Little Black Egg Pizza Oven - How to make one at home

[Chris Hennes]

I just ran across this article on Serious Eats: Aftermarket Insert Turns Your Weber Kettle Grill into Coal-Fired Pizza Oven. It looks like this guy is selling something similar to what jmolinari is doing, minus the gas burner. But maybe you could start with this commercial insert and only have to add the burner?

[jmolinari]

seems pretty neat...i'd be concerned that the top dome, where the heat would collect and escape from the top vent, would be too far from the top of the pizza, the result being a cooked bottom crust, and undercooked top.

Sure enough... http://kettlepizza.com/testimonials/

the first pic shows a nice pizza, with what seems to be under-done crust...in my opinion.

Edited August 20, 2010 by jmolinari (log)

[RobertCollins]

This is an interesting thing you've built jmolinari.

Thought some of you folks would find thes specs and standards fun:

These are the links for building a pizza oven -Traditionally that is.

http://blackoven.idkhosting.com/wfob.html?.State=Thumbnails&page=29

http://www.fornobravo.com/pompeii_oven/pompeii_oven.html

http://www.fogazzo.com/html/glendale_oven_57.html

http://www.considine.net/mac/brickoven/

http://www.traditionaloven.com/pizza_wood_oven/pizza_wood_oven.html

http://www.traditionaloven.com/wwwboard/messages/625.html

below is the official rules for making napoletana pizza:

http://www.fornobravo.com/vera_pizza_napoletana/VPN_spec.html

[gadgetgeek]

Does the BGE make sense as a "multitasker", as Alton Brown would say?

Though I don't think a Big Green Egg can ever make a pizza like the LBE, I rank it as a multitasker. You can make a fairly good pizza on it, you can smoke on it, you can do low temperature (but not cold-smoked) fish on it, it does grill really well, it serves as an outdoor oven for casseroles, cakes, & deserts. Though they are pricey they last a good long time. I cook on one 4 days a week and have for years, and though I do have a WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) for some things, I rank the BGE as a tried and true multitasker. If JMolanari would make me an LBE, I'd have one of the best inexpensive pizza ovens around. I'm just not that crafty

.

[daves]

Almost a year ago, I read jmolinari's post with lots of interest. We were in the middle of a backyard remodel that would provide space for an outdoor kitchen, and I was dreaming of a wood fired oven.

Today, I'm still dreaming of the WFO, but I'm enjoying some neapolitan pizzas: building a little black egg finally bubbled to the top of my to-do list. This thread started the quest, and I soon found myself at pizzamaking.com reading up on LBE variations. I used a 22" weber along with the rest of the usual suspects, completing the project in a couple of weekends.

The result: this is a keeper. The main benefit is how easy it is to manage pre-heat (getting the deck stone to temp) vs. cooking temp (blast of hot air above the deck) with the propane burner. And then being able to turn the burner backt to low to not overheat the deck.

The BGE, and other ceramics, can get up to equivalent temps, but can't bring it back down quickly. The result is that the BGE is ready for pizza cooking for a small window of time, and soon after the deck temperature gets too hot. I've got a big ceramic, and while they excel at a bunch of stuff, they just come up short for pizza.

Thanks jmolinari. The LBE rocks!

[jmolinari]

Glad you made one and it's working out! Now time to start experimenting with the pizza dough formula....it's a never ending quest:)