Portable Pizza Grill

Who likes pizza?

From what I understand, damn near everybody! I have to admit, it just ain't my favorite thing to eat, because so much of it is just really so bad. I am not fond of pepperoni, it gives me heartburn, so, of course, my husband loves pepperoni. That probably began my fear and loathing where pizza is concerned, not to mention the weekend late-night drunken rituals of I'm hungry, what can we eat?
Chico's!



Yeah, I stole that pic from Taco Journalism


But nobody is sober enough to drive to Chico's Tacos.
Bummer.

So, by default the answer is Pizza-they deliver! Oh so convenient, and oh so awful. Don't get me wrong, good pizza I can handle. But that's a subjective comment if I ever made one. What constitutes a good pizza? You'll get varying answers to that question from around the globe, and I can't even pinpoint exactly who makes the best pizza for my taste. I aim to change that trend very soon, and be happy with pizzas I make on my own.

We used to make some pretty decent pizzas in our home oven back in the day, but they were always just sort of....ehh, okay. Fun to make on a Friday night, but the oven never really got hot enough to make a decent pizza pie.

About 8 months ago I was browsing through craigslist, (a daily ritual) and I saw a nice Kitchenaid Mixer listed for 75 bucks. I snagged that quick when I saw how new it is. I love to bake, but I really started thinking about pizza when I got this thing. Being the internet scavenger that I am, I had to find the best recipes for the right style crust. I was also trying to find a whole grain recipe, which is another story within itself. I ran across a couple of really interesting sites such as pizzamaking.com and the PMQ Think Tank. You can't get any better than this for learning about all things pizza. These folks have pizza down to a science. I've learned that it really is a science. Mind-boggling when you see the full scope of all the styles of pizza and all the styles of baking those pizzas. The lengths people will go to for good pizza, you'd be amazed. Who would have ever thought you could cook pizza using the cleaning cycle of your home oven? Well, they did, and they do. Boggles the mind, don't it?

So, I'm web surfing along, specifically seeking whole-grain pizza dough recipes, and I come across this forum post at Pizzamaking.com with a beautiful picture of a 60% whole-grain thin crust. That's Villa Roma's picture of a beautiful slice of cheesy pie!

I am truly amazed at what else I find at pizzamaking.com. Any style pizza crust you want, multitudes of recipes, resources for all things pizza, and a pleasant, helpful community. I could hardly believe I had found the thinner chewy crust I wanted, made with whole grain, and really good, concise information about how to actually recreate it. This particular poster calls himself Villa Roma (what a great name). It wasn't just the pictures of this guy's pizzas that blew me away, but how he was cooking those pies. He had taken one of these:




and turned it into an 800+ degree pizza oven. He cooks his pizzas in less than 2 minutes, and he calls the contraption a little black egg or LBE. There is a growing faction of LBE aficionados, and they have made some fascinating modifications to all manner of Weber Smokey Joe's. Of course, I've now got to have one for myself, knowing no pizza made in my kitchen oven is ever going to amount to anything I really, really want to eat. Sure, I'll eat pizza, but seldom do I wholly crave or enjoy it. Looking at my forlorn and neglected Smokey Joe Silver sitting on the back porch, knowing I had abandoned him to my BIGGER, better grill...well, I just knew I had to try and make one of these pizza cookers. I'm a project type of gal, dontchaknow?

I've been trying to get my husband on board with this experiment, but every time I'd mention it to him he'd say "That sounds dangerous." photo courtesy of skylighter.com

My first reaction is to do a double-take...A man who loves pizza is worried about a little ol' hot-ass pizza cooker? One that we can take camping? One we can take anywhere? WTF? So I do what I always do, Image credit to Farm1

and keep him out of it, while I talk it up to friends and family; this is what I do, I talk them up about all my hair-brained ideas until they begin to see the light. Finally, I wear him down, and before you know it he is purchasing the burner element required for this little contraption. WooHoo! I'm on my way! I get so excited I call my brother and another friend and tell them the game is afoot. I get out my Craftsman work station, a drill, an old hacksaw blade, protective goggles, some duct tape and needle-nose pliers, a few screwdrivers, my Dremel, Tungsten Carbide cutting bit, hearing protection, and consume a couple bottles of Bud Light. Fully prepared, I commence to making the cut-outs needed to modify the Smoky Joe.



Drilled a couple of pilot holes in the lid, and started the difficult task of cutting out this oval shaped vent with a flimsy length of broken hacksaw blade (one end ensconced in duct tape to protect my soft and delicate hand). I smoothed out those rough edges with my dremel, one little burr at a time.





I'll need to take some more pics to show you the end result. After I pried off the vent assembly from the bottom of the grill using my husband's Leatherman I began cutting out the hole for the burner assembly to fit into. I found it much easier to use a smaller drill bit, and forget the hacksaw blade completely. Many pilot holes later, I was able to Dremel cut my way through and create a semi-round hole. It was easy enough going for a few hours work, and altogether satisfying.

I love the way this burner I took from the Outdoor Gourmet Deluxe Fryer Stand fits perfectly upon that little ash tray underneath the grill. We found the burner locally at Academy Sports. They sell component parts there as well, but I needed the regulator and hose assembly, so I just bought the kit which was cheaper in the long run.





I posted a want on craigslist for a few firebrick splits, and a very nice gentleman from central El Paso responded. So I now have a buffer for the flame which is going to need to create temperatures of at least 600 to 800 degrees. That's some powerful heat. How do you know when you've reached optimum temperature? I suppose you could hold your hand over the surface, and try to gauge it that way, nope, not me! This is the tool of choice: Infrared Thermometer or something very close to it.

I will still need to order a good pizza stone or kiln shelf for a cooking surface, as all others who have gone before me can attest. A crappy stone will last through baking one pie, and then it will crack. If I can't find a round kiln shelf through my ad on craigslist, I'll have to break down and buy one. I was going to order a stone from Fibrament (possibly the best on the market) but their smallest stone at 13 5/8" is a little too big for my grill.

It's only a matter of time, but I shall soon have completed this project, and I'll be posting the end results once I get there.