First pizza

[gregmorse@bellsouth.net]

Hello everyone,

Well we finally fired the oven to full temp this weekend and that is a great feeling! One problem though; the first couple of pizzas got too much ash on the bottom even though I used my brass brush to clean the floor. Should I use a wet rag or mop to clean the floor before pizza?

Thanks for any help,

Greg

[Les]

Some say the ash is what makes a WFO pizza special. You should be able to brush off the area where there is only a fine dusting of ash. I never had to do anything more than that.

[roobqn]

We have mopped the floor and we have just brushed it with the wire brush. It is really up to you. I have read where others use a length of copper tubing and have blown the area clear of ash.
When mopping, you should be able to get several pies cooked without problems. If doing a larger party I have had to rake the coals back over the floor to recharge the heat in the floor.
Congratulations on gettting your oven finished and your first pizza

[scottz]

Congrats on your 1st cook up too I find that either a brush or a slap with the paddle gets most of the ash away....but dont think u get it all away, and why would you? It adds wicked flavour.

[DOUGLAS]

OK!
This is very useful information.
Thanks.

[texassourdough]

If you don't have a brass oven brush I would suggest you get one. If you have one and still have ash "issues" I would suggest blowing the ash off the baking area. Mopping is WAY overkill IMO and drops the hearth temperature which will be unlikely to rebound to a proper pizza hearth temperature quickly (unless you still have LOTS Of flame and even then your oven will tend to be imbalanced.

As an aside the main benefit of mopping for bread is to both humidify the oven in preparation for loading and avoid drying the surface of the loaves. There is no similar benefit for pizza so I see no point. (And remember we are looking for a hearth temp of 465 F or so for bread vs. 725 to 800 for pizza. Big difference and why unnecessarily chilling the hearth is troublesome. The hearth has enough problems holding high temps when doing rapidfire and multiple pizzas without unnecessarily cooling it before you start!)

Good Luck!
Jay

[heliman]

I have a mop which I use but it is barely wet. It picks up the main ash but I follow up with a good strong blow to get rid of the stray bits. Mind those eyebrows when you blow though... I have had mine singed for a free a few times!!