How to Turn Your Kitchen Oven into a Pizza Powerhouse
Now that autumn has officially rolled in, those warm summer nights spent cooking pizza in the garden are behind us. As the evenings grow colder and darker, only the (fool) hardiest cooks are brave enough to face the chill, fire up the oven and stand outside in the dark.
It’s no wonder that this time of year makes a takeaway so tempting - but hold that thought! You don’t need to rely on delivery to enjoy incredible pizza. With the right know-how, you can bake incredible pizza at home, right there in your kitchen oven.
A QUICK SCIENCE LESSON
Here’s the secret to great pizza: it cooks from three directions: top, bottom and sides. Two types of heat are at work here: RADIATION and CONDUCTION.
Radiation is heat that travels through waves (like the sun on your skin). Conduction is direct contact heat - think of hot sand under your feet. In pizza terms, the toppings and crust edges are cooked by radiant heat from your oven’s heating elements, while the base cooks by conduction; through whatever surface your pizza sits on. Both are essential and getting them to work together is what separates an average pizza from a great one.
Pizza is an odd food, because it’s simultaneously being cooked AND baked. The base (a flatbread) must be baked at the same rate as the toppings are cooked, and one thing is vital to striking that balance: conduction.
WHY CONDUCTION MATTERS
Conduction is all about thermal mass: how much heat a material can store and transfer. A heavier, denser surface holds more heat, delivering consistent energy to the bottom of your pizza. That’s why pizza stones, steels and bricks weigh so damn much: they’re designed to deliver the steady, powerful heat your dough needs to rise and crisp up perfectly.
SURFACE IS KEY
Outdoor pizza ovens can reach scorching temperatures of over 500°C, which most home ovens can’t come close to. But don’t let that put you off; you can still achieve amazing results indoors with a few simple tricks and the right baking surface.
PIZZA STONES are a great place to start. Their dense, heat-retaining surface delivers strong, even heat to the bottom of your pizza so the crust bakes beautifully without overcooking the toppings.
BAKING STEELS are a level up. These slabs of raw steel have a similar thermal mass to pizza stones but have another trick up their sleeves: high thermal conductivity. Metal is far more conductive than ceramic, which means that steels not only hold heat well, but also transfer it to the pizza more rapidly. And faster heat transfer means faster cooking.
FIREBRICKS are a great low-cost alternative. They’re thick, affordable, and store loads of heat: perfect for a powerful bake. The only downside? They’re bulky and need to be arranged each time you cook.
THE ULTIMATE SETUP: combine surfaces. A steel over a stone, or firebricks beneath a steel. The extra thermal mass gives you more stable heat and a pro-level bake every time.
PREHEAT. PREHEAT. PREHEAT.
Whatever surface you choose, one golden rule applies: preheat thoroughly. Give your stone, steel or bricks at least an hour in the oven at the highest setting to reach peak performance.
LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION.
Simply put, placement matters. Every oven behaves a little differently, but a good rule of thumb is to position your pizza surface 6” – 8” inches from the top of the oven. This ensures the top and sides of your pizza receive enough radiant heat while keeping the base close to your heat source.
Also, it allows you to make use of the oven grill, which can create additional heat both before and during the bake. It’s a good idea to flick it on for about 10 minutes before you begin the bake to get your stone, steel and bricks as hot as possible. And when the pizza goes in, flip the grill on and off depending on how the top is going in relation to the bottom. REMEMBER, equalising the cooking time of the base, crust and toppings is the difference between good and great pizza. So, if the top of your pizza isn’t keeping pace with the bottom, turn on the grill for that extra boost.
Admittedly, using the grill to superheat your baking surfaces is an “advanced” technique, but with practice anyone can master it. You might end up with an overly-scorched pizza or two to begin with, but it’s well worth it to maximise the heat output of your oven.
And finally, you might be wondering how to best keep track of your cook. Well, that part’s simple. Get as close as possible to the action! Grab a cushion and sit on the floor in front of your oven. You won’t be there for long and trust us; it’ll be worth it.
GO ON, GET STUCK IN!
Whether you’re using our hand-stretched sourdough bases or authentic dough balls, we’ve already done the tricky part for you. All you need to do is follow the steps above to convert your kitchen oven into a pizza powerhouse. Preheat your stone, steel or firebricks, prepare your favourite toppings and get ready to create incredible pizza that tastes better than any takeaway and will have you looking like a true pizza pro, all from the comfort of your kitchen (floor?)
Buy award-winning Homemade Pizza Club dough balls and hand-stretched bases here.
