Blackened cornmeal

Posted by John K

OK, my oven is up and running and working wonderfully, so I made my first pizzas last night. After starting the fire with some scrap wood, I switched to walnut, which yielded a very hot fire. As I have done in the past when baking in an oven, I placed a generous amount of cornmeal on the peel to prevent the pizza from sticking to it. What surprised me was that the cornmeal started blackening on the oven floor almost immediately. Yuk!! After a couple of pizzas, the amount of blackened cornmeal on the hearth and on the bottom of the pizzas was appreciagle.

Do I need to try for a cooler oven temperature (I doubt this) or switch to something like parchment paper or am I just doing something wrong?
John K