One of the challenges I’ve had with my oven is the fact that the pizza only faces the fire at the back of the oven. I get a nice spring / puff in the crust on the side facing the fire, but by the time I am able to turn the pizza the side that was facing away from the fire is set and doesn’t spring much. This results in an uneven cornicione. I did a couple things that definitely helped:
while preheating the oven I put the door over the front, leaving it partially opened. This seems to have retained a lot of heat, when the oven reached baking temperature the firebrick towards the front were white which is normally not the case for me.
while baking I had the normal rolling fire at the back, but also had a bank of coals and a log or two on the left side.
My pizzas cooked faster, but more importantly I was able to get a more consistent spring, even after the 6th and final pizza. Still not perfect, but small increments keep me happy.
That looks deliciously perfect to me. Something I started doing is build a longer preheat fire. What I mean by that is my typical way was to put a large piece of wood on each side of the oven with kindling in between to start and maintain the fire. How I use 2 pieces of wood on each side so the fire will burn from farther back in the oven to just under the chimney. It’s definitely helpful having a fully hot hearth so there is a bigger area of hot hearth to be able to turn the pizza faster. I still push the coals all to the back, and regularly add more wood to keep flames rolling over the cooking hearth. The Neapolitan dough I use has a 65% hydration so I’m able to turn it fairly quickly ( about 20 seconds for the first turn) after the the bottom crust is set so I can do what I want with it.
Thanks @Bill, and it sounds like we use very similar dough recipes. It has been too hot outside to make pizza until this weekend, hopefully we’ll get a stretch of reasonable temperatures so I can keep working on my pizza journey.
You’re welcome. I’m always glad to share what I’ve been trying with others. One day it dawned on me why not make the longest fire i can to preheat the whole oven. It’s not really necessary in July and August in Michigan, but the rest of the year it certainly seems to help.
