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Curing is slow, gentle heating that lets the water in a new masonry oven leave without cracking it. Here's what it involves and who needs it.

Where the water in a new pizza oven dome, floor and mortar comes from, and why letting it out slowly matters for cracks and heat retention.

One maker's five-day curing schedule, laid out day by day, with where to put the fire and what to burn. Use it to read your own oven's schedule.

Where a maker usually says how long and how hot to cure a new pizza oven, which details to write down, and what to do if the manual says nothing.

Why a new pizza oven may smoke heavily, show dark sooty patches or feel damp in the first fires, and what the maker's guidance says to check.

Fine cracks often appear in a new oven's dome or floor. Here's why makers call many of them normal, what can make cracks worse, and when to ask.

Why curing fires for a pizza oven belong in the open air only, what carbon monoxide is, and which fire-safety steps a maker and US agencies give.

Signs a new pizza oven is dry and ready for its first pizza, from a clear white dome to the last day of the maker's schedule, plus signs it isn't done.