Fireside • Cooking & Recipes
Neapolitan Pizza at Home: How to Get the Perfect Crust in a Wood-Fired Oven
Flour, water, hydration, thin dough, light toppings, and the hot firebrick floor that turns a wet dough ball into a crisp, airy, leopard-spotted crust in about 90 seconds.
The perfect Neapolitan crust comes from four simple ingredients (finely milled flour, water, salt, and a little yeast), a dough stretched thin by hand, a light layer of toppings, and a firebrick floor heated to 750–900°F. At that heat the pizza bakes in 60 to 90 seconds: the hot brick pulls moisture out of the bottom and crisps it, while steam inside the dough inflates the rim.
We've helped thousands of backyard builders, and when an owner's first pizzas come out soggy, pale, or burnt on one side, the recipe is rarely the problem. It's usually the moisture, the thickness, or the toppings. This guide covers all three, plus the fire, the peel, and the turn.
Want the easy version first? Download the free BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe card and come back for the details.
Neapolitan Pizza at Home: Quick Answers
- Oven temperature: a fully heat-soaked floor of 750–900°F at the spot where the pizza lands, with a live flame rolling across the dome. Bake time is 60–90 seconds.
- Dough: 00 pizza flour, about 60–62% water, 2.8% salt, and a pinch of yeast. No sugar, and little or no oil.
- Water: clean, filtered water that tastes good. Chlorine, off-flavors, and softened water all show up in the dough.
- Keep the dough thin: stretch by hand to about ⅛ inch in the center and leave the outer ¾ inch alone so the rim can puff. Never use a rolling pin.
- Keep toppings light: roughly 2½–3 ounces of sauce and 3 ounces of well-drained cheese for an 11-inch pizza. Wet, heavy toppings make a soggy center.
- Not for deep dish: thick, loaded pizzas belong in a cast iron skillet, pan, or tray, baked when the oven is cooler.
- The bake: launch onto clean brick, leave it alone for 20–30 seconds, then turn a quarter turn every 15–20 seconds.
What Makes a Pizza Neapolitan?
Neapolitan pizza is the original wood-fired pizza from Naples, Italy. It's defined less by a topping list than by a method and a texture: a soft, thin, foldable center, a puffy rim (the cornicione) dotted with dark “leopard spots,” and a bake so fast that the toppings barely have time to do more than melt.
In Naples the style is protected by a formal standard. You don't have to follow it to the letter at home, but the numbers explain why the style works, and every one of them points the same direction: thin, light, and hot.
| Naples standard | What it calls for | Why it matters at home |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | Flour, water, salt, yeast. No fat, no sugar. | Sugar and fat brown too fast at 900°F and burn before the crust sets. |
| Dough ball | About 6½–8¾ ounces | A small ball makes a thin pizza that can cook through in 90 seconds. |
| Size | No more than about 14 inches across | Most home pizzas land at 10–12 inches, which is easier to launch and turn. |
| Center thickness | About ⅛ inch | Thin enough for the heat to reach the middle before the edges burn. |
| Rim | About ⅜–¾ inch | Gas pushed to the edge during shaping is what puffs and blisters. |
| Shaping | By hand only. No rolling pin. | A pin presses the gas out and leaves a flat, cracker-like edge. |
| Oven | Wood-fired, floor about 900°F | Conduction from the floor plus radiant heat from the dome and flame. |
| Bake time | 60–90 seconds | Fast enough to stay soft and tender instead of drying into a cracker. |
That's why a home oven can't quite do it. A kitchen oven tops out around 500–550°F, so the same dough needs 6–10 minutes, dries out, and comes back crisp all the way through. A wood-fired brick oven is the tool the style was built around.
“Neapolitan-style” at home simply means borrowing the method: a simple dough, a hot floor, a fast bake, and restraint with the toppings. You can use local flour and your favorite toppings and still get the crust.
Why a Firebrick Floor Makes the Perfect Crust
A wood-fired oven doesn't just get hotter than your kitchen oven. It cooks differently, and the firebrick floor is the biggest reason the crust comes out light and crisp instead of bready or soggy.
The brick pulls water out of the dough
Pizza dough is more than one-third water. When a wet dough lands on a firebrick floor at 800°F, the water on the underside flashes to steam instantly. Firebrick is a porous ceramic, so that moisture is drawn out of the base and into the open surface of the hot brick instead of being trapped under the crust. The bottom dries, sets, and crisps in seconds, which is why a properly baked wood-fired pizza has that thin, crackly underside with a soft, airy layer just above it.
