I’ve made pizza about 10 tens now since finishing my oven this fall. I’ve read some of the other tips about keeping the floor warm. But it got me to wondering. how to commercial pizza ovens keep their oven floors warm all day long? I thought the initial step of spreading coals all over the floor brings it up to temp. Eventually it will cool even with a fire going in the back. Right? I never see the guys at Blaze Pizza spreading coals across the floor though.
Just in my research of this whole process, I have found that the insulated layer under the fire bricks needs to be at least 4 inches for heat retention longevity. These instructions only call for 2”. I have made an oven with 2” installation layer and it works well but definitely not long term cooking. You would also have to consider a damper in your exhaust stack. To keep the heat in. Then you have to address the door and escaping heat. A bad ratio of insulation can also have an affect on retention as well, if you made your own mix.
Hi all. Rob408 is correct. Our ovens through beautifully designed, they are not designed for Comercial use. Look, everyone has trial and tribulations.
When I first built mine I had this vision on how the oven will work and how the pizza will taste. You know what I’m talking about. When I started. It was a disaster. Cold floors . Couldn’t get the oven up past 600 degrees. I thought I failed.
Then I was talking to a owner of a Neopolitan pizza restaurant. Became real acquainted with him. I told him my troubles. He said to me. It’s all normal. His oven is Comercially made. He cured it in a controlled environment. He cooks in a controlled environment. And he knows what to expect.
Mine is outside. It takes longer to cure. Longer to heat upand quicker to cool. Every time I fire it up its a different environment. Practice makes perfect. You need to know your oven.
My advice. Get your oven up to 1000 degrees. Move coals to the side and clean floor. Feed fire to keep up coals. Wait until floor cools to 800 degrees make a pizza and throw it in. Watch it. Kepp turning don’t let it burn on the bottom.
After that you can probably cook 6 pizzas seamlessly in a row without having to heat up the floor again. After that you might have to.
But keep this in mind. Everyday is different. Humidity and outside temperature effects the oven and your dough. Only experience will tell you what you need to do. Main thing is to have fun.
Hope this helps.
2 Likes
Agree with @423tommy and will add that an infrared thermometer calibrated for a brick surface is very helpful to ensure that you have a good floor temperature. I’ve found that by my fourth pizza, the baking area (I change the location between pizzas because the spot where I just baked is cooler than the adjacent spot) that I bake on drops from 750+F to around 650. I simply pull some of the coals forward onto the baking spaces, get a beer, and after 5 to 10 minutes push the hot coals back and thoroughly brush the baking area. This brings the temperature back up. I’ve also found that if the oven has going full tilt for say 4 hours or so, that the floor tends to get heat-saturated I don’t need to reheat the baking area.
It has been a frigid January where I live and I am dreaming about spring weather and my first 2025 pizzas, can’t wait!
1 Like