What went wrong with my cook

[ptmd 18]

i think i know what happened, but am looking for confirmation.

 

I tried to make pizza the other day (done this multiple times with great results) and I got my temp higher than i normally do (700F).  I think i put my pizzas in too early, I do not exactly recall smoke coming out of the top, but I think it was happening.  Eventually the smoke went away, but by then and after the results (See pix), I stopped.  I normally put regular lump charcoal and 1 hardwood log (this one had bark on it).

 

Anyways - my pizzas came out with blackish covering... and what i think looks like resin on it.  Obviously we did not eat it.  But i think, the smoke and likely the bark on the log were not ready for me to cook.  I should have waited for the smoke to go. 

 

what went wrong?

[BURGER MEISTER 449]

56 minutes ago, ptmd said:

I think i put my pizzas in too early,

 

 

That would be my limited knowledgeable guess as well.   Other than the black, they look pretty darn good.

Edited September 25, 2018 by BURGER MEISTER

[Thunder77 172]

What type of pizza were you going for? For NY Style, which is generally thicker and higher hydration, I go for 450-500. For me, 700 is way too high, unless I'm going for Neapolitan thin crust style.  As for the black, maybe it was something in the bark on the log that didn't burn cleanly?

[John Setzler 14,486]

I am not sure how you could be 'too early' at 700f.  There should not have been any visible smoke at those temps.  If htere was, then yes, it was definitely too early and you got your pizzas glazed with aerosolized fat that was left behind from a previous cook.

 

[ckreef 19,646]

My question is why would you put any straight wood in for a 700* pizza cook? At 700* it's only going to take 1 minute, two at the most. Not enough time to impart any smoke flavor so no need for straight wood. 

 

The wood fired taste of high heat pizza is a camelizing of the startches in the dough not smoke wood. (did I explain that right?) 

 

I've read a lot of posts on here about really high heat pizzas taking 3, 4 sometimes 5 minutes. Those cooks weren't really high heat pizzas. The air inside the Kamado might have been 700* that doesn't mean the cook happened at 700*. You opened the dome. 

 

[John Setzler 14,486]

I totally missed the part about the log.  I would definitely NOT do that in a Kamado.

 

[ptmd 18]

the temp got higher then expected - that was not my main concerned...  more so, about the blackish oily nature of the pizza itself , which i did not finish cooking, after seeing the colour distortion.

 

 

[ckreef 19,646]

4 minutes ago, ptmd said:

the temp got higher then expected - that was not my main concerned...  more so, about the blackish oily nature of the pizza itself , which i did not finish cooking, after seeing the colour distortion.

 

 

 

I'm guessing the hardwood. Skip that on pizza cooks. 

 

[John Setzler 14,486]

Repeat it with only charcoal and no log and you will be fine.  Also make sure there is no visible smoke coming from the grill when you put your pizza on if it is running at 700f.

 

[ptmd 18]

thank you all - you definitely confirmed my suspicions.

[Charcoal Addict 2,314]

10 hours ago, ptmd said:

thank you all - you definitely confirmed my suspicions.

 

You also need to do a self clean before cooking a pizza at 700 F.  You’re probably getting a lot of the grease and creosote from the dome landing on your pizza if you haven’t cleaned your dome, 

 

At 700 F putting wood in the fire is a waste. At temps above 650 F, most hardwoods will burn-up in minutes. 

[ptmd 18]

good to know

 

how do you clean your dome?

[ndg_2000 205]

5-600 f for 20 minutes usually does the trick 

2 hours ago, ptmd said:

good to know

 

how do you clean your dome?