Bake the same dough on a cold sheet pan and the steam has nowhere to go. It condenses under the crust, and you get a pale, damp, chewy bottom.
Brick delivers heat steadily
Firebrick also hands off its heat at the right speed. Steel conducts heat roughly 30 to 50 times faster than firebrick, which is great in a 500°F kitchen oven but would scorch a pizza black in well under a minute at wood-fired temperatures. Brick stores a huge amount of heat and releases it evenly, so an 800°F floor browns and blisters the base in about the same 60–90 seconds the dome needs to cook the top.
The dome and the flame finish the top
While the floor works on the bottom, the hot dome radiates heat down onto the cheese and sauce, and the live flame rolling across the ceiling hits the rim hardest. Inside the dough, water turns to steam and expands, inflating the rim before the outside sets. That's where the big, airy cornicione and the charred leopard spots come from.
The oven's heat is also a dry heat. The fire consumes air inside the dome and the draft pulls moist air out through the chimney, so the surface of the crust dries and crisps rather than steaming.
This is why oven shape matters too. A lower dome sits closer to the pizza and colors the top faster, which is one reason a compact oven like our 28" Mattone Cupola bakes pizza faster than its floor size suggests.
The takeaway: the brick can only do its job if the dough is thin enough to cook through and the toppings are light enough not to flood it with water. The rest of this guide is about giving the brick a dough it can work with.
Moisture: The Secret to a Light, Crisp Crust
Almost every crust problem is really a moisture problem. Water is what makes the rim puff, and water is also what makes the center soggy. The goal is to put the right amount of water inside the dough and keep extra water away from the bottom and the top.
What is dough hydration?
Hydration is the weight of the water divided by the weight of the flour. A dough with 13 ounces of water and 21 ounces of flour is about 62% hydration. More water makes a softer, stickier dough with a lighter, more open rim. Less water makes a firmer dough that's easier to handle but bakes up a little denser.
| Hydration | How the dough feels | Crust you'll get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55–58% | Firm, smooth, barely tacky | Tender, slightly tighter rim | First bakes, all-purpose flour, learning to launch |
| 60–62% | Soft, supple, slightly tacky | Classic Neapolitan: airy rim, soft center | Most home bakers. Start here. |
| 63–66% | Sticky, very extensible | Bigger, lighter, more open rim | Confident shapers with a very hot floor |
| 70% and up | Wet, hard to shape by hand | Open and bubbly, but hard to launch | Pan pizza and focaccia, not peel-launched pies |
The BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe below lands right around 60%, and the Neapolitan dough is about 62%. Both are in the sweet spot for a wood-fired oven.
The three places moisture lives
- Inside the dough (good)Water in the dough turns to steam in the oven and inflates the rim before the outside sets. Under-hydrated or under-fermented dough has less to work with, so the rim stays flat.
- Under the dough (manage it)The firebrick pulls this out, but only if the pizza goes in quickly. A pizza that sits on the peel for two or three minutes soaks its dusting flour into paste and sticks. Dress fast and launch.
- On top of the dough (keep it to a minimum)Watery sauce, fresh mozzarella that hasn't been drained, and raw vegetables all dump water into the center. In a 90-second bake that water can't evaporate fast enough, so the middle steams instead of bakes.
Signs of a moisture problem
- Soggy, soupy center with a well-cooked rim: too much sauce or wet cheese.
- Gummy layer under the sauce: dough too thick for the bake time, or the floor was too cool.
- Pizza won't slide off the peel: it sat too long, or the dough was too wet for your skill level. Drop the hydration a couple of points.
- Dough tears and won't hold a shape: too wet or not rested enough. Cover it for 10–15 minutes and try again.
Weather matters. On a humid day the same recipe will feel stickier, and on a dry winter day it will feel stiffer. Adjust by a tablespoon of flour or water at a time, and write down what worked.
Which Flour Is Best for Neapolitan Pizza?
The best flour for Neapolitan pizza is a pizza-grade “00” flour. It's milled extremely fine, it stretches thin without tearing, and it's made to brown at the right speed in a 800–900°F oven. But it isn't the only flour that works, and knowing what's in the bag helps you pick the right temperature for it.
What does “00” mean?
“00” is an Italian grind rating. It describes how finely the flour is milled, not how much protein it has. That matters because there are two kinds of 00 on store shelves: pizza 00, with about 11.5–13% protein, and soft 00 meant for cakes and pasta, with less. For pizza, look for the word “pizza” or “pizzeria” on the bag, or check that the protein is at least 11%.
