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  • 900 F, Where

    I have used the wood-fired pizza oven (Premio) about 15 times now, with generally great success. 900 f on the oven floor seems to be too hot and the pizza tends to be done too quickly and easily burned. I have one of those guns which takes the temperature to guide me.

    Where do others take a snapshot to determine the right temp? 900 on the floor means almost 1050 at the dome. What floor temperature should I aim to hit? Cheers everyone!

  • #2
    I have read where some of the "certified" pizza cooking schools shoot for cooking at 900 F but I just cooked last night for a party of 10 at around 700 F on the floor and doming the pizzas if needed and had no problem with production.

    I guess I equate cooking at 900 F is like being a NASCAR driver driving at 200 MPH vs me tooling down the freeway at 65 MPH, Try cooking at a lower temp and see how it works for you.
    Russell
    Google Photo Album [https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...JneXVXc3hVNHd3/]

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    • #3
      In order to cook at 900F you need to have a very low thermal conductivity on your floor material. You also need to have your dough set up properly. Yo will want to use a flour like Caputo 00. Also a hydration of about 62% to 65% as a minimum. You can go up a little from there if you want to. You can also use the same dough at lower temps to learn how to use the oven. So you mostly need to learn how to cook at lower temps and if you want slowly crank it up and try it . See where you like it best. I like in the 750F range and as get over 800F it gets to be more work.

      Randy

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      • #4
        Here's something I have learned form experience. A floor made from fire brick will let you cook at 900, where a cast floor will not. The difference is the air pockets on a fire brick will keep most of the dough off the actual brick. Now here's the trick I found for the cast floor and I cook at about 825 - 850. Go to a restaurant supply store and buy a pizza screen, it comes in various sizes. Expanded metal in a frame. Spray some cooking spray on this, lay your dough out and top your pie. It will not stick to the screen. Slide it in the oven and turn every 30 sec. In about 2 min the pizza crust is nice and golden brown and the toppings are sizzling. The bottom will not burn doing this. Now I also use 00 flour and make the pre-dough a day before, etc.

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        • #5

          I’m not quite sure what you mean when you say a cast refractory floor will not let you cook at 900 F. Exactly what are the problems? Most dense castable has the same thermal conductivity as firebrick.
          The problem of cooking on trays is that they are not porous and tend to trap moisture between the bottom of the dough base and the tray which results in soggy bottoms. This can be partly fixed by removing the pizza from the tray and replacing it on the oven floor to crisp up. All this doubles pizza handling and increasing cooking time as well as pulling more heat from the oven to heat the tray as well as the pizza. Perforated trays or a pizza screen (expanded metal) as you call it allow this moisture to escape. Most operators learn that the best and most efficient way to cook pizza, as has been done for hundreds of years, is to cook directly on the floor. Whether firebrick or cast refractory, both are porous and should cook the same. I’ve never encountered problems, either sogginess or burning on the pizza bottom at those temps. Although I always find that the floor is too hot for the first pizza (until the floor hits its sweet spot), which will always burn if placed in the middle of the oven, but if placed closer to the entry which is cooler, even that first pizza will be ok. It’s rather like the first pancake that’s usually a bummer.
          I really like the semolina test for floor temp which is to cast a tiny bit of semolina onto the centre of the floor. Time to turn black 2 secs = too hot, 3 secs = perfect 4 secs = not hot enough. I rarely use it now except to impress guests as you just get to “know” the temp of your oven from lots of use.
          Last edited by david s; 10-30-2017, 02:59 AM.
          Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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