Pizza-Porta Medium User manual

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Quick start guide
Best practices for Medium Pizza-Porta.
1) Pizza peels are necessary to cook pizza in a Pizza-Porta. A 10” wide peel
fits perfectly. A wood peel for placing and metal peel for retrieving works
best.
2) All BGE/KJ/kamado grill hinges are adjusted a little differently. Test the fit
before you start a fire. Your Pizza-Porta is designed to fit at the factory
settings. Small air leaks are ok. See guide below for full setup details.
3) When cooking pizza on a BGE, don’t underestimate them, they get hot!
Move all flammable/melting items away from the grill. Do not set the grill on
surfaces that will scorch or melt. Cooking at 550°F to 600°F is a great
temperature range for most dough. Manage the temperature to that level
and experiment. Make sure you follow the setup instructions closely. Don’t
ever cook pizza directly on the plate setter or put the pizza stone
directly on the plate setter. This will burn the pizza bottom.
4) Raw pizza dough should be floured so it is not sticky. Make sure the
dough is floured well, then sprinkle a pinch of cornmeal on the peel to
make it slide easily. Make sure it will slide freely before you put it in the
Pizza-Porta - if not, stop and add more cornmeal. Do not put cornmeal on
the stone – as long as it is above 400F degrees, the dough won’t stick.
5) Rotate your pizza after 2 minutes – the fire will sometimes be hotter on one
side. Pizza needs to be watched, this is not a Boston Butt.
6) Good Pizza starts with good dough – See out website for recipes and use
6-7 oz dough balls for a 10”-11” pizza. (Or hack it and buy 6 oz. raw dough
balls from your local pizza restaurant.)
7) Make sure to lock the Pizza-Porta door closed when shutting down.
8) Practice makes perfect - and your friends won’t mind!
9) Prep your grill - Make sure that your gasket is not sticky with BBQ sauce or
other contaminants that may adhere the gasket to the Pizza-Porta. You
may generate a great deal of smoke if you have not cooked at a high temp
for a while. Let this burn off before you place your first pizza (but don’t let it
overheat your stone).

Copyright*2021*Pizza-Porta****All*trademarks*used*are*property*of*their*respective*owners*570-PP10220-MG*
Setup and Usage Instructions
Safety First: Pizza cooking is done at high temperature (>500F). For this
reason, extreme caution must be observed when interacting with the Pizza-
Porta™. It will be HOT.
• Never touch, adjust, lean against or contact parts other than the handle.
The metal parts are all HOT.
• Ensure that your table or other surrounding accessories are not in contact
with the outside of the kamado/BGE grill. Do not place grill on a table top or
other surface that will scorch or melt. It is HOT.
• You may experience excess smoke and flame while your grill is getting up
to temperature. Burn off the excess grease with caution before cooking
pizza. Scrape any debris from your plate setter/deflector before a hot cook.
• Allow the kamado/BGE to cool completely before handling the Pizza-Porta.
It will still be HOT.
• Use an oven mitt or pizza peel to adjust the air vents. They are HOT.
For best results, the following accessories are recommended: Plate setter or other
diffusion stone, non-conducting spacer (metal grate or aluminum foil balls),
Aluminum deflector, Pizza Stone, Pizza Peel (wood and/or
aluminum)
Assembling the handle:
Assemble the pieces as shown. The
locknuts are the only part on the inside of
the door. Hold the screws with a
screwdriver and tighten the nuts on the
inside of the door. (Note the thin spacer
goes between the door and the “Pizza-
Porta” heat shield)

