Base burns before the top is done

How you would know: The base is dark or blackened while the cheese is still pale and barely melted, and the steel is on a low or middle shelf.

The steel is positioned too low in the oven. Steel transfers heat into the dough several times faster than stone, so a position that would be fine for a stone delivers far too much bottom heat before the top has had any chance to catch up.

Do now: Move the pizza off the steel onto a cooler shelf or a bare rack for the remaining time, and finish the top under the grill.

Change next time: Move the steel to the upper third of the oven, and cut the bake time by about a third relative to what you would use on a stone. If it still runs hot, slide an empty tray onto the shelf below to intercept direct bottom heat.

How you would know: The base was black almost instantly, and there is no heat deflector fitted between the fire and the stone.

The kamado is running without a heat deflector. With nothing between the firebox and the stone, the stone sits directly in the fire's radiant path and reaches temperatures far beyond anything a base can survive.

Do now: Stop and let the cooker settle. There is no way to rescue this configuration mid-session — the next pizza will burn the same way.

Change next time: Fit the heat deflector above the firebox or fire ring with the grid and stone above it, and raise the stone as high in the dome as the setup allows so radiated dome heat reaches the toppings.

How you would know: The base is dark and hard where it met the pan, on a long bake such as a deep-dish or a thick pan pizza.

A pan preheated for crisping is being used for a bake that is far too long for it. Cast iron holds heat hard, and a 30–45 minute bake in an aggressively preheated pan cooks the base for the entire duration.

Do now: Move the pan to a higher shelf and cover the base area with foil if the interior still needs time.

Change next time: For long pan bakes, start from a cool or lightly warmed pan and drop the oven to around 220 °C. Save the hot-preheat-and-oil method for short bakes where crisping is the goal.

How you would know: The base blackened within the first two or three minutes, in stripes or on one side, while the toppings were still raw.

The pizza is over the coals rather than beside them. A charcoal fire directly beneath the pizza delivers many times more heat to the base than the chamber delivers to the top, so the base carbonises long before anything else cooks.

Do now: Move the pizza to the unlit half of the grill immediately and close the lid so the toppings can catch up on convected heat.

Change next time: Build a genuine two-zone fire — coals banked to one side or split to both sides with a gap — and cook on the empty zone throughout. Rotate at least once, since the fire side still runs hotter.

How you would know: The first pizza was fine and each subsequent one has been darker underneath, with the rim still colouring normally.

The stone floor's temperature has climbed through the session. The burner keeps charging the floor between pizzas, so a floor that was correct for the first bake is well past it by the third or fourth.

Do now: Turn the flame down or off and give the floor several minutes to rest before the next launch.

Change next time: Measure the floor with an infrared thermometer rather than trusting the oven's air temperature, and rest or actively cool the floor between pizzas. Roughly 400–450 °C suits a Neapolitan bake; above that, bases darken too fast.