Pizza...by me

I would never win an award for not loving pizza.

- Dwayne Johnson -

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my search for a pizza oven for my home. I found one I liked but it was kind of expensive and I was reluctant to spend that sort of money - $429 plus associated add-ons that were required. I decided to try a much cheaper option resulting in a saving of $334 which you can read about here if you are interested.

Recently I tried out my pizza oven-setup with a little trepidation, mainly because I'd be pretty annoyed, and devastated, if my cheaper option wasn't to work out very well.

I'd decided to turn my Weber Q barbeque into an oven by purchasing the roasting pack consisting of convection tray and trivet and added in the pizza stone and tray to complete the required items. Below you can see the transformation from barbeque to pizza oven and I'll go through it with you in case you're interested.

• Top left: My Weber Q, basically a gas-fired barbeque cooking grill with lid.
• Top middle: Convection tray which redirects the direct heat to the sides, front and back which forms a convection-action under the domed lid for even baking.
• Top right: The trivet which provides some additional heat-transfer properties and also keeps the pizza stone or baking tray clean in the advent of juices dripping into the tray.

• Above lower left: The pizza stone in place on the trivet. This is heated (closed lid) for twenty minutes prior to the pizza going on top of it.
• Above lower middle: A close up of the pizza stone
• Above lower right: The pizza tray on which the pizza is made which is then placed upon the pre-heated stone.

The method is simple: Set up the Weber Q as above, minus the tray, and turn on high, close the lid and go and prepare pizza's. It takes twenty minutes to heat up.

Cut up the pizza stuff...Yes, I know the hot salami is missing, the pelican at the supermarket checkout must have forgotten to scan it. I ended up using some left-over turkey and ham from Christmas. I actually made half vegetarian and half turkey and ham anyway. Also yes, I put pineapple on my pizza because I like it.

Add tomato paste to the pizza bases then top the pizza. You'll note, below right, that I don't put too much cheese on my pizza. I find they don't need it if good quality toppings are used.

Once the twenty minute pre-heating is done it's pretty straightforward; open the lid, place the tray with pizza upon it directly on the stone and close the lid. Twenty minutes later...Well, you can see the top two images below with the one on the left after I added some of my home-grown basil leaves.

Overall I'd say it worked out beautifully. The bases, bought ones, were crispy and cooked on the bottom perfectly and the toppings did what they were supposed to, that is, cooked evenly. Success!

I love making pizza's at home as I don't have a decent pizza bar anywhere close and it often costs so much money to buy them anyway. I make up loads of different ones and love experimenting. I think I'll be doing a little more pizza making now my Weber Q pizza-oven-test has proven it to be totally legit.

The only downside is that only one pizza can be made at a time but usually I'd use a much larger pizza base than in the images here - I sort of skimped-out this time in case it was a total failure. I'll generally make my own bases and roll them to the size of the tray meaning there's more pizza to go around whilst the second pizza is baking.

I'm planning to make a lasagne and pasta-bake in the Weber Q also, and I'll probably move on to a roast chicken or beef with vegetables at some stage, maybe even a whole fish. With the reusable convection tray it's pretty much turned my Weber Q into an oven...And all for $95AUD.

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Let me know if you're keen to come over and make pizza's with me ok? I mean, if you're keen I am too, and I think it'll be a bit of fun. I'm of the impression that good company makes average food great so come on, take a risk; we'll throw on some music and cook together then sit and share food - Sound good?