The hidden ingredient that burns: malted barley
Most American bread flour and all-purpose flour contain a small amount of malted barley flour. Malt helps dough brown nicely in a 500°F kitchen oven. At 850°F it browns too fast, so the crust can blacken before the inside is done. Italian pizza 00 is usually unmalted. If your bag lists malted barley flour, bake a little cooler (around 650–750°F) or set the pizza a bit farther from the fire.
| Flour | Protein | How it bakes in a wood-fired oven | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza 00 | About 11.5–13% | Stretches thin, browns evenly at 800–900°F, soft and tender rim | Neapolitan pizza. First choice. |
| Bread flour | About 12–14% | Strong and chewy; usually malted, so it browns fast and can scorch at full heat | New York–style pizza at 650–750°F |
| All-purpose | About 10–12% | Easy to mix and stretch, tender bite, a little less rim | The BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe and same-day pizza nights |
| Soft 00 (cake or pasta) | Under 11% | Weak; tears when stretched thin and doesn't puff well | Pasta and pastry, not pizza |
| Whole wheat | About 13–14% | Thirsty and heavy; burns more easily at high heat | Blend 10–20% with white flour and add a little more water |
| Semolina or cornmeal | Coarse grind | Doesn't go in the dough; rolls like ball bearings under it | Dusting the peel |
Weigh your flour if you can. A cup of flour can weigh anywhere from about 4 to 5½ ounces depending on how it's scooped, and that swing alone can change your hydration by 10 points. If you measure by volume, spoon the flour into the cup and level it off instead of scooping.
Water, Salt, and Yeast: The Other Three Ingredients
With only four ingredients, each one shows up in the finished crust. Flour gets the attention, but water is about a third of the dough, and it's the one most people never think about.
Use filtered water for the best taste
If your water tastes good from the glass, it will make good dough. If it tastes like a swimming pool, so will your crust. Chlorine and other off-flavors carry straight through a dough this simple, and heavy chlorine can make yeast a little sluggish.
- Filtered water is the easy fix. A basic carbon pitcher or refrigerator filter removes most chlorine taste and odor.
- Letting tap water sit out overnight lets chlorine escape, but many cities now use chloramine, which doesn't. A filter is more reliable.
- Skip softened water if you can. A water softener swaps calcium for sodium, and calcium is part of what gives dough its strength. Softened water tends to make a slack dough.
- Skip distilled water for the same reason: no minerals means a weaker dough. Filtered tap water or spring water is ideal.
- Hard well water is fine for most people. It makes a slightly firmer dough; add a tablespoon more water if it feels stiff.
Get the water temperature right
Water temperature controls how fast the dough rises. For the same-day BrickWood recipe, use warm water around 105–110°F, comfortably warm on your wrist, to wake up active dry yeast. Never go above about 120°F; hotter water starts to kill yeast. For the slow Neapolitan dough, use cool water around 65–70°F so the dough ferments slowly and builds flavor instead of racing.
Salt: flavor and strength
Salt seasons the crust, tightens the gluten so the dough holds its shape, and slows the yeast slightly so fermentation stays even. Neapolitan dough uses about 2.8% of the flour weight, which is about 1 tablespoon of fine sea salt for 21 ounces of flour. Dissolve it in the water first so it's spread evenly.
Yeast: less yeast, more time, more flavor
Yeast makes the gas that inflates the rim, and fermentation makes the flavor. A lot of yeast and a short rise gives you a good everyday dough in about an hour. A tiny pinch of yeast and a long, cold rise gives you a more flavorful, more digestible dough with a lighter, better-blistered crust.
| Yeast type | How to use it | Swap |
|---|---|---|
| Active dry | Dissolve in warm water first. Used in the BrickWood recipe. | 1 package = 2¼ teaspoons = ¼ ounce |
| Instant (rapid-rise) | Mix straight into the flour; works with cool water. | Use the same amount as active dry, or about 25% less |
| Fresh (cake) yeast | Crumble into the water. Traditional in Naples. | About 2½ times the weight of active dry |
The BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe (Same-Day, Free Download)
Not every pizza night is planned two days ahead. The BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe is our easy, reliable everyday dough: pantry ingredients, about an hour of rise time, and four thin 10-inch pizzas that bake beautifully in a wood-fired oven. It's the dough we recommend for your first few firings while you learn your oven.
Free printable recipe card
Print it and stick it on the fridge, or keep it on your phone by the oven.
Download the BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe (PDF)BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe
Makes four 10" pizzas • About 1 hour rise time • Bake in your preheated pizza oven
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 to 3¼ cups all-purpose flour
- Flour or cornmeal for dusting
Directions
- Dissolve yeast in warm water.
