Ymullaji
Why my oven is not hot enough?
The temperature potential of a wood fired oven is largely dependent on the thickness of the oven walls and insulation, or the design of the oven door and flue. If your oven is not reaching even close o the target temperature required for cooking a pizza you will likely need to add additional insulation. A combination of the following:
- Fire blanket
- Perlite or vermiculite mortar.
- Cladding which is basically mortar.
- Another wall of bricks on top of the pre-existing oven wall.
Cracks have formed in my clay or mortar
Cracks will usually form due to the oven walls being too thin or the material was not completely dry when performing the first firing. When heat builds in the oven and water remains in the walls, the water will turn to steam and attempt to escape the walls quickly and thus create cracks. These cracks are unlikely to cause structural issues and will likely only be unaesthetically pleasing. Simply smooth over the cracks with similar material the walls were made of (Eg. Clay or mortar). It is also possible that water will re-enter the oven walls via rain if the oven is not protected from the elements. When water seeps into the walls this water will again try to escape with the subsequent firing. For this reason you should either ensure the oven dries completely before use or build a cover oven your oven to prevent it becoming wet.
Will the oven be ok in the rain?
Rain on a pizza oven may be a problem whether the oven is made out of cob or brick. Cob ovens obviously face the issue that because they are made primarily of clay they may begin to breakdown if allowed to become wet over an extended period of time. The clay will soften and lose its structural strength and as a result the oven shape may change, some clay may fall away, or the oven could entirely collapse.
For both cob and brick ovens water allowed to touch the surface may begin to seep into the oven walls over time. Brick ovens will not face the structural issues regarding water which cob ovens will, however when the oven is fired again in the future this could cause additional problems. If the oven is not allowed to dry completely when heat build up the moisture contained within the walls of the oven will turn into steam and will attempt to escape. This increase in pressure caused by the steam could cause the walls of the oven to fail and crack. For this reason it is imperative that the oven be allowed to dry completely before a fire is created.
Rain Cover
The best solution to avoiding issues caused by rain is to build a cover over the pizza oven to prevent water touching the oven. The cover can be made out of any waterproof material so as to create a small roof for protection.
My pizza is not cooking uniformly
Normally, pizza is baked at 450-500oC temperature. If this temperature is not raised in pizza oven, your pizza will not be baked properly. Again, temperature is okay but you don’t know how many times you have to bake pizza. Inadequate baking time may be another cause of improper baking of pizza. You have to maintain time and temperature properly for getting uniform baked pizza.
My pizza crust is not crispy
It is a big problem, if pizza crust doesn't be crispy. There are several factors behind this problem. First one is water content of pizza dough. Olive oil is one of the liquid ingredients in making pizza dough. If dough contains high amount of olive oil, pizza crust will not be crispy. For making pizza crust crispy you can use less olive oil and replace it with warm water. This mixture of olive oil and warm water will results in crispy crust of your pizza. Second one is time-temperature combination. Proper temperature for a fixed time period makes pizza crust crispy.
If all ingredients are mixed in right amount, you can use pizza screen to bake pizza. This pizza screen produces pizza crust crispy. This porous baking platform helps heat passing to the bottom part of pizza directly. Direct heat passing helps to remove moisture from dough quickly and makes crust crispy.
Why does my pizza get soggy?
It is one of the common problems in baking pizza that pizza gets soggy. It doesn’t happen because of oven efficiency. It may be for three major reasons:
- If you don’t preheat pizza stone
- If you add more liquid sauce
- If you don’t bake properly
To overcome this problem, at first preheat your pizza stone for 30 to 40minutes. When stone will get hot, you have to put pizza dough on it for baking. Don’t bake pizza with a lid after pouring tomato paste or to thicken. Finally, bake pizza properly at right temperature range. If you follow these instructions, your pizza will not be soggy at all.
Why does the pizza crust get hard?
Hard pizza crust may be because of
- poor quality pizza flour
- poor quality die yeast
- too much flour used
- improper kneading
- improper baking (high temperature)
If you face this problem that your pizza crust getting hard and white in color, you should check all these things with care. If people keep pizza dough at refrigeration temperature over night, he or she will not get quality pizza like pizza prepared from fresh dough. If you mix quality ingredients at right proportion and bake it properly, you will get quality pizza definitely.
Why is my pizza smoky in taste?
It may be one problem that pizza gets smoky in flavor. It’s not a big problem. Mainly, it is occurred if you use wood to create fire for baking pizza dough. If you place pizza dough in hearth at the time of making fire, you pizza will be smoky in flavor. Again if you use moisten wood to make fire, it will make smoke for long time in dome and it will cause your pizza smoky in taste. To prevent this problem, you have to place pizza dough in oven hearth after burning wood completely. Moreover, dry wood is always recommended to use in pizza oven.