Getting Started with Your ZiiPa Piana: First Fire to First Pizza

Your ZiiPa Piana has arrived. Before you load it with pellets and cook your first pizza, there are a few things worth knowing. The oven is straightforward to use, but the first session is different from every session after it. This guide covers curing the stone, getting the oven to temperature, launching a pizza correctly, and cleaning down afterwards so the oven lasts.

Before You Cook Anything: Cure the Stone

The cordierite stone in the Piana needs curing before its first use. Cordierite is a porous material that absorbs moisture during storage and shipping. If you load a cold, uncured stone into a very hot oven on its first use, the rapid temperature change can cause it to crack.

Curing is straightforward. Light the oven and bring it up to a low temperature, around 100–150°C, then let it sit there for 20–30 minutes before pushing the temperature higher. Do this the first time only. After that the stone is seasoned and you can heat it normally.

A few things to never do with the cordierite stone, at any point:

• Never put a cold stone directly into a hot oven
• Never wash it with water or submerge it, moisture causes cracking
• Never use soap or cleaning products on it
• Scrape residue off dry once cooled, or use the Ranella cleaning brush designed for it

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Setting Up the Oven

Place the Piana on a stable, flat surface outdoors, at least one metre from walls, fences, or anything flammable. The oven runs on solid fuel and produces combustion gases, so it cannot be used indoors, in a conservatory, or under a covered structure without proper ventilation. For a permanent outdoor setup, the Vallone trolley gives the oven a stable, dedicated base at the right working height and keeps it off the ground.

Unfold the legs, attach the chimney with the openings facing the rear of the oven, and make sure the fuel drawer is in place. The chimney orientation matters: facing the rear improves airflow and helps the pellets ignite and burn consistently.

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Lighting the Oven

Fill the fuel drawer with food-grade wood pellets. The Piana is designed to run on pellets, which give the most consistent heat and the cleanest flavour. The fuel drawer is compact, so pellets are the practical choice. Place a natural wood wool firelighter on top of the pellets and light it. Close the front door and the rear hatch during the initial lighting phase.

If you have the Donato pellet dispenser, set it up alongside the oven now so you can top up the fuel drawer cleanly during the session without fumbling with a bag.

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Reaching Cooking Temperature

From cold, the Piana takes around 20–25 minutes to reach 380–400°C. The integrated dial thermometer on the body gives you a continuous read. Don't rush this. A pizza launched onto an underheated stone will cook unevenly and stick.

You want two things before the first pizza goes in: the thermometer reading 380°C or above, and live flames visible inside the oven. Both matter. Temperature alone is not enough if the flames have died back, because the flame is what gives the top of the pizza its char and colour. If the temperature is right but the flames are gone, add a small handful of pellets via the top hatch and wait a minute.

The top-loading hatch is one of the Piana's most practical features. You can add pellets mid-session without opening the door or interrupting the cook, which makes it possible to run multiple pizzas back to back without the oven cooling between them.

Launching the Pizza

This is where most first-time cooks go wrong. The pizza has to slide cleanly off the peel and onto the stone in one quick, confident movement. If it sticks, the whole pizza folds or drags.

A few things that help:

• Flour or semolina the peel generously before building the pizza on it
• Build the pizza quickly and launch it soon after, the longer it sits on the peel the more moisture the base absorbs and the more likely it is to stick
• Test the slide before opening the oven door: give the peel a gentle shake to confirm the pizza moves freely
• Open the door, angle the peel in at the back of the stone, and use a short sharp forward-then-back motion to deposit the pizza

The Aquila peel has a perforated blade which reduces friction and helps the pizza slide cleanly. If you are using a solid peel, the semolina is especially important.

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Cooking and Using the Rotating Stone

Once the pizza is in, close the door. The Piana's cordierite stone rotates via the dial on the outside of the oven, so you do not need to open the door mid-cook to turn the pizza. Turn the dial periodically throughout the cook to keep the pizza moving and ensure the base cooks evenly.

At 400°C, a Neapolitan-style pizza cooks in under 90 seconds. Watch for leoparding on the crust, dark spots from the high heat that are the sign of a correctly cooked Neapolitan base. When the crust has colour and the cheese is bubbling, the pizza is done. Use the peel to retrieve it.

Between pizzas, check the thermometer and add pellets if the temperature has dropped below 350°C. The oven recovers quickly with a small top-up.

After Cooking: Cleaning Down

Let the fire burn out naturally by closing the oven after the last pizza and leaving it alone. Do not pour water on it to extinguish it.

Once the oven is completely cold, remove the ash from the fuel drawer. Brush any residue from the cordierite stone dry, without water. Wipe soot from the interior with a dry cloth. Remove the chimney and fold the legs flat.

If the oven is staying outside, store it in the Sacco protective cover to keep it dry between sessions. If you are storing it away or transporting it, the Fontana travel bag fits the oven with the legs folded and the chimney removed.

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Quick Reference: First Use Checklist

• Cure the stone on first use: low heat for 20–30 minutes before pushing to full temperature
• Position outdoors, minimum one metre from walls and combustibles
• Chimney openings facing the rear
• Fill fuel drawer with food-grade pellets, light with a natural firelighter
• Heat to 380–400°C before the first pizza, approximately 20–25 minutes
• Confirm live flames are visible as well as temperature
• Flour or semolina the peel, test the slide before opening the oven door
• Use the rotating stone dial throughout the cook, door stays shut
• Top up pellets between pizzas via the top hatch if temperature drops below 350°C
• Let the fire extinguish naturally, clean only when completely cold

The ZiiPa Piana is available at Pasta Kitchen alongside the full ZiiPa accessories range. For everything you need to make pizza from scratch, see our pizza making tools and Italian ingredients.

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