I've been making pizza on a baking steel in a regular home oven for a while now and I keep getting the same pattern on the bottom every single time. The outer edge has nice dark char spots, then there's a ring of a few centimeters with almost no charring at all, and then from there to the center it's charred again. You can see it clearly in the photo.
I always stretch my dough the same way, so I'm thinking it might be related to that, but I'm not sure. I'd really appreciate any insight if you've had a similar issue.
My process:
- Baking steel in a home oven at 295°C / 563°F (max my oven goes)
- I launch the pizza on parchment paper, rotate at about 2.5 minutes, remove the parchment at that point, and bake for about 5 minutes total
- I use rice flour for shaping (previously used semolina, same results)
Dough recipe (baker's %):
- Flour: a strong bread flour, roughly 11–12% protein
- Water: 70%
- Salt: 2.5%
- Olive oil: 3%
- Sugar: 1%
- Fresh yeast: 0.5%
- 2-day cold fermentation in the fridge
I genuinely can't figure out why this pattern is so consistent. It happens every single time, no matter what. Has anyone had a similar issue or can explain what's going on?
by deritovac