How to bake homemade Pizza

Sharing is caring!

Bake pizza in the oven

The pizza is baked in the preheated oven at very hot temperature. Traditionally it is baked on stone in a wood-fired oven at about 750 to 1000 (yes, one thousand! 😉 ) degrees Fahrenheit (400 to 500 degrees Celsius). At home, only a normal oven will be available for baking. In a standard oven temperatures between 400 and rarely 600 degrees (200 to 300 degrees Celsius) are reached. The homemade pizza needs a little longer baking time than in the Italian wood-fired stove until the crust it is nice and crispy. There are also special pizza ovens with which you can reach higher temperatures at home. The use of a baking stone or steel also significantly improves the baking result in a standard oven. In this article you will learn how to prepare the best homemade pizzas.

Broil or bake?

The better result is usually achieved with bake or a combination of broil and bake. However, this varies from oven to oven. So you should make a comparison with broil and bake and the combination of both, then decide with which variant the better baking result is achieved. Some ovens have a special pizza level, which is a combination of broil and bake. The special level is to be preferred in this case.

Temperature and baking time

How long to bake pizza? The baking time depends on your oven and the baking temperature. So what temperature should be used for baking? In short: The highest temperature of the oven is always the best temperature. 😉

Broil

Preheat the oven to the highest temperature available. When the temperature is reached still wait a bit longer, so the oven gets a nice pre-heat. The higher the temperature, the better the result. Place the homemade pizza on the top rack and broil it. It needs about 8 to 15 minutes of baking time until the crust is nicely crispy. The baking time depends on the topping and your ovens highest available temperature.

Bake

The oven should also be preheated until the desired baking temperature is reached. As the heat comes from below, the pizzas are baked on the bottom rack of the oven. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes until it is ready to eat and gets a crunchy crust.

Bake and Broil

You can also use a combination of convection bake and broil. For this, place the pizza on the middle or top rack. First bake for a few minutes and then switch to broil until the crust is crispy. The oven should also be well preheated.

Pizza stone or steel

Bake on the pizza stone / baking steel

When using a pizza stone or steel, very good and fast baking results can also be achieved in your oven at home. The stone is simply pre-heated in the oven and stores the heat absorbed and delivers it directly to the dough. As a result, the crust is very crispy, the dough is fluffy and the taste is significantly improved. In addition, the baking time is shortened to only 4 to 6 minutes. The stone usually consists of the material cordierite or fireclay. By the way, the thicker the stone or baking steel is, the longer it can store the temperature, but it also takes longer to heat up. The stone and the steel can be purchased in the Net or in specialized shops at relatively low prices. The purchase is worthwhile also for occasional baking.

What is the perfect way to bake pizza?

After many years of experience, we have perfected the baking of pizza. If baked in the oven as described below, it will almost match the taste of a real wood-fired pizza. This requires an oven with at least 500 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (250 to 300 degrees Celsius) and a baking stone or steel. It also depends on which rack is used to bake. So which rack should be used?

Which oven rack should i use?

The baking stone or steel is placed very high in the oven. You should only just be able to push the pizza onto the stone. We use the second highest rack in the oven which is located about 3 inch below the furnace roof. The right temperature is always the highest available temperature of the oven.

Preheating time and baking

The oven is now preheated to the highest available temperature in bake mode. In our case to 600 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius). The stone takes about 45 minutes to reach the right temperature. Now switch to the broil function of the oven. With this method the dough remains juicy and the higher temperature from the stone or steel at the bottom is compensated. After another 10 to 15 minutes, slide the pizza onto the stone and bake for about 4 to 5 minutes. The dough should rise well and form bubbles. The crust should be really crunchy and the inside should be fluffy and so juicy. That’s it! With the right method it’s so easy to bake an authentic Italian pizza at home. You do not necessarily need expensive hardware or strange tips from the Internet. Enjoy the meal and impress your friends with the best homemade pizzas!

The secret formula

The formula for baking perfect pizzas at home is:

baking stone or steel + highest available temperature + long preheat time + correct baking height + combination of broil and bake