By elevating the pizza stone 2 inches above the steel plates, the pie can absorb radiant energy from the plates without exposing the dough to excessive heat that can burn the bottom. The steel plates get very hot and typically measure about 100 degrees hotter than the pizza stone.

“The product works essentially by spreading the heat around inside your grill,” said Pflaum, an attorney from Florida who retired to Kattskill Bay on the east side of Lake George. “By putting the steel plates in the grill, you increase the volume of thermal energy in your grill, and it just makes your grill act like a brick oven. You get really nice results.”

Over the last few years, Pflaum and Demers, have been testing out prototypes, feeding friends an abundance of grilled pizzas.

There are different techniques for grilling pizza. Some say to transfer the pie to the oven to broil it to cook the top, but the whole point of grilling in the summer is to keep the oven off, Pflaum said. Other techniques involve grilling both sides of the crust first. Of course you could just cook it in the oven, but most home ovens don’t go above 500 degrees.

“The top never got brown enough, and the bottom never crisp enough,” Pflaum said. “In the gas grill, the bottom might burn while the top is soggy.”