When you walk into an authentic Italian pizzeria, you can feel the heat from the wood fire oven from across the room. This inferno blisters and chars pizzas in just a few minutes, creating a crispy, leopard-spotted crust, gooey cheese, and a satisfying bite.

But is high heat the right choice for every type of pizza? How hot should a pizza oven be, really?

For certain recipes, hotter is better, but, at other times, a more moderate, controlled temperature results in a better cook. Put your apron on and grab your peel: We’re exploring optimal heat levels for different kinds of pizza, discussing how to check your oven’s temperature, and offering key preheating and cooking tips to perfect your next pie.

Ideal Temperature Ranges by Pizza Style

From New York to Detroit to Roma and beyond, there’s no singular style of pizza. Similarly, there’s no one ideal heat for cooking pizza. To cook your pie at the right temperature, you must consider:

• Your cooking setup

• The toppings you choose

• The dough thickness and hydration

• Your oven’s level of precision

• Your personal preferences

The style of pizza you want to cook, however, is the leading factor to consider when setting your pizza oven’s temperature. 

Commercial pizza ovens can heat up to over 900°F. At this temperature, you can fire a pie from raw to charred in less than two minutes. While certain styles of pizza can benefit from such powerful heat, other kinds require a lower blaze and longer cooking time. Let’s explore a few of the most common and craveable kinds of pizza and the ideal temperature ranges for cooking each.

Neapolitan Pizza

Neapolitan pizza is a cornerstone of Italian culinary culture. So much so that the Italian government recognizes Neapolitan pizza chefs—known as Pizzaiuolos—as an integral part of their cultural heritage. While Naples may be the homeland of the Neapolitan style, the secrets of the Pizzaiuolos are available for any home chef to put to the test.

Neapolitan is famous for its unique style of crust, which is made from a relatively wet dough featuring up to 65% hydration. This extra water leads to a crust that’s light, flakey, airy, and moist. Then, to achieve its signature flavor, Neapolitan requires just a few high-quality ingredients, like:

• Ripe tomatoes

• Fresh mozzarella

• Fragrant basil

• Extra virgin olive oil

Neapolitan pizza is topped lightly—otherwise, the excess moisture from the ingredients and dough could create a wet, floppy crust. It’s then fired at higher temperatures in comparison to other kinds of pizza. Generally, an entire pie is cooked at around 800°F for a mere 90 seconds before being pulled out and sliced up.

New York-Style Pizza

New York-style pizza is famous for its thin crust, crispy bite, and melty cheese. NY-style is usually sold by the slice in the Big Apple. Its firm, crunchy crust is perfect for folding in half and eating on the go.

While the style may have originated in NYC, you can make New York-style pizza anywhere in the world using:

• A 60–63% hydration dough recipe

• Proper New York-style ingredients, such as shredded mozzarella and spicy pepperoni

• The right cooking technique

New York-style dough’s medium hydration level helps achieve its signature thin yet structurally sound crust. While many NYC pizzerias will claim their recipe is the “authentic style” or “best in town”, NY-style dough is relatively forgiving and can handle a range of different temperatures.

Chefs will fire New York-style anywhere from 480 to 550°F. This allows for a longer cook than other kinds, like Neapolitan, while still offering adequate heat to rise, bake, and char the bottom of the crust. The key is to pick a temperature and time that crisps up all the ingredients—from the cheese to the meat to the dough—at the same time.

Frozen or Store-Bought Pizza

Frozen and store-bought pizzas allow for quick and convenient preparation with little to no cleanup afterward. With so many brands and styles on the market, pre-assembled pizzas vary widely across:

• Quality

• Toppings

• Cook times

Generally, most frozen and premade pizzas come with cooking instructions. For optimal results, follow the process outlined on the box to bake your pizza to the right temperature. 

If your premade pizza doesn’t include any specific cooking instructions, consider the type of pizza it is before deciding the ideal cooking temperature. Follow the instructions outlined in this guide and look for key signs of doneness—such as bubbling cheese, charring crust, and cupped pepperoni—before sliding it out of the oven.

