No leopard spots on the crust
Reviewed by Marco Rivera · Updated
How to know this is your problem
- •Crust is uniformly pale or golden
- •No charred spots
- •Looks like bread, not pizza
Why it happens
- →Temperature too low (need 800°F+ for leopard spotting)
- →Dough needs longer fermentation (more sugars for browning)
- →Home oven can't reach needed temps
How to fix it
- 1
Use a pizza oven (800°F+) — home ovens can't replicate this
- 2
Longer cold ferment (24-48h) develops more sugars for browning
- 3
In home oven: use broiler for last 2-3 min to char the top
- 4
A baking steel + max oven temp + broiler is the home oven workaround
Gear that helps
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Original Baking Steel
Stores enough thermal mass to drive a home-oven broiler workaround for charring
Read our full review →More baking problems
Get the right measurements
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