If you have a kamado style smoker/grill like a Big Green Egg or Kamado Joe, you probably have a heat deflector. Have you ever thought about using it as a pizza stone?
Can you use heat deflector as pizza stone?
Yes, you can use a heat deflector as a pizza stone. Heat deflectors are usually made of metal or ceramic and they can withstand very high temperatures, so they are excellent pizza stones.
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How To Use a Heat Deflector As A Pizza Stone
Make sure your grill (kamado style smoker) is very hot so that the pizza stone gets up to the right temperature. So we’re going to get the grill up to about 500 degrees. Now, we’re going to use the indirect method of cooking. We’ll do this with the heat deflector in place.
As the pizza cooks, it will raise up to about 500 degrees. This is why it’s an indirect cooking method. It will cook evenly from top to bottom. That’s what an indirect method does best; it cooks evenly. The dough will cook very well with a good amount of steam rising from the bottom of the pizza.
Other Cheap Pizza Stone Alternatives
Inverted Baking Sheet For Pizza
You can use an inverted baking sheet instead of a pizza stone. It works just like a pizza stone, but it is usually smaller and thinner, so you can fit more on your grill or smoker. It also stays hot longer, which is better for baking cookies or other baked goods.
Pizza Screen
In ancient Rome, people used a small wooden box called a “pizza” to cook flatbread. Most pizza stones are made of stone (like you see in pizzerias) or metal. You can use a pizza screen to cook thin pizzas on your grill just like you would on an outdoor brick oven.
Cast Iron Pans
If you have a cast iron pan, you can use it as a pizza stone. Cast iron works well for pizza since it is cheap and it spreads heat evenly. You can also rotate the cast iron pan to make sure that your pizza cooks evenly on all sides.
Baking Steels
If you have a baking steel, you can use it as a pizza stone. Baking steels are better than other baking pans because they are thick and they spread heat evenly.
A Hot BBQ Grill
If you have a very hot grill, you can use it as a pizza stone. It works much like the heat deflector does. The grill should be at about 450-500 degrees when you cook your pizza, so be careful and make sure to use an oven thermometer to check the temperature in different spots on the grill.
Also check out – What else can pizza ovens be used for?
Conclusion
You can use a heat deflector as a pizza stone. Heat deflectors are usually made of metal or ceramic and they can withstand very high temperatures, so they are excellent pizza stones.
A heat deflector is just like a baking stone in that it does not need to be directly placed in an oven for it to work.