Product Reviews

FEATURES WE LIKE:

• Simple to operate
• Pizza or toppings won't fall off
• Sturdy design
• Easy to clean
• Very handy

Steel supports and a thick baking surface make the PizzAgrill a great tool in outdoor pizza making.

The grilling industry is full of innovations and new gear.

A recent accessory is the PizzAgrill (that’s how they spell it). Homemade pizza can be delicious, and it is certainly fun to make. Conventional kitchen oven baking tends to overheat and burn the crust or turn it into a soft gooey mix. Unless you like heating your house in the summer months operating a 500-degree kitchen oven, pizza is not the thing to do.

Most so-called pizza cooking surfaces are thin and don’t provide the right action for the pizza dough to crisp up without burning. Additionally, it is easy to overheat the surface and ruin both pizza and the grill plate.

The PizzAgrill utilizes a quality steel support structure and proprietary composite surface. The surface is held about two inches above the actual grill surface in a well-made steel fixture. This allows the heat to flow around the entire pizza in a more controlled manner. It also helps to keep intense hot spots from developing on the baking surface that will transfer the heat and burn the pizza.

The actual baking surface (we call it a cooking surface) is a hefty 3/4 inch thick and measures 16 inches wide by 13 1/4 inches deep. The overall dimensions of the entire grill are 5 inches high by 16 1/8 inches wide. This unit will fit in most grills.

Plenty of thought went into the designing of the frame. The grill is higher on the back and sides, which allows you to remove or insert pizzas without fear of dumping the pizza or the toppings off the cooking surface and into the grill. There is a ¼ inch open space in the back of the frame between the back surface and the cooking surface which allows you to brush off any unwanted “stuff” into the grill an keep the cooking surface clean for a second pizza if desired.

The manufacturer states that this unit should only be used with a gas type grill and can take heat up to 800 to 900 F degrees. However, we find it operates best in the 500 to 600 F degree range. You may add wood flavor pellets or chips to the grill for some old time traditional smoke flavor.

Operation is simple. Put the PizzAgrill into your gas grill and run the temperature to the 500 degree range. Then, and always, sprinkle some cornmeal onto the cooking surface. This becomes the only lubricant the pizza will need and is used by all professionals. Put in the pizza, close the hood and let it bake for a few minutes. Typically, it will take five to ten minutes to grill a pizza once the heat is up. About halfway through, rotate the pizza for even baking. You can adjust the heat in a gas grill to balance out any hot spots you might detect. You can cook store-bought pizzas, homemade dough, or store-bought dough.

With the PizzAgrill, you get a real system that delivers a properly done pizza. Each grill comes with a recipe book, storage bag, grill mounted thermometer and instructions.

Excerpts from the San Jose Mercury News, July 9, 2003, article by Aleta Watson

Turning a home grill into a pizza oven

At about ¾ inch, the PizzAgrill stone is about three times as thick as the usual baking stone and weighs 20 pounds. Manufactured from professional-grade material that can withstand the top temperatures of a backyard gas grill, it sits in a metal frame that allows air to circulate around it. At the back of the frame is a thermometer to show the temperature at stone level, although its upper limit is 600 degrees.

The secret is in the heat the stone holds, evening out the temperature of the grill. Many gas grills can hit more than 700 degrees, compared with the 500-degree limit of most home stoves. The wood-burning pizza ovens of Naples can cook at 750 – 800 degrees.

"It converts it to a brick oven, manufacturer Steve Stark say of the stone and grill. It's Old World."
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