- Add salt, olive oil and 3 cups flour. Mix 2–3 minutes.
- Add remaining flour a little at a time only if needed until the dough is soft and slightly tacky.
- Knead 3–5 minutes until smooth.
- Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Divide into 4 equal portions and form into balls.
- Stretch each ball into approximately a 10" pizza.
- Add toppings and bake in your preheated pizza oven.
Tips for the best results in a wood-fired oven
- Use filtered water around 105–110°F so the yeast gets going quickly and the dough tastes clean.
- Stop adding flour at “slightly tacky.” It's tempting to keep adding flour until the dough stops sticking, but a drier dough makes a denser, less puffy crust.
- Each ball weighs about 5½ ounces, exactly right for a thin 10-inch pizza. Don't be tempted to make two big pizzas instead of four.
- Want more flavor? After step 6, cover the dough balls and refrigerate them overnight. Take them out 2–3 hours before baking so they relax and stretch easily.
- Dust your peel with flour or cornmeal before building your pizza so it slides easily into the oven, and keep the dusting light so it doesn't scorch on the brick.
- Leave the outer edge alone when you stretch, and the rim will puff up nicely in the heat.
The small amount of olive oil makes this dough a little more tender and forgiving to stretch. For a strictly traditional Neapolitan crust, use the slow, oil-free dough below.
Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe (24–48 Hour Cold Rise)
When you can plan ahead, this is the dough for the real Neapolitan crust: four ingredients, no oil, no sugar, and a slow cold rise that builds flavor and makes the dough soft and easy to stretch. It makes four dough balls of about 8½ ounces, enough for four 11–12 inch pizzas.
| Ingredient | By weight | By volume (approx.) | Baker's % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza 00 flour | 21 oz (1 lb 5 oz) | 4¾ cups, spooned and leveled | 100% |
| Cool filtered water (65–70°F) | 13 oz | 1½ cups + 1 tablespoon | 62% |
| Fine sea salt | 0.6 oz | 1 tablespoon | 2.8% |
| Instant dry yeast | A pinch | A scant ⅛ teaspoon | 0.07% |
Yes, the yeast really is that small. With 24–48 hours to work, a pinch is all it takes, and that slow fermentation is where the flavor comes from. A kitchen scale makes this recipe far more consistent than cups.
How to mix and ferment the dough
- Dissolve the saltPour the water into a large bowl and stir in the salt until it disappears.
- Start the batterAdd about a tenth of the flour and stir until it looks like thin pancake batter, then stir in the yeast.
- Add the rest of the flourMix until a shaggy dough forms with no dry flour left. Cover and rest 20 minutes. This rest lets the flour soak up the water and does much of the kneading for you.
- KneadKnead 8–10 minutes by hand, or with a stand mixer on low, until the dough is smooth and springs back slowly when poked.
- First riseCover and let the dough rise 2 hours at room temperature.
- Ball the doughDivide into four equal pieces of about 8½ ounces. Fold each piece under itself to form a tight, smooth ball, and set the balls in a covered container or lightly oiled tray with room to spread.
- Cold riseRefrigerate 24–48 hours. Then take the balls out 4–6 hours before baking so they come to room temperature and relax.
Is the dough ready?
- The balls have relaxed and spread slightly instead of sitting tall and tight.
- They feel soft and puffy, and jiggle when you shake the tray.
- A gentle fingertip poke springs back slowly and leaves a slight dent.
- It smells pleasantly yeasty, not sharp or boozy.
A ball that's still tight and springs back hard is under-fermented, and under-fermented dough is the most common reason a crust bakes up dense with no leopard spots. Give it another hour or two. A ball that has collapsed and smells strongly of alcohol has gone too far; it will still bake, but expect a flatter rim.
Baking today?
Skip the refrigerator: after balling, let the dough rise 6–8 hours at room temperature (about 70–75°F) instead. Or use the BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe above.
To scale the recipe, figure about 5¼ ounces of flour per pizza and keep the percentages the same: water at 62% of the flour weight, salt at 2.8%. Always scale from the weights, not the cups, because volume errors add up fast.
Keep the Dough Thin: Why Wood-Fired Pizza Isn't Deep Dish
A wood-fired oven is built for thin pizza. At 750–900°F, the floor and dome will blister and char the outside of the dough in about a minute and a half. A thin center (about ⅛ inch) cooks all the way through in that time. A thick crust doesn't: by the time heat reaches the middle, the bottom is black and the rim is charcoal, and the inside is still raw and gummy.
