Pizza Oven Dough Guide: Ooni, Gozney & Co.

A portable pizza oven finally gives you Naples-style heat at home. To get the most from it, the dough and the way you bake need to match that heat.

Pizza ovens

What changes at 400 °C and more

With the stone at roughly 400 to 450 °C a pizza bakes in 60 to 120 seconds. That short bake is why a Neapolitan dough works here: no sugar and no oil needed, they'd only burn. It's also why you want a well-fermented dough, with the flavour and browning already built in before the pizza goes in.

The dough

• Flour: Tipo 00 for pizza, medium strength for a classic dough, stronger for a high-hydration contemporary one.
• Hydration: about 60 to 64% for classic Neapolitan, 68 to 75% for contemporary. Start lower; wet dough is harder to launch.
• No sugar, little or no oil: both burn long before the crust is done at these temperatures.
• Ball size: around 250 to 270 g for a 12 inch (30 cm) pizza; about 320 to 350 g for a 16 inch oven.

Running the oven

• Measure the stone, not the air: an infrared thermometer on the stone tells you what the base will actually meet. Most ovens need 20 to 30 minutes to heat the stone through.
• Turn the pizza every 15 to 20 seconds: the side facing the flame bakes much faster.
• Let the stone recover for a minute or two between pizzas, especially in gas ovens with the flame turned up.
• Lower the flame right after launching if the top colours too fast compared to the base.

Common problems

A burnt base and a pale top means the stone is too hot relative to the flame: let it drop or turn the flame up. A pale base means the stone wasn't heated through yet. Dough sticking to the peel usually means too much hydration for your launching skills, or not enough flour or semolina on the peel.