Essential Pizza Oven Tips: Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Temperature Should My Pizza Oven Be For Cooking Pizza?

While the oven temperature is important, the most important temperature should be your pizza stone. And not all pizza ovens have a thermometer like the Solo Stove Pi Prime.

• For Neapolitan style pizzas your stone should be between 700 and 750 degrees Fahrenheit (F). That means your oven should be around 900 degrees F.
• For NY Style Pizzas the pizza stone should be around 500 to 550 degrees with the oven around 600 to 700.

Always verify stone temp with a good IR thermometer.

2. How Long Do I Need To Preheat My Pizza Oven?

Wood-fired ovens typically preheat for 30–45 minutes; gas ovens take about 15–20 minutes. A fully preheated pizza stone helps maintain consistent heat during baking and is the basis for restaurant-quality pizza.

When you bake your first pizzas the stone temperature will drop as the thermal energy transfers to the pizza. The longer the oven stays at temperature the more the stone will hold the target temperature with minimal drops.

3. Cold Weather FAQ

When it’s below 45°F, slowly heat your oven to prevent the stone from cracking from thermal shock.

Start your oven at moderate heat for 15 minutes which is around 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Then increase the heat to your target temperature. This will allow the stone to temper as it warms in colder weather.

5. How Do I Prevent My Pizza From Sticking To The Pizza Peel?

The primary reasons that a dough won’t slide off a pizza peel into the oven is that it’s too heavy or too wet. To prevent this:

• Don’t overload your pizza with Pizza Sauce or toppings. Consider 3 or 4 toppings total. You can always add more flavor as a finishing drizzle like Hot Honey or Maldon finishing salt.
• Spread generous amounts of semolina flour on your pizza peel versus cornmeal. Semolina flour is a smaller grain size than the larger cornmeal grit. It won’t burn or add texture to your finished pizza. The flour will act like ball bearings on your pizza making it easy to slide off the peel into your pizza oven.

6. How Do I Launch A Pizza Into A Pizza Oven?

Be sure your pizza oven stone is at the target temperature.

1. Shape your pizza on a floured surface.
2. Dust peel generously with semolina flour.
3. Quickly slide peel under pizza with a swift motion.
4. Slightly shake peel to test movement. Reform pizza if the shape adjusted.
5. Gently launch pizza onto stone with short shakes, quickly removing peel.
6. Wait 10 seconds before rotating with the turning peel.

7. How Often Should I Rotate My Pizza While Cooking?

If you are doing Neapolitan style pizza, like our Margherita Pizza, rotate in quarter turns every 7 to 10 seconds or when you see the crust slightly rise and brown. Continue to turn until the edges are done and the toppings have melted. About 90 seconds total.

For NY Style pizzas at lower heat, you can rotate every 30 seconds until the crust has formed and the base is cooked through.

8. What’s The Best Type Of Dough To Use In A Pizza Oven?

Pizza ovens today are versatile and can handle a variety of styles of dough from Neapolitan, to flat breads, and NY style crusts.

For outdoor pizza ovens burning at higher temperatures we like a Neapolitan style dough with a 66 – 70% hydration level and using bread flour or “OO” higher protein style flours.

You can also experiment with Sourdough Pizza Dough or other variations like Detroit or Sicilian doughs. The same applies with Gluten-Free Pizza Dough.

9. How To Control Temperature In A Pizza Oven?

Gas Ovens: Adjust your temperature control knob up or down. This will allow you to create a higher flame when you need it, and then reduce it when you just need to hold the stone temperature.

Wood Ovens: We recommend building a hot ember base and then adding a fresh log right before you launch the pizza to create the rolling flame. Use a door to close off the opening in between pizzas to maintain temperature.

10. Can I Cook Anything Other Than Pizza In A Pizza Oven?

Pizza ovens are great for bread or baking like in your home oven. If you do plan on baking, we recommend you invest in good cast iron pans for best results.

You can make steaks, and we recommend using a good preheated cast iron griddle pan. Roasted vegetables and potatoes are great in a pizza oven.

We love appetizers like Baked Brie or Garlic Knots as well.

11. How Do I Clean My Pizza Stone?

Do not use chemicals or soap and water to clean the stone. Instead use high heat to burn out moisture and grime.

1. Get your oven hot, like 700 – 900 degrees. Allow any steaming to burn off the stone. As it steams, it releases any moisture from the stone. It also starts to burn off old dough, cheese, or residual toppings. After 30 minutes at high heat, use a scraper or your pizza peel to remove any stubborn residue.
2. After the pizza stone cools, use an old rag and wipe out the soot and ash. Any pizza oven will discolor over time and that color does not impact the functionality of the stone.
3. For your pizza oven, use a simple green style product to remove any exterior grime. You can also use Barkeeper’s Friend for EXTERIOR cleaning.

12. What Tools Do I Need for Making Pizza In A Pizza Oven?

Essential tools include a pizza peel, turning peel, pizza stone or steel, infrared thermometer, and a pizza cutter. You can explore all of our recommended tools in our guide to essential pizza tools.