Jose Andres Zapata

A peak into the Crucibile firebox in action...

I would like to suggest Saffire Grills, which I don't see on your list. https://saffiregrills.com/ I decided on this brand because of their Crucibile fire box, which is made of refractory brick material instead of ceramic. That was the big selling point for me. Other plus... it looks great in blue with the stainless hardware. Con... the daisy wheel cap. But I just received my Smokeware cap

I have had great results with the recipe from Roberta's. You can find it at the New York Time's website. After trying the recipe as is, I have made a few modifications. *Instead of 1/2 00 + 1/2 All purpose, I changed it to 3/4 00 + 1/4 All purpose *Instead of 65% Hydration, I raised the Hydration to 67% *72 hour proofing . 12 hours @ room temperature. Refrigerate. Las 6-8 hours, reball lightly and let it rise at room temp again before cooking. *Cook at 600 to 650 deg. Nice chew with a touch of crispiness and great flavor.

When I bought the Kamado the option to do pizza was a nice to have but never thought I would go down the rabbit hole! But I did. Ultimately it is precise but not rocket science... and can be summed up: - 900 deg - Neapolitan pizza - about 60% hydration. Short time in oven - 550 deg - about 70 % hydration. Longer oven time. 8 - 10 minutes. The dough your are buying that is meant for a WFO is most likely a very low % of hydration dough. Meant to be less time in the oven. The water evaporates and the dough start browning / burning before the topping ingredients start warming up. Another thing that is very important but not pointed out as often, is the amount of toppings. The big reason the Neapolitan style pizza has just a few toppings is so that they cook/brown quickly. The more toppings you have... the longer they take to raise the temperature of the ingredients. This is as important as the hydration percentage. Topping to dough ratio. Just a notch below those two items in importance is the dough amount. For most regular size Kamados, they will accomodate a 12" pizza, about the correct size for Neapolitan style. The dough balls for such a pizza should be between 180 grams to 250 grams. I am not yet skilled enough to stretch a 180 gram dough ball to 12" so I buy myself some comfort with a bit larger dough balls. Remember though, more dough.... give it a bit more cooking time. If it burns... add a bit more hydration. Practice, practice, practice. My wife prefers a bit thicker crust than Neapolitan style...350 gram dough balls have worked well for me. I lucked out by finding the dough recipe from Roberta's in the New York Times website. It is about 65% hydration and it's a great starting point. You can adjust accordingly. I get a great rise with nice big air bubbles in the dough (DO NOT USE A ROLLER!!!!). Let it rest for a few days and you will get great flavor also. Adjust hydration percentage and dough ball size and temperature according to your pizza type preference. One last suggestion....take out all your ingredients out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before you cook the pizzas to allow the ingredients to come up to room temperature. My wife recently bought me Mastering Pizza by Marc Vetri. I like that he has recipes for different styles / hydration percentages. Just starting to try out his recipes. The following are 350 gram dough balls using Roberta's recipe. Overnight rise. Good Luck!!!!

That looks fantastic!

Looking at the other setups, I am glad I did not leave room for more. I can see it turns into an addiction.

Spatchcocked the chicken. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Pre-heated the kamado to 425deg. Cooked for about 45 mins. The chicken was very juicy inside. The skin was very crispy. Pulled the meat...(had enough for left overs). Preheat the mole sauce, dip the tortillas in the sauce for a good coating. Fill them with pulled chicken meat and fold. Top with cream and served with a small side of beans. Oh... yes that is Mezcal on the glass for a very authentic Oaxacan meal

The ceramic stone / deflectors can withstand quite a bit of heat and the flames clean them right of...A high heat burn will leave them good as new.

I like the RO Tumbleweeds. Super easy to start. If I am not in a hurry I use 2. If I need a faster start I use 4.

Great Pizza freddyjbbq! Interesting article adding to the debate: https://www.pizzatoday.com/departments/in-the-kitchen/pizza-styles-neapolitan-vs-neopolitan/ I do like both Neapolitan AND NEOpolitan. NEOpolitan is easier to achieve on the Kamado. Even using utensils Neapolitan is a bit floppy for me.

It looks like a fantastic torta. I also love carne asada tortas prepared the same way, using a thin steak.

Thank you for the suggestions Keeper. I recently got some ceramic risers and now put the deflector at the grills, ceramic risers on top and then then the pizza stone. Last weekend I tried new recipes from a cookbook called Gjelina, from a restaurant in Venice Beach, CA. I received it as a gift from my wife's cousin. The toppings were next level phenomenal. I made a Pomodoro (tomato sauce + tomato confit + mozarella). Anchovy and roasted red pepper and the last one was Spinach + Mozarella + Feta + garlic confit. The tomato confit and garlic confit add so much flavor. The dough from the cookbook was a bit disappointing. Just by looking at the proportions I thought it was too much water, but decided to go with it because it called for a 500deg cook, 10 minute cook. So we had thin crackers with awesome toppings ;). I have had great success with the recipe from Roberta's in the NYT website. I get a nice rise, easy to handle, does not stick to the peel, etc. My next attempt will be the Roberta's dough with the awesome toppings.

I think you will like it, enjoy! BTW, good luck in the ACC tournament . We will be cheering for opposing teams, my daughter is a Blue Devil.

Those were cooked at about 700deg for about 3 mins. It looks more burnt than it actually was...did not taste burnt...still in the "neapolitan" range of crispiness. This was my first attempt ever at pizza, since I have learned quite a bit. Lately I have been using Roberta's recipe from the NYT site. It works well for lower/slower bakes and higher/faster bakes. You can see another bake here: I like Margherita and other toppings with thin / Neapolitan style crust. My wifes likes a thicker crust. So for the thicker crust I used the same recipe but lowered the temp to 600deg and let it bake for 7 mins. 7 mins was the perfect time for Crust and golden deliciousness on the top on my latest attempt. It was raining and we had company so I did not take pictures. If you have any questions let me know.

Great looking Brisket! I keep complaining we have not seen 70deg since November. High 50s to low 60s.