Ratio for top and bottom oven temperatures

[jamieg]

From what your describing it sounds like a barrel vault oven like Tom's(Tscarborough).
He's from South America. We're the only country in the world who don't use the metric system.

Yes, I guess it is a barrel vault.

Sorry, I'm from England.  We used to use cm - possibly we've changed now... no idea. I'll quote inches next time.

[jamieg]

So the oven is 29" x 57" with a 16.5" dome height.

For a 2 minute bake I think that dome height is pretty good.  The only thing I'll say is that my input is based on a wood fired oven.  With a gas fire you tend to have less top heat and therefore may be better suited with a lower dome.  I also feel the need to mention the safety concerns with a home build gas fired oven.  I hope your current clay oven is equipped  with a flame failure device for safety, but if it is not it is something the new oven needs to have.

How many pizzas at a time do you tend to bake?  It seems like the long narrow shape of your clay oven with the burner on the side would leave you with uneven temperatures.

No, we should definitely add a flame failure device.  It's unbelievable how much gas comes out of the burners.

We only have room for 2 pizzas at a time. It's slightly ridiculous.  The burners are at the back of the oven. The floor usually lacks heat in the middle - while the sides are too hot.

[jamieg]

Jamie;
The use of just a small amount of sugar will help to "jump start" the browning reaction. You are correct in that too much sugar will result in the development of an unwanted uniformly brown colored crust, but with just a small amount of sugar, about 1 to 1.5%, you should be able to get the browning reaction started without excessive color development.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

Thanks Tom. I will investigate and let you know how it goes.

[jamieg]

I was thinking about how to reduce the space taken up by the gas burners when we make the new oven... and I stumbled across this photo...

I like the idea of having the burners under the floor... and having at least one hole... so that a bigger burner can go up and provide side and top heat... in other words, independent controls for top and bottom heat...