How to Measure Pizza Oven Temperature

The type of pizza oven you have will change the way you measure the temperature. Commercial and wood-fired pizza ovens are generally much larger than home ovens. Their greater surface area leads to uneven heating, which pizza makers actually use to their advantage to achieve perfect cooks on every pie.

Generally, pizza ovens have at least three distinct temperature zones:

• Close to the firebox – This is the area closest to the fuel source—usually a wood fire—and the hottest part of the oven. Chefs use it to fire quick pies like Neapolitan.

• On the oven floor, closer to the front – This moderate heat zone can be over 200°F cooler than the firebox. It’s essential for longer-cooking varieties like New York-style.

• Near the dome – Radiant heat reflects off the oven’s ceiling, creating another hotspot near its dome. Chefs lift nearly-cooked pies up to this area to finish cooking the toppings and get the cheese bubbly and gooey.

If you’re working with a smaller home oven, you likely won’t have these different temperature zones. Personal ovens offer more evenly dispersed heat. Still, it’s essential to ensure your oven is in the right range for your style of pie. To check your oven’s temperature, use:

• Its display – Quality, reliable pizza ovens like the Current® Model P have an accurate, built-in temperature display you can trust to assess your heat levels.

• An app – Current® also offers a purpose-built companion app for the Model P that lets you monitor and adjust your oven’s temperature directly from your phone.

• An infrared thermometer – If you don’t have a Model P and don’t trust your oven’s temperature readout, an infrared thermometer can give you accurate readings with the click of a button.

Checking your pizza oven’s temperature lets you know when it's ready to bake, but how long do you need to preheat it before sliding in a pie?

Preheating Tips and Timing for the Perfect Temperature

Commercial pizza ovens—especially those that use wood fires—take a long time to reach baking temperature. Traditional wood ovens can take four to six hours of burning to reach their maximum temperature, so light them around noon if you want pizza in time for dinner.

Other styles of pizza ovens don’t take nearly as long to preheat. Standard household ovens—whether they’re gas or electric—take just a fraction of the time to reach their set temperature. Generally, they don’t get nearly as hot as wood-fired ovens, but purpose-built electric pizza ovens like the Current® Model P do.

The Current® Model P reaches an incredible 850°F in just 18 minutes and can bake in as little as two minutes—allowing you to cook pizzeria-quality pies in your own house, anytime you like. It’s faster and hotter than conventional home ovens, making it the perfect companion for the aspiring at-home pizza chef.

Whichever kind of oven you choose, make the most of your preheating time by:

• Heating your pizza stone in the oven to avoid cracks from thermal shock

• Chopping ingredients and preparing your dough 

• Topping your pizzas and loading them onto peels

Pizza is unique in that it's often cooked at extremely high temperatures in comparison to other dishes. Even purpose-built pizza ovens, however, can crank the heat down to accommodate different recipes.

Adjusting Heat for Other Recipes

While pizza ovens are designed for pies, you can use them to bake a variety of other delicious dishes. Homemade bread, for instance, is a common favorite among pizza chefs, as you can use a similar dough recipe to make a lovely loaf.

To make your own bread, prepare your dough, form it into a loaf or slip it into a mold to retain its shape. When it’s time to cook, don’t crank the oven up to max like you would with a pizza. Bread bakes better around 400°F—just look for a good rise and golden-brown bake before pulling it out.

Bake with the Current® Model P for Ultimate Temperature Control

Whether you’re whipping up a crunchy New Yorker or an airy Neapolitan, there's only one at-home pizza oven you can trust for optimal results: The Current® Model P.

The Model P is an electric pizza oven with the power of wood fire. It chars pies at up to 850°F—comparable to industrial ovens in temperature, but a fraction of the size. Whether you bake in your backyard or cook in your kitchen, the Model P smart pizza oven and Current® app help you craft perfect pies every single time.