The Pizza Heaven

The Best Pizza Oven Thermometer

Other Pizza Tools, Tools / pizza accessories, Pizza ovens / By / January 13, 2024

A pizza oven thermometer is an essential tool if you want a consistent result in your pizza oven. Use a thermometer to make sure your oven has the right temperature, and you can get the perfect pizza every time!

How Do Pizza Ovens Work?

Different types of pizza are baked at different temperatures. A Neapolitan-style pizza should be cooked quickly in a blazing hot oven, while a Chicago-style deep dish pizza needs to be baked at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. Therefore, it’s important to know both what temperature your pizza should be baked at, and how hot your pizza oven is.

A pizza oven bakes pizza with a combination of heat from the floor of the oven and radiating heat from the walls and ceiling. When a pizza oven is heated to a certain temperature, the walls and ceiling will start to reflect heat. This will bake the toppings and melt the cheese of the pizza.

For the pizza to be evenly cooked, you need to make sure both the surface temperature and the air temperature are correct. If the surface is too hot, the bottom of the pizza will burn before the cheese is melted. Likewise, if the radiating temperature forms the ceiling is too hot, the toppings might burn before the bottom is done.

In a wood-fired pizza oven, it’s very hard to know how hot it is just by guessing. The temperature depends on what kind of wood you’re using, how much wood you’re using, where the fire is placed in the oven, as well as how long you’ve been heating the oven. 

There are two main types of pizza oven thermometers, infrared thermometers, which are used to measure the surface temperature, and probe thermometers, which are used to measure reflected heat or air temperature.

Infrared Pizza Oven Thermometer

If you only want one thermometer for your pizza baking, you should go for an infrared thermometer. It measures temperature from a distance and is therefore great for measuring the surface temperature of your super-hot pizza oven floor, pizza stones, or pizza steels.

What is an Infrared Thermometer?

An Infrared thermometer also called a laser thermometer or temperature gun is a thermometer that measures temperature from a distance. Temperature is measured by using a lens that reflects the infrared thermal radiation onto a detector. The radiation is then converted to an electric signal that can be displayed as the temperature on the thermometer’s screen.

How to Use an Infrared Thermometer

An infrared thermometer is really easy to use. All you need to do is point the thermometer at the surface you want to measure and press the button to read the temperature. Most infrared thermometers come with a laser that makes aiming easy.

An infrared thermometer is a versatile type of pizza oven thermometer. It’s portable and can measure hot surface temperature from a distance. Infrared thermometers can however not measure air temperature or heat radiation. They are therefore ideal to check the floor temperature of your pizza oven, but not for the radiating heat from the walls and ceiling.

Infrared thermometers can not only be used in big, wood-fired brick ovens. They are also essential for smaller, portable pizza ovens, as well as pizza stones for your grill. It’s also great for checking the surface temperature of your pizza steel.

The floor temperature of your pizza oven will likely not be even. It’s probably going to be hotter closer to the heat source, and cooler towards the opening. By having an infrared pizza oven thermometer, you can detect cold and hot spots on the pizza oven floor. If the pizza oven deck is really hot, you should move and turn the pizzas frequently using your pizza peel to make sure the pizza doesn’t burn.

To make sure you get an even temperature it’s a good idea to start the fire in the middle of the pizza oven (where you intend to place the pizza), and then move the fire to the side or back of your pizza oven around 30 minutes before you’re going to bake the pizza. 

The Best Infrared Pizza Oven Thermometer

The number one infrared thermometer is the Fluke 59 MAX Plus Infrared Thermometer.

Fluke is well known for its quality measuring equipment, and Fluke 59 Max lives up to its reputation. With an accuracy of 1.5% or 2°F (1°C), you get really consistent baking temperatures.

It’s also easy to use and read the temperature quickly. All you need to do is to aim the laser at the surface and press the trigger. A moment later the temperature will show up on the LCD screen.

the Fluke 59 MAX Plus Infrared Thermometer is mostly aimed at professionals, but if you have the budget, and want the best infrared thermometer on the market, Fluke is the way to go.

Fluke 59 Max Plus Infrared Thermometer
Fluke 59 Max Plus Infrared Thermometer
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The Best Infrared Thermometer Under 50 Dollars

A great budget thermometer is the Sovarcate Infrared Thermometer. It’s also super easy to use. Just point the laser and press the trigger. It comes with a visible laser that makes it easy to see where you’re measuring the temperature. In addition to a large, high-definition LCD screen for easy reading. the Sovarcate Infrared Thermometer can measure temperatures in the range: of -58 to 1112°F, or -50 – 600°C, which is great for both measuring your pizza steel and pizza oven!

Infrared Thermometer Non-Contact Digital Laser Temperature Gun
Infrared Thermometer Non-Contact Digital Laser Temperature Gun


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How to Bake Pizza Using Thermometers

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, how to bake pizza depends on what kind of pizza you want to bake. The temperature and times will therefore vary.

The first thing you need to do is to heat your oven. For a wood–fired pizza oven, this will take 2-3 hours depending on the size of the oven. It’s important to use high-quality, well-seasoned hardwood, such as beech, birch, oak, maple, and olive wood in your wood-fired oven. If you use softwood, or wood that is not seasoned properly, you will not reach high enough temperatures.

A Neopolitan-style pizza should be baked on a 400°C (750°F) floor, and a dome temperature of 485°C about (905°C). Because the temperature is that hot, the pizza will be done in 60-90 seconds. Therefore, it’s very important to keep an eye on your pizza, so it doesn’t burn.

Smaller wood-fired ovens, coal, or gas ovens are usually usually quicker, but it depends on the oven. Check with the manufacturer of your oven, and measure the temperature with your infrared thermometer.

Conclusion

Every pizza enthusiast should own an accurate infrared thermometer. This is one of the most important pizza accessories if you want to bake consistent pizza in a pizza oven. It’s a useful tool both for wood and gas-fired pizza ovens, as well as for your pizza steel. The best infrared pizza oven thermometer is the Fluke 59 MAX Plus (affiliate link), but a great budget option is the Sovarcate Infrared Thermometer (affiliate link).

To get a perfect pizza, it’s essential to know the temperature of your oven. Both the floor and the air temperature. With the right pizza oven thermometers, you’ll get an amazing result every time!

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