Weber Smokey Mountain Pizza Oven | Let’s Make Some Pizza!

Can You Use A Weber s a pizza oven?

One of the greatest foods in the world is pizza. Whether it’s the simplest Margherita pizza or one of a million different specialty pizzas with six different toppings, there’s a pizza for everyone.

Yet when people think of pizza at home, it’s typical delivery, frozen pizzas from the local grocery store’s freezer, or homemade pizzas made in a regular oven. Sure, there are pizza ovens made for home use, but how many homes have those?

Can you make pizza on a Weber Smokey Mountain?

Chances are if you’re reading this, you have a Smokey Mountain in your backyard. If you do, you can make amazing pizza. No need for a fancy brick pizza oven, you’ve got a charcoal and wood-fired pizza oven in your own backyard (or front yard.)

What temperature do you cook pizza on a Weber?

You’ve decided you want to make pizza on your Smokey Mountain. As with everything you do on your grill, the temperature is key. You know your targets for when you are smoking brisket, ribs, or pork shoulders, but what’s the target for pizza? That depends on the type of pizza you are trying to cook.

According to the blog on Weber.com, there are three styles of cooking pizza, each with its distinct target temperatures. If you are cooking directly over coals, you are looking for 425-450 degrees. You can also set your grill up for indirect heat and target 375-400 degrees. If you are using a pizza stone, you want a grill at 450-475 degrees with the pizza stone preheated and waiting for your pizza.

How long does a pizza take in a Weber?

One of the most-asked questions about cooking anything is how long will it take? Cooking pizza on the Smokey Mountain is no different. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, however. It depends on what type of pizza you are cooking and how you are cooking it.

If you are going completely fresh ingredients, including your dough, and you want to cook it directly over your coals, you are going to cook in two distinct phases: first, you put the dough on the grill and cook for three to four minutes. No toppings are on the pizza at this point. Then you flip the dough, add your ingredients, and cook for another three to four minutes. When you are cooking this way, make sure you do not add too many ingredients and have any ingredients that need to be cooked first already done.

If you have some frozen pizza hiding out in your freezer and want to add some extra flavor, you are going to want to cook over indirect heat for at least 16 minutes, but you should be paying attention to both the pizza and the instructions on the box.

If you are searching for a crispy crust and are using a pizza stone, seven to 10 minutes should do the trick. Just remember to have that pizza stone preheated.

Pizza setup on the Weber Smokey Mountain

You’ve got your pizza. You’re deciding on which method to use. The pizza stone and that crispy crust sound appealing. Will it work on the Smokey Mountain?

Can you use a pizza stone on a Weber grill?

A pizza stone is a great tool for making pizza, and it can be used on your Smokey Mountain. If you are searching for that crispy crust, a pizza stone is the way to go.

Is the Weber pizza stone any good?

The Weber pizza stone is a great option for cooking your pizza.

It is made from a moisture-absorbing material called Cordierite that helps pull moisture out of the dough to create that crispy crust. It also comes with a handy carrying rack to help pull the stone off the grill with that beautiful hot pizza for easy transport to the table for serving.

Preventing the pizza from sticking

When it’s time to pull that hot pizza from the stone, the last thing you want to happen is for the crust to stick to the stone.

There are several reasons why this could happen, and there is an equal number of ways to prevent that from happening.

Your dough may be too wet

Before you put your dough on the stone, make sure the dough is of the correct consistency.

The pizza stone is too cold.

You need to preheat your pizza stone before using it, otherwise, the dough will stick before any sort of crust starts to form.

Make sure you heat the stone gradually as your grill heats up instead of putting a cold stone in a hot grill, otherwise you could end up with a broken stone. Half an hour of preheating is usually the right amount.

The pizza stone is not clean.

Just like your water pan, you should clean your pizza stone after every cook. If there are any leftover bits of your last cook that stick to the stone, your dough will join them.

Use warm water and gently scrub the stone after it has cooled completely. Just don’t use soap.

Charcoal Arrangement

Now the time has come to fire up your Smokey Mountain. You’ve got your ingredients and dough waiting, you’ve got the pizza stone ready to hit the grill as soon as your fire starts. So what’s the best way to build your charcoal fire to cook up the best pizza you can?

Minion Method

While you may use the Minion Method for smoking a brisket or ribs, you are not looking for a long cook time when cooking pizza on a stone.

The Minion Method is great for getting that long burn around 225 degrees, but that will not get you good pizza.

Standard charcoal method

For cooking pizza, you want heat and you do not need hours of it. A good three-quarter full chimney of lump charcoal should get you the combination of heat and burn time.

You need to adjust your dampers to make sure you keep the temperature range right for the 30-minute preheat and the 10 minutes or so of actual cooking.

Which rack to cook the pizza on?

One of the great features of the Smokey Mountain is the two cooking grates. For cooking pizza, you might think you want your pizza closer to the coals, but the top rack is the way to go.

You do not want your pizza too close to the fire, otherwise, you could scorch the crust and the stone. Also, you want the heat to redirect from the top lid to help melt that wonderful cheese and heat your ingredients. Just don’t go too crazy. The more toppings, the harder it is to cook the pizza properly.