Baking pizza on the Big Green Egg had always seemed pretty intimidating to us and so we are happy to report that it was pretty darn easy! And not only was it easy but it was so tasty, it brought back delicious memories from our recent trip to Italy. Now you can enjoy that wood-fired flavor and crispy crust that you’re used to from the best pizzerias in town all the while being able to customize your pizza to make it exactly the way you want it. Want a quarter salami, a quarter artichoke and olives and half with roma tomatoes and basil? No problem. That truly is the beauty and fun part of home-made pizza.
What we love is that the Big Green Egg is that perfect pizza oven when you need it but then acts as your grill or smoker on other days. So much easier than building an extra pizza oven on your patio. All you need is a plate setter, pizza stone and pizza peel. The Big Green Egg Pizza Peel is what you call that giant spatula that is a life saver for getting the pizza on and off the hot pizza stone. It looks like this:
But, without further ado, here is how we made pizza on the Big Green Egg! We took a shortcut and used dough balls from the super market but if you’d like to make your own, here is a great recipe from Bobby Flay.
Light your Big Green Egg’s coal, set up the Egg for indirect heat, place the pizza stone on top of the plate setter and preheat it to 450F.
Spread corn meal on a flat surface and roll your dough out thinly.
Top it with a sauce and all your toppings. We used tomato pizza sauce and then layered tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, Italian seasoning and shredded mozzarella. Next time we’re going to experiment with an olive oil base and some fresh herbs but oh there are countless options!
Carefully spread some corn meal on the pizza stone and then grab your pizza peel and transfer the pizza onto the hot stone. Now, this sounds difficult but we were surprised by how easy the pizza slid of the peel thanks to the corn meal.
Bake the pizza in your Big Green Egg for 12 – 20 minutes. Apologies for the vague range but it all depends on how thick your dough was. Our crust rose pretty high so we needed the full 20 minutes. Luckily, a meat thermometer comes in handy yet again. Check that your dough has an internal temperature of 200 – 210F for an optimal crust.
Buon appetito! For more inspiration follow our Pinterest board where we have collected a few tasty topping ideas for you!
