Pizza Oven - Buildout Tips - Counter Cutout

I've documented a few pizza operation tips over the years here on the blog.  From what a pizza parlor could/would look like to the signage to the uniforms/tabletops to the *actual name* (Dorianell's), I've 'dreamed' a lot about the front-of-house.  

But, I've also documented tips and tricks for the back-of-house.  Including how Aurelio's pre-pans their dough to the type of tomatoes and more.  

This past Spring, Summer and...Fall...I built out my own wood-fired pizza oven.  (Note:  I REALLY need to finish those posts!).  So, I'm turning my attention to building out the rest of the oven setup; including prep tables.  

The latest tip comes via world's best pizza guy - Chef Anthony Mangieri, owner of Una Pizza Napoletana in NYC in this YouTube video from Bon Appétit.

Here, below, is the full video - but further down, I've taken a few screenshot stills from it that I wanted to call-out.

First...he talks about setting up his layout in service of being a 'one-man operation' - so everything is efficient, small and thoughtful.  The first thing that really grabbed my attention was how he created a special cut-out area in his prep counter that 'fits' his peel.  See below for the still from the video - but what he's done is create a recess right at the edge of his counter that sits *exactly* the height below the top of the marble that is equal to the depth/thickness of his peel.  So, his peel rests right there and he can quickly 'pull' his pies from the counter to the peel.  This is GENIUS.  

Counter cutaway to allow for the pizza peel via Bon Apetit's video of Chef Anthony Mangieri, owner of Una Pizza Napoletana. 

The pizzas at Una Pizza Napoletana use a VERY high hydration level - higher than I could push it at home, I think.  And, as such, he says that he has to 'move very fast' otherwise, the skins will stick.  This peel holder helps with speed.

Chef Anthony also talks about heating the floor of his oven in the video and how/where he builds his fire and moves it for service.  That's something I need to remember - to get the floor hot-enough in the fire-building stage. 

Another tip - on his bench is a big mound of bench flour.  But...he says that it is spolvero - a special flour designed for working on the bench.  This listing for Spolvero claims that it is "Flour for dusting" and that...."The pizza dough does not stick to the work surface.  Cooks to a golden, even and crispy pizza."

Here's a screenshot/still from the same video showing Spolvero:

Using Spolvero as bench flour for pizza making.

Love all of that.  Learned something new - Spolvero...not AP nor Semolina.  

And the last tip is that he fashioned a peel 'end' holder out of a Christmas wreath stand.  It is hard to see, so I've annotated the still below:

My oven outside needs a lot of work to get it finished, but these are tips I need to incorporate.