How to Use a Pizza Oven

You want two peels within arm's reach before you start. The wide wooden launch peel carries the topped pizza to the oven mouth and slides it onto the stone. The small round metal turning peel is what you use to spin the pizza once it's cooking. Trying to turn a pizza with the big wooden peel is clumsy and you'll drag toppings everywhere. Set them both on the bench where you can grab them fast.

Fire up the gas and let the oven run wide open. This is the step most people rush. A pizza oven can look hot in five minutes, but the stone itself needs a good 15 to 20 minutes to fully saturate with heat. Skip that and your base comes out pale and floppy while the top burns. Let the flame roll across the roof and settle in before you even think about launching.

Point an infrared laser thermometer at the center of the stone, not the edge. The middle is where your pizza lands, and it runs cooler than the spots directly under the flame. You're aiming for roughly 400 to 450C. If the center is still low, close the oven and give it more time. A laser thermometer takes the guesswork out and saves you a stuck, undercooked first pizza.

Take your 00-flour dough ball and press it out on a floured surface. Work from the middle outward with your fingertips, pushing the air toward the edge so you keep a puffy rim for the crust. Don't use a rolling pin, it flattens the gas out of the dough and you lose the airy cornicione. Stretch it thin in the center, aiming for a round about 10 to 12 inches across.

For a margherita, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce, then dot on torn fresh mozzarella and a few basil leaves. Resist piling it on. Heavy toppings weigh the pizza down, release water as they cook, and steam the base so it sticks to the peel. A light hand also lets the pizza cook through in the short time it's in there. Less really is more with a high-heat oven.

Before you launch, give the loaded peel a gentle shake. If the pizza slides around freely, it will release clean onto the stone. If it grabs and won't budge, stop. Lift the sticking edge and dust semolina underneath, then wiggle again. Launching a pizza that's stuck to the peel is how you end up with a folded mess on the stone. Two seconds here saves a ruined pizza.

Line the front edge of the peel up with the back of the stone. Tilt the peel down at a low angle, give one small forward jiggle to start the pizza sliding, then pull the peel straight back out from under it. Commit to the motion. A slow, timid launch is what makes pizzas land crooked or bunched up. One confident move and it drops flat on the stone.

A gas oven cooks from one side, so the edge nearest the flame chars fast. Slip the metal turning peel under the pizza and rotate it a little every 20 to 30 seconds. Keep it moving so every part of the crust gets equal time near the fire. This is the step that gives you even leoparding all the way around instead of one black edge and one raw one.

When the crust is puffed and leopard-spotted and the cheese is bubbling, it's done. The whole cook takes about 60 to 90 seconds once you have your technique down. Slide the pizza out onto a board, finish it with a drizzle of olive oil, and eat it while it's hot. Then get the next dough ball ready, because the oven is already screaming for round two.