Pizza Burning on Sides and top

[Melanie A]

Hello. I’m new to this forum. I am not even sure if this is the right place to post. So we finished curing our oven and had a trial tonight. I need help with the following:

1- which pizza peels work well
2. I found the oven temperature kept very well however the tops and sides of the pizzas we’re cooked before the middle and bottoms?? Any suggestions for this?
3-is my oven temperature to high? My husband says they were cooking a bit better when the heat went down to about 500? But it is because the bottoms brick was not hot enough but then the inside dome was too hot. Wow I have lots to learn... thanks.

[UtahBeehiver]

Tell us a little about how the floor was insulated. IMHO, the symptons sounds like one of two things, first, the insulation under the floor is wet/damp (If by chance there is no insulation under the floor or too little, this could be it too) or two, the floor has not gotten saturated with heat. Walls and dome will heat a lot faster than the floor. I spread the fire around to make sure the floor gets exposure to the coals and fire.Sometimes when I have a large party and have to re-engergize the floor by raking the coals/fire over the floor for 10/15 min then pushing back coals back to the side. One possible third item, the pizzas are stacked too deep with goodies, I always tell my guests that less is best..........

[deejayoh]

I agree with Utah. Floor is likely not hot enough. you want the floor to be 700+. Personally, I manage mine around 825 to get a true Neapolitan experience. In a new oven, it can be tough to get the floor hot enough. Leave the fire in the middle of the oven until the dome clears, then bank it.

As far as peels go, you need a loading peel and a turning peel. For loading peels, you can go with wood - and build the pizza on the peel, or with a an aluminum sheet peel if you like building it on the counter and dragging it onto the peel (risky move for me!). Turning peels are pretty standard, round with vent holes, about 8" across.

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