Pizza Dough and Pizza Oven Guides
Twelve method guides covering dough and oven technique, from a 250 g Neapolitan ball at 62 percent hydration through cold fermentation, stretching, launching and stone care. The single highest-value guide for a beginner is baker's percentage, because every other figure on this site is expressed as a percentage of flour weight.
Twelve guides covering method rather than gear. The calculators tell you what the numbers are, the charts let you look them up, and these pages explain why the numbers are what they are and what to do when the dough in front of you disagrees with them.
- Baker's Percentage Explained, With Worked Pizza Dough ExamplesBaker's percentage for pizza dough: flour is always 100 percent. Learn the formula, then check five worked examples where every... Open →
- Cold Fermentation Pizza Dough: Yeast, Timing and SchedulesCold ferment pizza dough correctly: 0.08 percent yeast for 48 hours, 0.05 for 72. Full weight tables, fridge schedules, and how to... Open →
- Detroit Style Pizza Dough: Pan Weights and Exact FormulaDetroit style pizza dough by weight: a 10 by 14 pan takes 675 g at 75 percent hydration, which is 373.8 g flour and 280.3 g water... Open →
- First Fire: How to Break In and Cure a New Pizza OvenCure a new pizza oven safely: 300F for 30 minutes, then 500F for 45, then 700F for 45, cooling fully between fires. Preheat times... Open →
- How to Launch a Pizza Without Sticking to the PeelStop pizzas sticking to the peel: 5 g of semolina per pizza, build in under 60 seconds, shake every 20 seconds, launch at 20... Open →
- How to Make Neapolitan Pizza Dough: Exact Weights and TimingsNeapolitan pizza dough by weight: a 250 g ball at 62 percent hydration is 151.8 g flour, 94.1 g water, 3.8 g salt, 0.3 g yeast... Open →
- How to Read a Pizza Dough Recipe in Baker's PercentagesRead any pizza dough recipe in baker's percentages: flour equals total dough weight divided by total percentage over 100. Worked... Open →
- How to Reheat Pizza So the Base Goes Crisp AgainReheat pizza so the base crisps: 3 to 4 minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat, or 5 to 7 minutes on a preheated steel at 450F... Open →
- How to Season and Clean a Pizza Stone (and Why Not To)Pizza stones are never seasoned or washed. Burn residue off at 500F to 600F for 30 minutes, brush it away, and keep water off... Open →
- How to Store and Freeze Pizza DoughStore pizza dough right: 3 to 5 days in the fridge, freeze after balling at 0F for 3 months, and raise instant yeast to 0.4 percent... Open →
- How to Stretch Pizza Dough Without Tearing ItStretch pizza dough by hand: a 250 g ball opens to 11 inches, a 380 g ball to 13. Ball weight by diameter table, the hand movement... Open →
- New York Style Pizza Dough: Exact Weights and MethodNew York pizza dough by weight: a 380 g ball is 224.7 g flour, 141.6 g water, 5.6 g salt, 4.5 g oil, 3.4 g sugar, 0.2 g yeast... Open →
- Pizza Oven Buying Guide: How to Choose in 2026How to choose a pizza oven: floor temperature, stone thickness, size and fuel. Most buyers want a 900F portable gas oven between... Open →
- Pizza Oven Fuel Guide: Wood, Gas, Pellets and CharcoalWhich pizza oven fuel to burn and how much you need: propane at 21,600 BTU per pound, hardwood at 6,400, pellets at 8,000. Costs... Open →
- Pizza Oven Maintenance and CleaningPizza oven maintenance done right: burn off the stone at 500F to 600F for 20 to 30 minutes, brush the ash, leak-test the propane... Open →
- What Else Can You Cook in a Pizza Oven?A pizza oven is a falling-temperature bread oven: pita at 800F, steak at 650 to 700F, chicken at 550F, focaccia at 450F, cobbler at... Open →
- Why Is My Pizza Base Not Crispy? Causes and FixesA soggy pizza base is a heat transfer problem. Preheat 60 minutes, use a quarter inch steel at 550F for a 6 to 8 minute bake, and... Open →
Where should you start?
In the order the process happens, not in the order the pages are listed. Pizza is four separate skills and people usually try to fix the wrong one.
| Stage | Guide | What it decides | Most common failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baker's percentage | Whether your formula is reproducible at all | Flour measured by volume |
| 2 | Neapolitan dough | Hydration, salt, yeast and flour choice | Wrong flour for the oven |
| 3 | Cold fermentation | Flavour, browning and your schedule | Same-day yeast in a 3 day dough |
| 4 | Stretching | Where the dough ends up, rim versus centre | Flattening instead of pushing gas out |
| 5 | Launching | Whether the pizza reaches the stone intact | Taking too long to top it |
| 6 | Firing the oven | Floor temperature and dome balance | Launching before the stone catches up |
| 7 | Diagnosing the result | Which of the six stages actually went wrong | Blaming the oven for a dough problem |
| 8 | Stone care | Whether the next pizza starts clean | Washing a stone with water |
What do the style guides cover?
Three of the twelve are complete style walkthroughs, and they are genuinely different pizzas rather than variations on one. Style is a package of hydration, flour, ball weight and bake temperature that only works as a set, which is why mixing pieces of two styles usually produces something worse than either.
