Most important?

[Balthazar]

I'll go with the hot chicks too!....probably THE most important aspect;-)

[texassourdough]

For me one of the most important facets has been to learn to manage the oven so I tend to put ALL oven related issues first. I.e. proper dome and hearth temps and flames up the dome. The need and benefit of great dough are a given for me. The variable is oven management and keeping the balance of dome, hearth, and flame at the right balance. When I first got my oven the first pizza would typically be a bit on the brown/black side and then I would get two to four or so great pizzas followed by some that were not so nice. Now that I pay much more attention to the balance my pizzas are much more consistent from beginning to end.

[Bob C]

for some reason i cannot seem to get up to 800 degrees in my "easy bake oven" guess I'll have to change the wattage. LOL

[james]

Bob,
Try a hallogen light bulb! That should do it. :-)

It's fun seeing an older thread come back to life. Can I vote for almost all of the above? You need high dome heat, high floor heat, flame lapping in the dome, even temperature top and bottom, great dough and not too many ingredients. Yikes!
James

[Xabia Jim]

Yeah, but I think the hearth needs to be "soaked" with heat and hot!

[texassourdough]

The Easy-Bake Oven left me LOFL. Very funny!

I encountered a good example of BAD oven management last night. Went to a new location of a good Italian restaurant that features a "WFO" in the open kitchen. At first glance it looked legit - wood, flames up the back, etc. We sat where I could see the oven and I quickly noted the "wood" in the oven was fake and the flames were too predictable so it had to be natural gas. Then I saw the pizza cook (I dare not honor him with the term pizzaiola!) reach inside with a towel to retrieve a frypan and I KNEW it was no where near hot enough. We quickly decided to order something OTHER than the pizza. A few minutes later three pale, undercooked, pizzas were delivered to the table next to us and our decision was validated.

Long live hot ovens and open flames! (and down with mediocre pizzas!)
Jay