That's why wood-fired pizza ovens are not for deep dish or thick, bready crusts baked directly on the floor. If you want those, bake them in a pan (more on that below).
Use the right size dough ball
Most thick-crust problems start with too much dough for the size of the pizza. Weigh your dough balls, or at least divide them evenly, and match them to the size you're stretching.
| Pizza size | Dough ball | Recipe |
|---|---|---|
| 10 inches | About 5–5½ oz | BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe (makes 4) |
| 11–12 inches | About 8–8½ oz | Neapolitan dough (makes 4) |
| 13–14 inches | About 9½–10 oz | Neapolitan dough scaled up; harder to launch and turn |
How to stretch thin without losing the rim
- Start with relaxed doughWork with dough at room temperature. Cold dough fights back and shrinks. If it keeps springing back, cover it for 10–15 minutes and try again.
- Press from the center outOn a lightly floured counter, press the center flat with your fingertips, pushing the air toward the edge. Stop about ¾ inch from the outside and don't press the rim again. That trapped gas is your cornicione.
- Let gravity stretch itDrape the dough over the backs of your hands or knuckles and rotate it, letting its own weight stretch the center. Work it out to size: thin enough in the middle to see light through, but without holes.
- Never use a rolling pinA pin presses the gas out of the rim, and no amount of oven heat will put it back. Rolled dough bakes into a flat cracker with an edge the same thickness as the middle.
A small tear can be pinched closed. A thin spot that's almost a hole is fine; the sauce won't leak through in a 90-second bake. A center that's still thick when the rim looks right is the bigger problem.
Keep the Toppings Light: Less Is More
The fastest way to ruin a great crust is to bury it. In a 90-second bake, toppings only have time to warm through and melt, and every ounce of extra sauce, cheese, and vegetables adds weight and water to the thin center. Too much and the middle steams into a soggy puddle while the rim burns waiting for it.
A Neapolitan pizza looks almost sparse before it goes in. You should still see dough between the toppings.
| Topping | How much for an 11–12 inch pizza | How to prep it |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato sauce | About 2½–3 oz (roughly ⅓ cup) | Uncooked crushed or hand-crushed tomatoes with a pinch of salt. Thick, not watery. Leave the outer ¾ inch bare. |
| Fresh mozzarella | About 3 oz | Tear into small pieces and drain on paper towels for 30 minutes or more. Pat dry. |
| Low-moisture mozzarella | About 3 oz | Shred or cube. Melts without weeping, a good choice for beginners. |
| Basil | A few leaves | Tuck under the cheese, or add after baking so it doesn't burn. |
| Olive oil | A light drizzle | Drizzle after dressing, or after the bake for more flavor. |
| Other toppings | Two or three, sparingly | Slice thin and pre-cook anything wet or raw (see below). |
Pre-cook these before they go on
- Raw sausage and ground meats: they won't cook through in 90 seconds. Brown them first and drain the fat.
- Mushrooms, onions, peppers, zucchini, and spinach: they're full of water. Sauté or roast them first, or slice them paper-thin and use a small amount.
- Thick-cut vegetables and potatoes: slice thin or roast first.
Add these after the pizza comes out
- Prosciutto and other cured meats (they shrivel and turn salty in the heat)
- Arugula, fresh basil, and other tender greens
- Burrata or a spoonful of ricotta
- A drizzle of good olive oil or hot honey, and a grating of hard cheese
Dress it fast
Build the pizza on the peel, and do it quickly. From the moment the dough lands on the peel you have roughly 45 to 60 seconds before moisture starts gluing it down. Have every topping portioned and within reach before you stretch the first ball.
Can You Make Thick-Crust or Deep-Dish Pizza in a Wood-Fired Oven?
Yes, but not directly on the oven floor, and not at full Neapolitan heat. Thick crusts, deep dish, Detroit-style, Sicilian, and pan pizzas need time for heat to travel through an inch or more of dough and a heavy layer of toppings. On an 850°F brick floor the bottom would burn long before the middle cooked.
The answer is a pan. A cast iron skillet, a carbon steel pan, a deep-dish pan, or a sheet tray shields the bottom of the dough from direct contact with the brick, so you can bake longer without burning it.
- Bake it later in the sessionThick pizzas like a cooler oven. Bake them after your thin pizzas, once the floor has dropped to roughly 500–600°F, or set the pan well away from the fire.
- Oil the pan and proof in itPress the dough into a well-oiled pan, cover it, and let it rise in the pan for 1–2 hours so it bakes up light.
