How new pizza ovens are cured before the first pizza
Curing a new pizza oven, step by step
Makers ask for slow first fires in a new masonry oven, and the reasons aren't obvious. These pages explain where the moisture comes from, how a typical schedule runs, and what smoke and cracks can mean.
All the curing guides
What curing a new pizza oven meansCuring is slow, gentle heating that lets the water in a new masonry oven leave without cracking it. Here's what it involves and who needs it.
Why a new oven holds moistureWhere the water in a new pizza oven dome, floor and mortar comes from, and why letting it out slowly matters for cracks and heat retention.
First fires: how a typical curing schedule worksOne maker's five-day curing schedule, laid out day by day, with where to put the fire and what to burn. Use it to read your own oven's schedule.
Finding the curing steps in your maker's manualWhere a maker usually says how long and how hot to cure a new pizza oven, which details to write down, and what to do if the manual says nothing.
Steam, smoke and damp patches in the first firesWhy a new pizza oven may smoke heavily, show dark sooty patches or feel damp in the first fires, and what the maker's guidance says to check.
Hairline cracks in a new oven: what they usually meanFine cracks often appear in a new oven's dome or floor. Here's why makers call many of them normal, what can make cracks worse, and when to ask.
Curing outdoors only: carbon monoxide and fire safetyWhy curing fires for a pizza oven belong in the open air only, what carbon monoxide is, and which fire-safety steps a maker and US agencies give.
How to know curing is finishedSigns a new pizza oven is dry and ready for its first pizza, from a clear white dome to the last day of the maker's schedule, plus signs it isn't done.