# Pizza for Mother's Day & Performer Set-Up



## Smokey Lew (May 9, 2011)

We decided to go with home made pizzas for Mother's Day. Our two daughters and my youngest son were over and it was a fun project for dinner.

Most of the fun for me was setting up the Performer. I planned on following Don Cash's post about his pizza set-up. I have the same pizza stone he has and a WSM with a charcoal ring so I thought it would be a snap. Ran into problems when I realized that he must have been using a larger kettle w/ a charcoal ring from an 18" WSM, not a Performer and the charcoal ring I have from my 22" WSM.

Instead of using the WSM charcoal ring, I ended up placing a couple of fire bricks in the bottom of the Performer on the charcoal grate. The coals were evenly distributed around the bricks. The fire bricks would act as a damper and a place to put some apple wood chips for smoke.

As soon as I placed the pizza stone on the grate, I realized the lid wasn't going seat properly. The metal frame the stone sits in has a high back and it bumped up against the inside of the lid. My grinder took care of that.

After getting all the kinks out, everything went pretty good. We ended up making four pizzas and they were a big hit.

Fire bricks in position with some Stubb's briquets and mesquite lump charcoal.




Dumped a full chimney of lighted briquets around the bricks. Apple wood chips on top of bricks for smoke.




Pizza stone on top of grate. Very tight fit but with some grinding on the frame, it worked.







Pizza stone up to temperature and we're ready to cook.




First pizza on the stone and a shot of it when it was done.







Fourth and last pizza and the one everyone liked best. All-in-all a great success. Mom was very happy!




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## friesian_rain (May 9, 2011)

The pizzas looked wonderful, !  I liked the way you set up your grill for cooking them; and don't you just love grinders, they can "fix" a lot of things          Great job !


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## Pigs On The Wing BBQ (May 9, 2011)

That's the way to do it Lew. Fine indeed!


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## bbquzz (May 9, 2011)

Wow ... Those look phenomenal  Lew, the first one is my fav, what all it on that one? How about the dough? Had to laugh at the grinder part, you are more engineer than a graphics guy


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## ChuckBBQSmoker (May 9, 2011)

Excellent job Lew!


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## muddave (May 9, 2011)

Excellent Pizza, looks great i just wish i had some


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## Smokey Lew (May 9, 2011)

bbquzz said:
			
		

> Wow ... Those look phenomenal  Lew, the first one is my fav, what all it on that one? How about the dough? Had to laugh at the grinder part, you are more engineer than a graphics guy


Hey Buzz, thanks for the kind words. The first pizza had my home made marinara sauce, bell pepper, onion, mushroom, garlic, Mozzarella, parmesan and goat cheese. The dough recipe came from Food Network. It had a lot of positive reviews but it was just average. It didn't rise very much and it didn't have much of a doughy taste to it.


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## Don Cash (May 9, 2011)

Looks great from where I'm sitting! Love kettle pie!!

Weird...My stone fits on my kettle (22.5 OTG) without having to grind it down. It's snug but it fits. You're right though, the charcoal ring came from a 18" WSM. Way to adapt!


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## JIMMYJAM (May 10, 2011)

Way to make it happen Lew always thinkin on ur grill, Pizza's look  incredible....don't see any meat but hell looks so good I don't think I mind


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## Smokey Lew (May 10, 2011)

JIMMYJAM said:
			
		

> Way to make it happen Lew always thinkin on ur grill, Pizza's look  incredible....don't see any meat but hell looks so good I don't think I mind


Thanks JJ. We did have one pepperoni pizza that didn't get photographed. Both my daughters are vegetarians so the three other pizzas went meatless.  :roll:


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## Vermin999 (May 10, 2011)

Fantastic looking pizzas Lew!!!!


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## bknox (May 10, 2011)

Heck Yeah!


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## ScottyDaQ (May 11, 2011)

PIZZAAA ! Awesome!


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## dollarbill (May 11, 2011)

Another great meal and photogenical (haha)  meal on a cooker!


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## Big Bears BBQ (May 11, 2011)

Some of that pizza would go really good right now...........


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## Nick Prochilo (May 12, 2011)

Excellent job Lew! My pizza stone looks just like that minus the metal and cost. I have a piece of travertine left over from a job that I use.


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## cookking (May 12, 2011)

Hard to beat pizza done on the grill. Nice cook!


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