Not Burning a Wood Fire Pizza
We cooked some pizza last night and had a good time. However, it cooked so fast that the pizza was really dark (burnt in places) and had cheese that didn't melt. On some pizza's, it was still doughy.
We have an Alphaforni 5 Minuti Wood fire oven running at 375°C (700°F). The temperature was measured using the built in thermometer. I had preheated the oven for two hours.
The dough was store bought and frozen. I thawed it out in the fridge overnight. Then it was sitting out of the fridge for about 1.5 hrs before we got it into the oven.
What would cause it to both burn and still have shredded mozzarella cheese not melt? The cheese was under the pepperoni.
Best Answer
A pizza burning on top while being undercooked on the bottom can be caused by uneven heat in the oven, as well as a pizza being overloaded with toppings. The former can be an issue with the oven itself, or can indicate that you are not drawing enough hot air over the top of the pizza. The latter is self-explanatory.
A trick sometimes used by pizzaiolos to prevent the bottom of the pizza from burning when the top has not cooked enough yet, is to lift the pizza closer to the top of the oven using the peel. This way, the top of the pizza gets some extra heat, while the cooking on the bottom slows down.
This image, which stems from a pizza oven manufacturer's Instagram post shows what I mean. The post also explains what is happening, and introduces the wonderful term "doming" for this practice.
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Quick Answer about "Not Burning a Wood Fire Pizza"
A trick sometimes used by pizzaiolos to prevent the bottom of the pizza from burning when the top has not cooked enough yet, is to lift the pizza closer to the top of the oven using the peel. This way, the top of the pizza gets some extra heat, while the cooking on the bottom slows down.Is wood Fired pizza supposed to be burned?
Not at all. It's been in the oven for precisely the right amount of time. The charring is a byproduct of baking the pie in a blazing-hot oven, and in fact it adds a tasty, lightly bitter flavor that distinguishes Neapolitan pizzas from the rest and complements the pie's uncooked tomato sauce\u2026What does wood fired pizza mean?
Wood fired or brick oven pizza is exactly what its names imply. It's a type of pizza that's cooked in a brick oven. Instead of being heated by electricity or gas, a brick pizza oven employs burning wood to cook pizza.How do you keep a wood fired pizza from burning?
The easiest way to prevent burnt pizza on the grill is to bake one side of the pizza first. Then pull it off the grill, turn it (so the baked side is facing up), and top the pizza. The hot crust will help the cheese melt and the toppings to start cooking. Then place it back on the grill with the lid on.Firing your Wood Fired Oven - The Fire \u0026 Forget Method
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Answer 2
When you write that the temp was registering 375C with the built in thermometer, I am assuming that is the air temperature near the top of the dome. If you are burning the crust, the surface temperature is likely much higher. You could check that with an infrared thermometer. The answer from @LShoon is accurate. With a pizza oven you really need to keep an eye on things, as the process is active and moves quickly. However, you may be making the surface too hot, and could try backing off on the intensity of the preheat, checking to see that the surface is in the 375C to 480C range.
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Images: Igor Haritanovich, Devon Rockola, Guduru Ajay bhargav, Magda Ehlers