Are you wondering what the best temperature for baking pizza is? It’s probably higher than you think.
What Temperature to Bake Homemade Pizza?
The best temperature to bake pizza is 500-550°F, or 250-300°C in a home oven and 900°F (480°C) in a wood-fired
The Hotter, the Better!
You get the best pizza if you bake it at a really high temperature. Traditionally pizza is baked in a wood-fired brick oven at around 900°F (480°C). This is how pizza is still made in Italy and many pizza restaurants around the world. But why is a higher temperature better?
Why Bake Pizza at Such a High Temperature?
The main reason you want to bake pizza at a high temperature is to bake it quicker. Baking pizza at 900°F creates a unique product you can’t get in a regular home oven. At this temperature, you can bake the pizza in only 60-90 seconds.
A hot, quick bake creates a crust that’s crispy and charred on the outside, yet has a light, soft, and airy interior. This creates a unique texture and flavor.
This can only be done with a really quick bake because the longer baking time in a typical home oven dries out the crust of the pizza due to evaporation. Therefore, you’ll often end up with a dry crust that feels more like a cracker than bread.
Another benefit of a quick, hot bake is how the cheese is melting. Especially if you use fresh mozzarella, that’s so moist, to begin with, it will dry out in the oven, like the crust. The same goes for the sauce. You therefore want to bake the pizza hot and fast!
The Ideal Pizza Oven Temperature
For the best possible result in a wood-fired
It takes around around 2-3 hours to reach that temperature, depending on the size of the oven. So patience is important.
To make sure the oven has reached the correct temperature, I recommend using an infrared thermometer. This is going to help you get a consistent, perfect bake every time. The oven may have cool or hot spots, so to avoid undercooked or burnt pizza, an infrared thermometer is a must, in my opinion. A good, affordable option is the Helect H-1020 Digital Laser Thermometer Gun, which you can find on Amazon.
The Best Pizza Baking Temperature in a Home Oven
Most home ovens can’t reach the same temperature as a wood-fired Neapolitan
Even though your oven can’t reach 900 degrees, it doesn’t mean you can’t make amazing Neapolitan-style pizza at home. There are a few things you can do to increase the temperature!
Pizza Temperature – How to Increase it
If you’re as fascinated with Neapolitan-style pizza, you might be wondering if it’s possible to get closer to that wood-fired oven baking at home. In fact, there are several things we can do that will give a pretty similar result in your own kitchen!
Use a Pizza Stone or Pizza Steel for a Crispy Crust
My first tip is to use a pizza stone or pizza steel. These are baking surfaces intended to be placed inside your oven to bake the base of the pizza faster.
One of the main problems with baking pizza on a baking tray is that it’s really hard to get it crispy. And nearly impossible to get any charring. The reason is, firstly that it takes time for a baking tray to come to a temperature when you place it in the oven. Secondly, it doesn’t transfer heat well because it’s so thin, and often made from aluminum. And thirdly, most people place parchment paper in the baking sheet, which will trap moisture, and prevent the pizza from getting crispy!
A baking surface, such as a ceramic stone or
Personally, I recommend a
To use a pizza stone or steel, you need to preheat it in the oven for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour (on the highest setting). It takes time for it to come to temperature, but when it does, it will bake awesome pizza!
I have written in-depth, step-by-step guides on how to use both a stone and a steel:
Use the Broiler to Really Crank up the Heat
If your oven has a broiler or grill element, you can use this to increase the temperature. This is how you can make leopard-pattern cornicione (Neapolitan crust)!
I recommend placing your pizza stone or steel (or baking tray) around 2 inches (5cm) from the broiler. This will get super hot and reduce your baking time by probably half. But you have to keep a close eye on the pizza when using the broiler because it can burn pretty fast!
How Pizza Baking Temperature Correlates to Baking Time
We already know that the higher the temperature, the faster you can bake your pizza, but how long does the pizza need?
Temperature vs Time
Two things affect the baking time: the radiating heat that bakes the top of the pizza and the temperature of the baking surface. If both are not present, it will take longer to bake the pizza. The reason is that with only one source of heat, it takes longer for the heat to penetrate the pizza, than if it’s baked both from the top and bottom simultaneously.
As the temperature increases, the baking time will decrease. Here are two tables that show different baking times at different temperatures in Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Baking Times Fahrenheit
| 400°F | 450°F | 500°F | 550°F | |
| Baking sheet | 12 min | 11 min | 10 min | 9 min |
| Pizza Stone | 10 min | 8-9 min | 7 min | 6 min |
| Pizza Steel | 10 min | 8-9 min | 7 min | 5-6 min |
| Thick | 9 min | 7 min | 5 min | 3-4 min |
Baking Times Celsius
| 200°C | 225°C | 250°C | 275°C | |
| Baking sheet | 12 min | 11 min | 10 min | 9 min |
| Pizza Stone | 10 min | 9 min | 7 min | 6-7 min |
| Pizza Steel | 10 min | 9 min | 7 min | 6 min |
| Thick | 9 min | 7 min | 5 min | 4 min |
PizzaBaking Temperatures for Other Types of Pizza
In this article, I’ve mostly talked about Neapolitan-style pizza, but for other types of pizza, you may want different baking times and temperatures.
New York Pizza
New York-style pizza is usually baked at 600-700°F (315-370°C) in an electric
Thick Crust Pizza
Thick-crust pizza needs a little more time to fully bake the crust to fully, and should therefore be baked at around 400°F (200°C).
Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza
Chicago-style deep-dish pizza has a different type of crust, that’s more biscuit-like than most other types of pizza, it, therefore, needs a little different treatment. This style of pizza is also very tall, so a long slow bake of around 400°F (200°C) is ideal for Chicago-style deep-dish pizza
Frozen Pizza
Frozen pizza should not be baked at a very high temperature. The reason is that it takes time to defrost the center of the pizza. So if you bake it at 500°F, the pizza will most likely burn on the outside before the center is done. I, therefore, recommend sticking to the instructions on the package!
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