[SideburnsOfDoom]

> put it on the already hot stone? How do you get the dough from the place you topped it to the stone without it falling to pieces?

There are plenty of demos and tips on "how to launch a pizza"

e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=153&v=_3jAnfvriCE&feature=yo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=153&v=n8F8YdxA5jA&feature=yo...

> Are you using temperatures too high for cast iron?

No, not at all. So why not use cast iron?

IDK, when cooking pizza inside a kitchen oven some people do use cast iron plates. They're a fair amount more expensive than the ceramic "pizza stone", and heavier, apparently they work very well. google "pizza steel".

In a custom-made pizza oven, ceramic floors are the only type I've seen. I guess iron just isn't necessary in this case? The whole interior gets heated up to 450-500C. If you're building a dome outdoors out of concrete and brick, then thermal mass is there because of regular mass?

[CrazyStat]

Oven bricks actually have higher thermal capacity than steel/iron, but much lower conductivity.

Steel or iron in a 450C oven would burn the bottom of the pizza before the top was anywhere close to done. It works well in home ovens at much lower temperatures (say 250C).

[SideburnsOfDoom]

Yes that makes sense, thanks.

[neltnerb]

Awesome, thank you. I just got a steel stone because I am pretty sure it makes more sense given how many pizzas I make at a time and one of those wooden paddles (I expect I can make do with a cookie sheet for removing the pizza at the end and the "stone" is already expensive).

I've been making pizza often since I was five, for many years weekly for dozens of people, and the center of the bottom is always the hardest to get cooked nicely without burning the top.

If this fixes that I can maybe avoid prebaking the crusts, that was my workaround previously. This sounds way better!

[SideburnsOfDoom]

If you are working in a pizzeria, have a backyard brick oven, or have a hobbyist oven such as a Roccbox or Ooni (I have an Ooni) they you should master the art of launching a pizza off a peel. So watch some how-to videos, get some Semolina flour and resign yourself to the fact that you aren't going to have a 100% success rate at first. You will lose some pies as you practice.

If you are cooking in your kitchen oven, you also have a second option: a sheet of baking parchment.

[neltnerb]

I have only done it in a home oven or a regular commercial kitchen without a fancy super hot oven.

I like the idea of learning to launch it though, I'm already sad that I can't toss the dough without dropping it so that seems like a just slightly easier skill that depends more on getting the dough to the right consistency. Seems like it will be fun to do anyway.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

Throwing pizza dough up in the air is very much optional, and IMHO mostly done for show.

If you are making pizza "weekly for dozens of people" then equipment such as pizza peels and/or a pizza oven might be ideal for you?

[neltnerb]

Oven is overkill for my level of skill, a peel seems about the right next step. It's just a favorite when we can't eat out and is nice and easy.