seen there are many ways to cook a Pizza on the Q.
My experience comes from both demonstrating cooking on the Q and cooking Pizzas at home is that the Pizza stone and tray method as recommended by Weber is the best way. You will find that people use whatever they have on hand to cook them.
The idea of the stone is to remove the moisture from the air/crust to give you a crispier base.

Cheers

Capt'n
It took me a few goes before I understood why the pizza stone gives the best result. I should have asked Goughi's question when I first started so the Captain could explain.
Davo
Forum Administrator
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Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by Davo »

I much prefer the Pizza stone in the Weber Q220 as the captain says, it draws moisture from the dough/base to give you the crisp base.

It's best to find a way to keep the stone off the grill grates and higher in the lid where the heat is so that your toppings will be properly cooked and to do this, I usually turn my square high sided veggie basket upside down, place the stone on top and heat it up for at least 30 minutes, place the pizza ontop of the stone using baking paper at first untill the base starts to firm up a bit then after about 5-10 minutes, lift up one end of base carefully, slide baking paper out and cook till ready. Usually takes about 20 minutes for a pizza in the Q.

Even for the larger 300 series Q's, just use the outer burner.

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
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goughi
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:29 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by goughi »

Thanks for the quick response, I'll be keeping my eye open for a good price on a quality pizza stone!
trentski
Posts: 505
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:07 pm
Location: Melbourne

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by trentski »

I got mine for $20 from K-Mart and it came with a pzza cutter :D
Bianca
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:42 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by Bianca »

I bought the Weber Pizza Stone and it comes with a Pizza tray.
Instructions say to put foil down on the grill (the middle section), place the roasting trivet on that just as you would for a roast and put the pizza stone on the roasting trivet. I have a roasting trivet so no problem there.

I'm just a bit curious about Weber instructions saying to place the pizza on the tray and then on the stone. As already pointed out, the idea of the stone is to remove the moisture from the air/crust to give you a crispier base.... which is what I thought too - so wouldn't cooking the pizza on the tray over the stone take away the 'remove the moisture form the crust' part of the stone's purpose?
urbangriller
Posts: 9453
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:46 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by urbangriller »

Dead Right Bianca!

Transfer the pizza to the stone using baking paper...after a minute, pull the baking paper out and let the crust crisp up on the stone. Use the tray for serving!

Chris
Common Sense is so rare these days it should be a Super Power!
Bianca
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:42 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by Bianca »

Thanks Chris, I thought so!
Captain Cook
Posts: 3968
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:49 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by Captain Cook »

I use the tray to load the pizza on the stone

Cheers

Capt'n
ndru
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:17 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by ndru »

After a few failed attempts at pizzas in my Weber Q320 I pressed on and achieved success last night! Here's what worked for me.

For the pizza base I use a hard flour (Lighthouse). It has a high level of gluten, which goes to its structure. The dough can be pretty sticky after it has been left to rise so I use a little less water than what the maker recommends to make it easier to work with. The main issue I had with its stickyness in the past was getting the uncooked pizza easily onto the bbq. I found that coating the tray with a bit of corn flour before throwing the dough onto it helps greatly in sliding the uncooked pizza on to the bbq. I previously tried using vegetable oil to assist the sliding proces but found that the oil got so hot that it burned and made the base black and too bitter for my taste. The only other variation I make to the maker's recommendation is to put garlic and rosemary in the dough before mixing the flour and kneading it.

After punching down the dough I spread (not rolled) it onto a floured (Weber) pizza tray and coated with toppings. I made extra sure that the dough could slip around on the flour on the tray. If it didn't I lifted the pizza base and floured it a little more to reduce friction. I also made sure that an edge of the pizza was close to the edge of the tray. This helped in sliding the pizza of onto the bbq. In sliding, I found that once the pizza contacted the bbq it "grabbed" the hot surface it slid off the tray with little effort. The uncooked base is sticky and soft and can be a headache trying to keep it intact in the transfer process without also burning yourself! Also, I din't use any baking paper under the base because I found that just stuck to the base, too, making it difficult to remove either before loading the pizza into the bbq or getting it off during the cooking process.

I also avoided having the tomato sauce being on the base for too long because it can make the top soggy. I just apply the toppings about 5 minutes before it goes onto the bbq.

