Casting Homebrew Oven - Build Log

[aaronpizza]

You will find, just like cooking pancakes, that the first one is not the best. Simply place the first pizza half in the entrance, half in the oven. Move subsequent pizzas in a little deeper. Always maintain a fire on the side and your oven will hit its sweet spot afte around the third pizza. With my oven, after the whole inside has gone white, I continue firing for about another 20 mins. Every oven is a bit different. You will soon find that you won’t be using your IT gun at all.

Thanks for this, helped a lot, I've used it about 4 times already and getting to know it better already! It's amazing to have!

However, I'm a little (alot) concerned. As tonight I noticed a crack or two, starting from the bottom center of the back of the dome (internally) stretching almost right to the top?!?!

Should I be alarmed and is it possible to repair this, like with the "peanut butter consistent paste you've mentioned before on cracks when it is still moist?

Thanks!

[sergetania]

What's the hydration of the dough? If cooking at 800-900F the hydration should be between 55 and 60%

[aaronpizza]

What's the hydration of the dough? If cooking at 800-900F the hydration should be between 55 and 60%

Hey, I've just done a pizza course which was fun, this my first batch of pizza so was playing it safe.

The hydration was around 65% but of course it all depends on the flour, for this stuff you can't go much higher.

[sergetania]

With typical 00 flour, a margherita pizza made of 65% percent dough at 800F usually loses its middle part in the oven for me. Water in the dough doesn't have enough time to evaporate, it cooks too quickly. A lot of recipes everywhere are formulated for the home oven with hydration ranging between 65-70%

The official Neapolitan pizza quidelines dictate that dough must be 55-58%.