- Bake and rotateExpect about 10–20 minutes depending on thickness and oven temperature. Rotate the pan every few minutes so the side facing the fire doesn't scorch.
- Check the bottomLift an edge with a spatula. When the bottom is deep golden and crisp, it's done. Use heavy oven mitts; the handle will be as hot as the oven.
Don't put a cold pan or a pizza stone in a hot oven
Preheat cast iron gradually near the oven mouth before moving it in, and never set a cold pan, glass dish, or separate pizza stone directly on an 800°F floor. Sudden heat can crack glass and stones, and your oven's firebrick floor is already the best pizza stone you can own.
Looking for more ways to use the heat after pizza? See what to cook in a wood-fired pizza oven besides pizza, from roasted vegetables and steaks to bread baked on the falling heat.
How Hot Should a Wood-Fired Oven Be for Neapolitan Pizza?
Aim for a floor temperature of 750–900°F at the exact spot where the pizza will land, with the dome glowing and a live flame rolling across the ceiling. That balance of floor heat and dome heat is what bakes the bottom and top at the same speed.
Give the oven time to heat-soak
You're not heating the air; you're heating hundreds of pounds of masonry. Build the fire in the center of the oven and let it burn hard for about 90 minutes to two hours, longer on a cold or wet day. Early on the dome turns black with soot. As the masonry gets hot, the soot burns off and the dome clears to gray and white. A clear dome means the oven is getting close, but the floor lags behind the dome, so don't launch yet.
Check the floor with an infrared thermometer
An inexpensive infrared thermometer is the most useful tool you can own for a wood-fired oven. Point it at the spot you'll bake on, not the center of the floor and not next to the fire. Floor temperatures can vary by 100°F or more across the oven.
Move the fire and keep a flame
Once the oven is hot, push the fire and coals to one side or to the back, brush the cooking area clean of ash with a brass brush, and keep feeding small, dry hardwood splits so there's always a live flame licking across the dome. A bed of glowing coals with no flame gives you a scorching floor and a pale, undercooked top.
| Floor temperature | Bake time | What you'll get |
|---|---|---|
| 850–900°F | 60–75 seconds | Classic Neapolitan: soft, puffy, heavily spotted. Turn quickly. |
| 750–850°F | 75–120 seconds | The easiest range for home bakers. Great crust with more time to react. |
| 650–750°F | 2–3 minutes | Crisper and drier, closer to New York style. Good for malted bread flour. |
| 500–650°F | 3–6 minutes | Thicker crusts, pan pizzas, and heavily topped pies. |
Quick temperature fixes
- Floor too hot (bottom burns before the top sets): move your bake spot farther from the fire, wait a few minutes, or build the flame up so the dome catches up with the floor.
- Floor too cool (pale, soft bottom): rake hot coals over the bake spot for 5–10 minutes, then push them aside, brush, and launch onto the reheated brick.
- Top pale, bottom done: add a small split to get the flame rolling again, and lift the pizza toward the dome for the last few seconds.
The fuel matters as much as the fire. Wet or green wood can't get the oven to temperature and fills the dome with smoke and soot. See our guide to firewood for pizza ovens to learn which wood burns hot and clean, or find seasoned hardwood near you. If your oven is brand new, finish curing your pizza oven before firing it to full pizza temperature.
How to Launch a Pizza Without It Sticking
The launch is where most home pizza nights go wrong, and it has more to do with what's under the dough and how long it sits there than with skill.
Use two peels
A wide launch peel gets the pizza into the oven. Wood or perforated aluminum releases better than solid metal. A small round turning peel, about 7–9 inches across, handles everything once the pizza is inside. Trying to do both jobs with one large peel is how pizzas get torn up mid-bake.
Dust lightly, dress fast, shake twice
- Dust the peel lightlySemolina or cornmeal rolls under the dough like tiny ball bearings. Flour works, but it absorbs moisture and can glue the dough down, so use very little. Whatever falls off will burn on the floor, so more isn't safer.
- Stretch on the counter, not the peelShaping on the peel scrapes the dusting out from under the dough before you've even started.
- Shake before you top itMove the stretched dough to the peel and give it a small back-and-forth shake. It should slide freely. If a spot sticks, lift that edge and toss a little semolina underneath.
- Dress it in under a minuteSauce, cheese, toppings, and done. The longer it sits, the more it sticks.
- Shake again before you walk to the ovenIf the whole pizza slides as one piece, you're ready. Fix a sticky spot now; a pizza that sticks halfway into the oven is very hard to save.