For the bbq, I mostly followed Davo and the Captains advice. I used the indirect cooking method by placing down aluminium foil on the grill. As per Davo's advice, for the trivet I then inverted a deep stainless steel Weber bbq vegetable tray onto the foil and placed the pizza stone on top of that. I then preheated the bbq pretty by putting both burners up to maximum for about 15-20 minutes. However, I turned the middle burner off after transferring the pizza to the stone for cooking and put the outside burner down to about 3 marks back from maximum. The pizza took about 12-15 minute to cook to perfection. The amount of correct time would probably depend on the toppings, ambient weather around the Weber q, etc. I use a combination of buffalo mozarella, mostly plain mozarella and a bit of provolone and parmesan.

Using this method the base and toppings turned out beautifully, better than any restaurant pizza I've ever had. Its ruined takeaway pizza for me for good!

I shoud say that my preference for pizza is that I like the cooked base to be firm but not teeth-shattering. I like it to be fluffy, almost scone-like with a bit of crunch on the underside and edges. If you prefer it another way then the approach I used might not work for you. I previously tried putting the pizza base directly on the grill to blind bake it and I hated the result. It was too charred, hard and bitter for my taste. However, many people like a thin crunchy base. My wife shares my preference but my 8 year old boy prefers his base a bit thinner and more crunchy.
mymonaro
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Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:31 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by mymonaro »

Bianca wrote: I'm just a bit curious about Weber instructions saying to place the pizza on the tray and then on the stone. As already pointed out, the idea of the stone is to remove the moisture from the air/crust to give you a crispier base.... which is what I thought too - so wouldn't cooking the pizza on the tray over the stone take away the 'remove the moisture form the crust' part of the stone's purpose?
I was wondering the same thing. The guy in the bbq store said to put the metal tray on to the stone and then you serve to the table with the pizza still on the metal tray. However, I read in one of the replies that the metal tray is used only to "load" the pizza on to the stone. This makes more sense as the moisture is removed from the pizza dough by making contact with the stone.
mymonaro
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:31 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by mymonaro »

trentski wrote:I got mine for $20 from K-Mart and it came with a pzza cutter :D
Got mine last Sunday from Kmart for $12.00, came with the large cutter and also a wire frame to move the stone to the table for the serving of the pizza. The frame is placed underneath the stone before heating the stone. Only problem is that then you do not have a stone for a second pizza (unless I am missing something). Perhaps in the country where the stones are manufactured the people are only small eaters, or they do not have as many people in their family as I do! *L*
goughi
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:29 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by goughi »

Well I had my first pizza cook up last weekend. I used the Captain's approach and it worked well. I used Lauke pizza dough mix (1Kg) and that worked well once I used plenty of dry flour on the board to knead the dough. I allowed to rise once cut the dough into 4 and allowed to rise again in separate bowls under cling wrap.

I used the 10 min preheat to char grill a red capsicum and olive oil sprayed eggplant slices. The capsicum was then skinned and the eggplant diced. When the q was hot I grilled a nice steak to rare.
Then I put the alfoil on the grate, trivet and pizza stone and heated for 15 minutes while I made the first pizza.

First pizza was vegetarian for my 21 yo daughter with Legos stir through sauce (garlic and roast vegetables) on base, eggplant, red capsicum, sliced artichoke hearts, black olives, red onions and fresh mozzarella cheese. Number two was seafood for my beautiful wife with homemade tomato sauce on base with garlic, a cubed fillet of salmon and 15 peeled green prawns, a sliced seafood stick and grated mozz cheese. It was drizzled with VOO and sprinkled with finely chopped dill Number 3 was for my ravenous 16 yo son and was homemade BBQ sauce, sliced steak , pepperoni and salami, red capsicum, chilli and cheese. Number 4 was shredded leftover roast chicken, semi-dried tomatoes, garlic, oregano, red capsicum olives and fresh buffalo mozzarella topped with fresh rocket.

Each base was rolled out and had the topping added and was drizzled with VOO. I built each pizza on baking paper, slipped onto the pizza stone and the paper removed after a few minutes.

Q320 was run flat out throughout the cooking with each pizza taking less than 10 minutes.

Bases were nice and brown and crisp, topping lightly browned. The family were very happy.

What to do next??
mymonaro
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:31 pm

Re: Weber Q pizza query

Post by mymonaro »

goughi wrote:Q320 was run flat out throughout the cooking with each pizza taking less than 10 minutes.
What to do next??
Thanks goughi for the report of your "great tasting-sounding" pizzas. When you said "flat out", I assume both burners were on high for the entire cooking session. Am I correct?
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