- Neapolitan. 00 flour, 58 to 65 percent hydration, 250 g balls, a 850 to 950F floor and a 60 to 90 second bake. No oil, no sugar. This is the style that requires an outdoor oven.
- New York. Bread flour, 60 to 65 percent hydration, 1 to 3 percent oil, larger balls, a 600 to 700F floor and a 5 to 8 minute bake. The oil is what makes the slice foldable.
- Detroit. 70 to 80 percent hydration pressed into a pan rather than stretched, baked at 500 to 550F for 12 to 15 minutes. This one works perfectly in a domestic oven and needs no special equipment.
The oven temperature by style chart puts all of them side by side, and the hydration calculator will produce exact weights for any of them at any batch size.
Which guides are about the oven rather than the dough?
Four of them, and they matter more than most people expect. An oven is not an appliance you turn on, it is a heat source with a dome, a floor and a mouth that all behave differently, and learning to read that is most of the difference between a good pizza and a scorched one.
The fuel guide covers what to burn and, more importantly, what never to burn: treated timber, construction offcuts, softwood and heating pellets are all things people put under food and should not. The first fire guide covers curing a new oven and the soak that gets the floor up to the dome. The stone care guide explains why a stone is cleaned by burning residue off and brushing with a brass brush rather than washing. And the buying guide works through the purchase decisions in the order they actually get made: fuel, then size, then budget.
What equipment do the guides assume you have?
Very little, deliberately. Every dough guide assumes a 0.1 g scale , because every figure is a weight and no guide on this site can be followed without one. Every oven guide assumes an infrared thermometer , because floor temperature is the number every bake decision depends on and no built-in gauge measures it.
Beyond those two, the guides name gear only where it changes the outcome: semolina for the peel because it rolls instead of hydrating, a turning peel because a pizza has to be spun during a hot bake, and rated gloves because a 900F mouth will scar skin. The full costed lists are on the build pages.
Safety runs through all of these. A working pizza oven holds a 700F to 950F floor and a shell hot enough to burn on contact. Burn fuel outdoors only, with at least three feet of clearance from anything combustible. Use long-handled tools and rated gloves, keep children and pets well back, never move a lit or hot oven, and never pour water on a hot baking stone: the steam scalds and the thermal shock cracks it.
Where to go next
If you want numbers rather than method, the calculators compute everything these guides describe and the reference charts give you the same relationships as printable tables. If you want equipment, the gear roundups cover each category at three tiers and the complete builds put them together with running totals. And if you are deciding between two specific things, the comparisons take a side.
Frequently asked questions
Which guide should I read first?
The baker’s percentage guide, even though it sounds like theory. Every other page on this site expresses dough as percentages of flour weight, and once that clicks, a hydration figure, a salt figure and a yeast figure all become things you can reason about rather than numbers to copy. It takes ten minutes and it makes everything else on the site usable.
Why does my pizza stick to the peel?
Almost always time and moisture rather than technique. A topped pizza sitting on a peel for more than about a minute will bond to it, because the dough draws the dusting flour into itself. Build fast, dust with semolina rather than flour because it rolls rather than hydrates, and shake the peel to confirm the pizza moves before you commit to the launch.
Why is my pizza base pale and soft instead of crisp?
Not enough heat getting into the base fast enough. In a home oven the fix is conductivity rather than temperature: a steel moves far more heat per second into the dough than air or cordierite can. In an outdoor oven it is usually a floor that has not caught up with the dome, which means a longer soak before launching and an infrared reading rather than a guess.
How long should I ferment pizza dough?
Anywhere from four hours to three days, and the yeast percentage is what makes the schedule work rather than the patience. A same-day dough uses 0.3 to 0.5 percent instant dry yeast, a 24 hour cold ferment uses 0.10 to 0.20 percent and a 72 hour cold ferment uses 0.05 to 0.08 percent. Using same-day yeast for a long ferment blows the dough out in the fridge.
Do I need special flour for pizza?
It depends entirely on your oven temperature. Above about 750F, a 00 flour browns correctly in 90 seconds where standard bread flour blackens at the rim before the base sets. Below about 650F the relationship reverses and bread flour is the better choice, because it has the protein to hold structure through a five to eight minute bake. Buying 00 for a home oven is wasted money.
What is the most common beginner mistake?
Measuring flour by volume. A packed cup can hold 20 percent more flour than a spooned one, which is enough to turn a 65 percent hydration formula into a 55 percent one without any other change. That single error produces a stiff dough that will not open, a dense crumb and a pale base, and it gets blamed on the oven, the recipe and the yeast in that order.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, verified owner reviews, and long-established baker's percentage practice. We do not test gear in person. Dough figures are guidance, not a recipe guarantee: flour, water and room conditions all vary, so read your dough as well as the numbers.
Heat safety: a pizza oven at working temperature holds a 700F to 950F floor and a shell hot enough to burn on contact. Use long-handled peels and heat-rated gloves, keep children and pets clear, burn fuel outdoors only with clearance from anything combustible, and never pour water on a hot baking stone. Water flashes to steam instantly and thermal shock cracks stone.
Keeping your own dough and bake numbers? The Dough & Oven Planner is the paid version of these pages: 8 printable worksheets you fill in with your own numbers, plus the full PDF, $29.