The launch: one confident motion
- Hold the peel low and nearly flat, at a shallow angle of about 20 degrees.
- Rest the tip on the floor where you want the pizza to land: on clean brick, about 8–12 inches from the fire, not directly under the flame.
- Give a short, sharp forward push to set the front edge of the dough on the brick.
- Pull the peel straight back in one smooth, quick motion. The anchored edge holds and the pizza slides off.
Pull back too slowly and you'll stretch the pizza into an oval. Hesitate and the front edge folds under. A confident launch beats a careful one. If it does land folded, you have a few seconds to unfold it with the turning peel while the dough is still soft. After that, let it go. It'll still taste great.
Practice the motion with an empty peel, or with a stretched dough round and no toppings, before your guests arrive. Ten practice launches will make the first real one feel easy.
When and How Often to Rotate the Pizza
Leave the pizza completely alone for the first 20–30 seconds. The bottom needs time to set on the brick; slide a peel under it too early and you'll tear the base or drag the toppings off. When the rim nearest the fire starts to rise and take color, it's time for the first turn.
From then on, rotate about a quarter turn every 15–20 seconds. On a 90-second bake that's three or four turns; on a fast 60-second bake, two or three. You're not working a stopwatch. You're watching which part of the rim is browning and moving a fresh section toward the flame.
Lift, don't drag
- Slide the turning peel under about a third of the pizza.
- Lift it an inch off the floor. Dragging scrapes semolina across the brick and scorches the base.
- Spin it 90 degrees and set it back down on fresh, hot brick if you can.
Doming the pizza
If the bottom is nearly done but the cheese and rim still look pale, lift the whole pizza on the turning peel up toward the dome and hold it there for 3–5 seconds. The radiant heat near the ceiling colors the top fast. Watch it the entire time; up there, perfect and burnt are only seconds apart.
How to tell it's done
Pull the pizza when the rim is puffed with dark leopard spots, the bottom is browned with a few charred blisters, and the cheese has just melted and started to bubble. A Neapolitan pizza goes from perfect to overdone in about 15 seconds, so have a cutting board ready. Let it rest a minute before slicing; the center is meant to be soft.
Small black spots on the rim are a sign of a great bake, not a mistake. Large black patches and a bitter taste mean the pizza sat too close to the flame or too much dusting flour burned underneath it.
Why Doesn't My Crust Look Right? Troubleshooting Guide
Almost every Neapolitan problem comes back to one of five things: floor temperature, dome heat, dough thickness, fermentation, or moisture. Find what you're seeing, then change one thing at a time on the next pizza.
| What you see | Most likely cause | What to change next time |
|---|---|---|
| Soggy, wet center | Too much sauce, undrained mozzarella, or raw watery vegetables | Cut the sauce to about ⅓ cup, drain the cheese, pre-cook wet toppings |
| Gummy layer under the sauce | Dough too thick, or the floor was too cool | Stretch the center thinner and check the floor with an infrared thermometer |
| Crisp like a cracker, no puff | Oven too cool and the bake ran too long, or the dough was rolled | Heat-soak longer, aim for 750–900°F, and shape by hand only |
| Burnt bottom, pale top | Floor hotter than the dome; no live flame | Add a small split to get a flame rolling and dome the pizza at the end |
| Pale bottom, done top | Floor too cool | Rake coals over the bake spot for 5–10 minutes before launching |
| One side burnt | Not rotated often enough | Quarter turns every 15–20 seconds after the first 20–30 seconds |
| Rim never rose | Under-fermented dough or gas pressed out during shaping | Let the dough rise longer and don't touch the outer ¾ inch |
| No leopard spots | Not hot enough, or the dough is young | Hotter floor and live flame; ferment the dough longer |
| Rim burns black, center undercooked | Malted flour or dough too thick | Use pizza 00 flour or bake cooler; stretch thinner |
| Stuck to the peel | Sat too long, overloaded, or too little dusting | Dress in under a minute, use fewer toppings, shake before launching |
| Bitter, gritty bottom | Too much flour or semolina, or ash on the floor | Dust lightly and brush the floor clean between pizzas |
| Smoky or sooty taste | Wet or green firewood, or a fire that isn't burning cleanly | Burn dry hardwood under 20% moisture and keep a bright flame |
Neapolitan Pizza FAQ
What temperature should a wood-fired oven be for Neapolitan pizza?
Aim for a floor temperature of 750–900°F where the pizza will land, with the dome glowing hot and a live flame rolling across it. At that heat a Neapolitan pizza bakes in about 60–90 seconds. Check the floor with an infrared thermometer rather than guessing.
