Getting Real Pizza Out of a Home Oven

A Neapolitan stone oven runs at 450 °C and turns out a pie in 90 seconds. A domestic oven usually tops out at 250–280 °C, so the strategy has to be completely different — you're not trying to replicate the stone oven, you're taking another route to a similar result.

Pick a baking surface

• Pizza stone — the most common. Long preheat (1 hour), modest heat retention. HK$200–400.
• Baking steel — conducts heat ~18× better than stone. 45-minute preheat, fast crisp bake. HK$600–1000, worth it.
• Cast iron pan — ideal for Detroit-style or NY square pies. Works on the stovetop and in the oven.

The preheat

Put the surface in the top third of your oven (within ~15 cm of the top element), set max temperature with both elements on, and preheat for at least 45 minutes. The surface needs time to soak heat — "oven preheated" on the display does not mean "steel preheated".

The bake

Launch the pizza onto the surface. Bake 5–7 minutes until the base is golden. Then switch the broiler on for 60–90 seconds — this is what gives you the puffed, leoparded rim and a moist centre. This top-heat finish is what most home bakers miss.

Common mistakes

• Insufficient preheat → soggy base, no rim puff.
• Surface in the middle rack → not enough top heat, cheese never browns.
• Dough too wet → sticks to the peel. Verify hydration with our dough calculator.
• Too many toppings → uncooked centre. See the toppings guide.

Upgrade: countertop pizza ovens

For HK$2,000–5,000 you can buy a countertop pizza oven (Ooni Koda, Effeuno P134H, Roccbox) that reaches 400–500 °C — real stone-oven territory. If you bake pizza often, this is the single best upgrade you can make.

Ready to try? Follow our home pizza recipe for your first pie.