I was told this as well when I got mine. 3 cooks below 400 or something like that. As a counter point, two friends of mine who both have eggs did not do this, one even did a pizza as his first cook and has been using it for almost two years since then. We’ve had our eggs approximately the same amount of time and I believe his gasket is actually in better shape than mine (but I do a lot of high heat steak sears so I really should change to a Rutland or something eventually).
This is what lots of high heat will do to you overhead gasket…
XL? Baller!
Sauce? EVOO and Garlic. If I want any color to it I’ll add a couple TBSP of Tom Paste and some fresh Oregano but usually I just let the toppings speak for themselves.
??? What gasket around the top air vent? The gasket is between the top and bottom halves. I had had an egg for at least 6 or 7 years. I have replaced the gasket twice. Thew first time it was a PITA, but the spray adhesive I used when I replaced the first one was much easier to deal with the second time I replaced the gasket. They last 3-4 years. The new gaskets are better than the old ones, but I have been told that getting a roll of gasket material at an auto parts store is better than the BGE gasket material. I have not done that.
Maybe I’m an outlier, but my gasket fried on high heat cooks and I haven’t replaced it and don’t really have a problem with it. I can maintain low heat by basically shutting down the vents, and everything else is fine. Maybe I could get more precision with a solid gasket but it doesn’t seem to be worth the trouble. What am I missing?
I think the gasket helps with temp stability and moisture retention, although I have no “facts” to support this. I used to replace my gasket (buy the nomex one) every 90 days or so when I did pizzas on the BGE. No need anymore now that i have my Blackstone. It takes me about 20 minutes to change the gasket now.
no top gasket here, all my hard years of smoking have made the top pretty tight…
I believe some eggs came with overhead gaskets installed and some didn’t, I think it was dependent on the store where you bought it. I’ve had my egg since October of 2012 and it’s always had the gasket on the overhead vent. My main gaskets are also pretty shot, but I don’t have trouble maintaining temps for low/slow so I’m in no hurry to replace it. Although, I will probably go with a Rutland Gasket (or maybe a newer style Nomex) when I do.
Man, I was torn. I had talked myself into a large, then at the last second convinced myself to spend the extra 300 on the xl. My weber is 24 inches round and I just got a bit worried about the 18 in large.
Going to build it in a counter in a few weeks but got the nest for now.
Can of whole san marzano tomatoes, drained of excess liquid
puree tomatoes in blender or food processor with kosher salt, pepper, pinch of dried oregano and 1-2 cloves minced garlic . . . and done!
One tweak I add when making this for my daughters is to add ~1tsp of sugar to the sauce
Had it delivered, the guy didn’t get the lid to line up exactly with the bottom. After reading the instructions, I think I see why. I will tweak it tomorrow. I am very interested in pizza, and have been reading the thread here as well as some of the links in that thread. I admit, i am way confused.
I am going to hit the store tomorrow and try and find some of those ingredients. Will let the dough rest one night and try a pizza on Sunday.
Is wholefoods a good place to find those flours and tomatoes? How about cheese? I admit I don’t shop much.
The only changes I make are adding 1/2 tsp of dried thyme and substituting red wine for the chicken stock. I generally make the dough at least a day before and let it rest in the refrigerator. It helps develop the flavor.
Use the Pobega dough recipe. Works very well on the Egg. I made a dozen or more pizzas with it at BF 7.0 and I am a horrible pizza maker. You can find the recipe in the Pizza thread.
You can make almost anything into pizza. We made everything from traditional to Caramelized onions with Merguez sausage and fresh Mozzarella
Whole Foods carries the Caputo OO flour. I’ve never used canned tomatoes on my pizza so can’t answer the other part. I normally buy all my ingredients at the produce market unless it’s Summertime, then I just go to the garden.
Done several test burns for me to figure out venting and temp. Have it dialed close enough for now. Made a batch of mikes dough with a few changes I read about. Weighed evrything out, then added water, yeast, a cup of flour and a teaspoon of honey to mixer bowl. I let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then I started the dough hook on 2 and added the rest of the flout. Waited 2 minutes, went to 4 for four minutes, then back to 2 for the last two. Threw it on the scale, halved it and oiled up the balls and threw them into ziplock bags and into the fridge.
I made the sauce posted above (thanks) from food network with the thyme as listed. It’s cooling now.
Hope one day is enough for a first try.
Went basic on ingredients. Got some cipilini onions, several different kinds of mozzarella and a bit of parm reg.
Figure I can’t make it but so terrible…even mistakes will be edible I suspect.
I have a metal peel and the xl stone…think I am trying pachment paper till I get more comfortable sliding pies off peels.
Cooking some stuffed chicken breast on the egg tonight. Found i can get it clean burning at about 375 with the torch in about 20-30 minutes.
Just sprinkle some corn meal on the peel before setting the stretched dough on it. As long as there are no holes in the dough it will slide off just fine. Parchment catches on fire at these temps, gets messy.
He corn meal drives me nuts eating it - I use parchment, but take it out as soon as the crust starts firming up. Trimming the edges helps it not catch on fire.
