Floor of the Oven turns black and charring on bottom of pizza?

[scotasher1]

Complete newbie here - just received by Napolino70 and have been experimenting. Went from WAY too much wood to I thinking getting it right last night, but had a similar experience both nights...when dropping the first pizza into the oven, the floor of the oven immediately turned black; as a result, so did the bottom of the pizza. It seemed to lessen with each new pie I placed in the oven afterwards. Curious if there would be a general reason or if anyone else has had this experience. Had a slight bit of semolina on the peel and thought we had minimal flour on the bottom of the dough. Would the hydration of the dough have any impact?

Any help would be much appreciated!!!!!

[JRPizza]

Your best bet is to pick up an infrared non-contact thermometer so you can do a quick scan of the dome and floor temperature. It sure sounds like your floor is too hot for the first pie you put on and subsequently cools as you do more of them. The thermometer will help you find the sweet spot of temperature for the type of dough and thickness of pizza you cook. Many cook their minimalistic pies up close to 900F but I tend to cook my thicker loaded pies just below 600F. Also depending on how your floor retains heat you will probably need to move your live fire (you didn't say but you should be using a live fire for pies) back and forth as you cook multiple pies to keep the floor charged. Some bakers use a bit of flour dashed on the floor to see how fast it browns but with the relatively low cost of an IR thermometer and the investment made in your new oven you really need to have one.

[david s]

This always happens. The floor is always too hot for the first pizza. After blowing the ash away from the cooking area with a blow pipe (blow don’t suck) I always place the first pizza in the entry and turn it every 30 secs or so. The second and subsequent pizzas can go in a little deeper until the oven hits its sweet spot and you can go all night provided you maintain a live fire on the side.

[MarkJerling]

I get the same with the first pizza. I usually move that one around a bit more than the later pizzas and as long as I'm onto it, it's edible! Directly after, I brush the black ash off the centre of the floor and then I'm good to go for the remaining pizzas, recharging the floor after as needed.