Copyright*2021*Pizza-Porta****All*trademarks*used*are*property*of*their*respective*owners*570-PP10220-MG*
Inserting the Pizza-Porta in a Medium:
The Big Green Egg uses a cantilever hinge. To get proper alignment:
• Lock the Pizza-Porta door shut with the
vents.
• The safety tab on top is provided to keep the
unit from pulling out while cooking. It should
be inside the top dome.
• Open the dome ¾ and hold the Pizza-Porta
up against the dome lid.
• Visually align the unit with the Big Green Egg
handle to center it.
• Carefully lower the lid and the Pizza-Porta
while holding them together.
• When the lid is fully lowered, adjust the
Pizza-Porta left and right and fore and aft to
minimize any gap.
• See our website www.pizza-porta.com under setup for videos. The same
procedure works for small, medium and large.
Hinge Set Up: (If necessary)
• Test fit the Pizza-Porta before you light a fire.
• The BGE black bands clamp onto the base
and the grill dome. This allows variation in
alignment (even if assembled by a dealer).
• The Pizza-Porta is designed to fit best when
the Egg/Joe is set up at the factory specified
distance of 10-12mm or 3/8”.
• Check to see that your black bands are about
10mm apart all the way around the dome. If
not, follow the Big Green Egg instructions for
aligning the dome to the base. Loosen the
band, tightening bolt enough to allow the band
to slide and push the band into alignment.
Once aligned, try the Pizza-Porta fit again.

Copyright*2021*Pizza-Porta****All*trademarks*used*are*property*of*their*respective*owners*570-PP10220-MG*
Pizza-Porta Door hinges and latches,
• Tighten the Phillips head bolts of the Pizza-Porta hinge from time to time.
• The tab at the top of the door on the inside, can be flexed up or down by
hand to increase or decrease the closing resistance. The door does
expand slightly at temperature. Door should take a bit of force to pull open
when it is hot.
BGE Setup: These small grills are very tight. It is critical
to use this setup to deflect heat around the pizza
stone. Place the platesetter in the highest setting with
the feet down. Then place the metal grate. On top of
the grate place the supplied aluminum deflector plate
and then the BGE pizza stone on top. This will balance
the temperature above and below the stone.
Lighting: Load your grill with an extra-full load of lump charcoal. Light your
charcoal as per normal. While the fire is getting established, arrange the interior
parts as shown above. If you are planning an extended cook, get the grill,
platesetter and pizza stone up to a steady 300F degrees and then replenish the
fuel before you start cooking pizzas.
Airflow: Start with the Pizza-Porta vents closed and door unlocked. Remove the
top vent of the grill until it reaches 400F. Then, close off the
top vent of the kamado dome (remove aftermarket or daisy
wheel cap and use the ceramic cap for best heat resistance)
and use only the Pizza-Porta vents from here. Each grill
responds slightly different to airflow, you can adjust the
temperature by coordinating the bottom vent with the two
Pizza-Porta vents. Watch this closely as these small grills can
climb quickly. Closing off the kamado/BGE grill top vent
retains heat in the dome and forces airflow across the pizza.

Copyright*2021*Pizza-Porta****All*trademarks*used*are*property*of*their*respective*owners*570-PP10220-MG*
The ceramic of the pizza stone and the plate setter require extra time to reach
temperature. Stabilize the temperature for at least 15 minutes. For thicker pizza
use temperatures in the 450F range for 8-10 minutes, while thin Neapolitan pizzas
will cook at 600F for 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t cook by stopwatch - Check the pizza
often to ensure it is cooking evenly and the top and bottom are progressing at the
same rate. Each pizza will cook differently. Often a mid cook rotation is
beneficial. A full charcoal load at 600F should last about 3 hours, or about 15
pizzas.
Cap the top to achieve optimal airflow
Pizza results:
Pizza is part art and part science. Experiment with different temperatures and
different times to get your preferred style pizza. You will notice better character in
your crust because of the consistent, hot temperatures using a Pizza-Porta.
Cautions, Hints, and Tricks:
Since you have contained the heat in the dome, you can use a doming technique.
Hold the pizza on a metal peel up in the dome for 20 -30 seconds to top brown it.
Heat your kamado/BGE up slowly. Monitor it very closely until you have stabilized
at your target temperature for 15-20 minutes.
Gaskets or felt: Cooking at high temperatures is tough on a gasket in any
configuration. Use caution removing or sliding the unit when the grill is hot. The
gasket may be damaged.
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