What’s the Ideal Pizza Cooking Temperature?

Making authentic pizza at home can be challenging, but it doesn’t need to be. If you wish to make a homemade pizza from scratch, you need to follow the appropriate steps—adjusting the temperature of your oven is one of them. Our guide will help you find the right temperature to cook the perfect pizza and explain what temperature to cook pizza for the type of oven you use.

Why Temperature Matters

When cooking pizza, you always need to preheat the oven to reach the required temperature. Cooking your pizza at a high temperature is essential because it:

• ensures a cooked base and crispy crust
• improves the flavour and structure of the dough
• ensures that toppings are well-cooked
• allows the cheese to be properly melted and evenly distributed
• can improve or impair the appearance of the pizza

These are some reasons why your pizza oven temperature needs to be just right. So if you want a light, fluffy pizza with a crisp crust, make sure that the oven is hot enough before putting your pizza inside.

Influencing Factors of a Pizza’s Baking Temperature

As noted, the pizza baking temperature is important. But you also need to be aware of the following factors that influence the temperature your oven needs to produce a properly cooked pizza.

• Pizza thickness: A thin pizza needs to be baked at a high temperature quickly, while a thicker pizza requires a longer baking time at a lower temperature.
• Frozen and homemade pizza: Frozen pizzas go through a pre-baking process and are half-baked when you buy them, requiring less time to bake. Homemade pizzas need to be baked from scratch, taking longer to bake.
• Oven type: The oven temperature for pizza is determined by the type of oven and its capacity to reach the preferred temperature. Kitchen ovens cannot attain the same temperatures as specialised pizza ovens.
• Pizza placement: The pizza will turn out differently when placed on a domestic oven’s different racks (top, middle, bottom).
• Pizza stone or baking tray: Pizza stones and baking trays must be preheated, shortening the pizza’s baking time. (It would be beneficial to learn to use a pizza stone.)
• Layering toppings: More toppings and cheese require a higher temperature to cook pizza properly.

Many factors influence the temperature required to bake your pizza to perfection. So make sure you consider all of the aforementioned factors before putting your pizza in the oven.

Key Takeaways

Understanding What Temperature to Cook Pizza At

A general rule of thumb for pizza cooking temperature is to bake it at the highest possible temperature. But although this may be true for traditional domestic ovens, wood-fired pizza ovens and specialised gas ovens for pizza reach significantly higher temperatures. Consider the following proper temperatures for baking pizza in each oven.

Domestic Oven

It’s recommended to bake pizza at the highest possible temperature. Most domestic ovens reach a maximum temperature of 250° Celsius for most pizza types. You’ll need to set the highest pizza oven temperature in Celsius and wait for it to reach the maximum temperature. If you’re operating a fan-assisted oven, ensure the fan is on because it improves the heat circulation and increases the overall temperature.

The pizza type you bake also plays a significant role in temperature regulation. Thin pizzas (e.g., New York-style) must be baked at a maximum temperature for several minutes. Heftier pizzas, such as the Chicago Deep Dish (ranked among the best of the top 10 pizza types), need to be baked longer at 180℃—recommended if you don’t want undercooked pizza.

Wood-Fired Oven

A wood fired pizza oven temperature is more unreliable and difficult to regulate than the temperature in other ovens. If the oven doesn’t have a built-in thermometer showing the exact temperature, it’s best to buy a thermometer able to withstand high temperatures.

Wood-fired ovens can reach incredibly high temperatures of up to 500℃. These ovens are better suited for cooking thin-crust pizzas. You need only to bake your pizza for 60 seconds if you don’t want it to be overcooked or burnt. If you decide to bake a thicker pizza, you may end up with an unevenly-cooked pizza or one with a highly crisp crust and soggy centre.

Gas Oven

The ideal pizza oven cooking temperature can be achieved with a gas oven. Pizza gas ovens have become the go-to choice for the British. Gas ovens can reach incredibly high temperatures (500℃) but can be easily adjusted to lower settings.

When baking pizza in a gas oven, it’s recommended to set the temperature between 180 and 200℃, depending on the pizza’s size and thickness. If you wish to have a crispy crust without burning the toppings, set the heat at the optimal temperature to cook pizza in this oven.

Fortunately, when it comes to the type of oven you use, there are many great pizza crusts to choose from and the best pizza toppings for the kind of pizza you wish to bake.

Temperature and Baking Time

It may be challenging to determine the perfect pizza oven temperature and time when baking a homemade pizza. Baking frozen pizzas is much easier in this regard—if you follow the instructions on the packaging, you should achieve the desired result. But how long does it take to bake homemade pizza?

Baking Time by Oven

The temperature is an essential step in the pizza-making process, but each oven transfers and distributes heat differently. So what should be the pizza baking time and temperature in an electric oven, a wood-fired oven, and a gas oven? Note the following baking times for each oven type.

• Domestic Oven
  • 6 to 10 minutes for thin-crust pizza
  • 30 to 60 minutes for thick-crust or deep-dish pizza
• Wood-fired Oven
  • 90 seconds to 2 minutes
• Gas Oven
  • 1 to 2 minutes

The numbers listed above represent the average time to bake a pizza in each oven listed. You must also consider the age and capacity of your oven, which can influence the time it needs to heat up and bake a pizza.

Baking Time by Temperature

The pizza oven temperature UK residents typically prefer is high. But some pizza types require more prolonged baking at lower temperatures. Consider below how the temperature determines the baking time of your pizza.

• 500℃: 2 minutes at most
• 300℃: 6 to 8 minutes
• 250℃: 10 to 15 minutes
• 200℃: 15 to 20 minutes
• 180℃: 20 to 30 minutes

These are some general guidelines on how long you should bake a pizza at each temperature, but each oven is different and distributes heat differently. So when determining the pizza temperature and time, it’s best to consider your oven’s performance.

Baking Time by Other Factors

Many other factors can influence the baking time of your pizza, including the pizza size, thickness of the crust, placement in the oven, and the number of toppings. These can shorten or lengthen the baking time significantly.

An essential point to keep in mind is that the baking time and the best temperature for the pizza oven may differ for each pizza. So the best way to tell if it’s fully baked is to observe the pizza in the oven. It’s done once the crust is firm and crispy and the cheese has melted completely. Just make sure that you choose a type of cheese that pairs well with pizza.

Conclusion

Knowing what temperature to cook pizza at may be challenging, but it’s crucial in creating a perfectly crisp, delicious pizza. Hopefully, you can apply our pizza-making tips and use the ideal oven temperature for the perfect pizza you wish to make.