How long does Neapolitan pizza take to bake?
About 60 to 90 seconds on a 750–900°F floor. Watch the crust instead of the clock: it's done when the rim is puffed and spotted, the bottom is browned, and the cheese has just melted.
Do I need 00 flour to make Neapolitan pizza?
No, but it's the best choice. Pizza-grade 00 is milled very fine, stretches thin, and browns at the right rate at 800–900°F. Bread and all-purpose flour also work; many contain malted barley that browns faster, so bake them a little cooler, around 650–750°F.
Does the type of water matter for pizza dough?
Yes. Water is about a third of the dough, so off-flavors carry into the crust. Use filtered water that tastes good. Avoid softened and distilled water, which make a slack dough, and use warm water (105–110°F) for a same-day dough or cool water (65–70°F) for a slow cold rise.
What is the best hydration for Neapolitan pizza dough?
About 60–62% (the weight of the water divided by the weight of the flour) is the best starting point for home bakers. Wetter doughs make a lighter rim but are stickier and harder to launch; drier doughs are easier to handle but bake up a little denser.
Why does the firebrick floor make the crust crispy?
Firebrick is a porous ceramic that stores a lot of heat. When wet dough lands on an 800°F brick floor, moisture on the underside flashes to steam and is drawn out of the base instead of being trapped under it, so the bottom dries and crisps in seconds. Brick also releases heat steadily, so it browns the base without scorching it.
Why is the center of my pizza soggy?
Almost always too much moisture on top or too much dough in the middle. Use about ⅓ cup of thick sauce and 3 ounces of well-drained cheese for an 11–12 inch pizza, pre-cook watery vegetables, stretch the center to about ⅛ inch, and make sure the floor is fully heated.
Why doesn't my crust puff up?
The usual causes are under-fermented dough, pressing the gas out of the rim while shaping, using a rolling pin, or an oven that isn't hot enough. Let the dough rise until it's soft and puffy, leave the outer ¾ inch untouched, and bake on a 750–900°F floor.
Can I make deep-dish or thick-crust pizza in a wood-fired oven?
Yes, but bake it in a cast iron skillet, pan, or tray rather than directly on the floor, and do it when the oven has cooled to roughly 500–600°F or with the pan set well away from the fire. Thick pizzas need 10–20 minutes, and an 850°F floor would burn the bottom long before the middle cooked.
How many toppings should I put on a Neapolitan pizza?
Fewer than you think. Sauce, cheese, and two or three toppings at most, sliced thin. In a 90-second bake, heavy or wet toppings can't cook through and they flood the thin center with water.
How do I keep pizza from sticking to the peel?
Dust the peel lightly with semolina or cornmeal, stretch the dough on the counter, shake the peel before and after topping, and dress the pizza in under a minute. Overloaded pizzas and pizzas that sit on the peel are the ones that stick.
Can I use pizza dough straight from the refrigerator?
It's better not to. Cold dough is stiff, shrinks back when you stretch it, and tears easily. Take the dough balls out 2–3 hours ahead for the BrickWood recipe, or 4–6 hours ahead for a long cold-fermented Neapolitan dough.
Can I freeze pizza dough?
Yes. Freeze dough balls right after shaping them, wrapped tightly or in individual containers. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let them warm up on the counter for 2–3 hours before stretching.
Is 700°F hot enough for Neapolitan pizza?
It will make a very good pizza, but not a true 90-second Neapolitan. At 700°F the bake takes 2–3 minutes and the crust comes out crisper and drier, closer to New York style. A longer heat soak and a live flame will usually find you the last 100°F.
Fire It Up and Show Us Your Pizza
Your first few pizzas will be a little uneven, and that's normal. You're learning to read a live fire, and every session is a little different. Get the floor temperature right, keep the dough thin and the toppings light, and the crust takes care of itself.
Start with the BrickWood Pizza Dough Recipe for an easy first night, then try the 48-hour Neapolitan dough once you've got the launch and the turn down.
Thin dough. Light toppings. Hot brick.
Need peels, a thermometer, or a brush for the floor? Explore BrickWood oven tools and accessories. Swap tips and photos with other owners on the BrickWood builder forum. Don't have an oven yet? See the BrickWood pizza oven kits or get the FREE step-by-step pizza oven plans.
Keep Reading
Temperatures, times, and amounts are general guidance; your results depend on your dough, flour, firewood, weather, and oven. Always follow the installation and operating instructions for your BrickWood oven, use proper tools and heat protection, and never leave a fire unattended.
