I've been telling people to preheat their steel for an hour. This week, I stopped guessing. I put a thermocouple on an Original, hung a second probe in the oven air, and logged both every five minutes. Here's what the steel does in a home oven. And one thing surprised me.
The short answer
In my 550°F electric oven test, 45 minutes got the Original (1/4") there. The steel was at 592°F at 45 minutes and 597°F at 60. That last 15 minutes added about 5 degrees.
I still say 60 as the safe rule. A little extra time covers every oven and every steel. For the Original, 45 works. The MC Edition (3/8") is next on the test bench, and I'll add it here.
How I tested it
One run. One oven. A Monogram electric at 550°F on regular bake, no convection. Cold start, steel and oven at room temperature. The steel sat on a rack with a magnetic Type K thermocouple on the center of the top surface, right where the dough lands. A second bare-wire probe hung in open air above it. I read both every five minutes for an hour on an Omega HH12C meter.
Worth knowing: the probe reads the surface of the steel, not the inside.
The data
| Minute | Steel (°F) | Oven air (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 72.5 | 71.7 |
| 5 | 170.4 | 161.2 |
| 10 | 261.3 | 266.6 |
| 15 | 340.1 | 342.2 |
| 20 | 411.1 | 408.4 |
| 25 | 487.3 | 471.2 |
| 30 | 553.2 | 527.0 |
| 35 | 573.7 | 549.4 |
| 40 | 586.5 | 560.6 |
| 45 | 592.2 | 566.2 |
| 50 | 595.1 | 566.1 |
| 55 | 595.8 | 567.3 |
| 60 | 597.1 | 568.8 |
For the first 20 minutes, the steel and air ran neck and neck. They traded the lead twice. Then the steel pulled ahead and never looked back.
Your steel gets hotter than your oven
This is the part to remember. I set the oven to 550. The air topped out around 569. The steel hit 597. That's 47 degrees over the dial.
Here's why. Your oven's thermostat controls the air. The heating element runs far hotter than 550 when it's on, and sends heat straight at the steel. The steel soaks it up and holds onto it. The air can't. So the steel keeps climbing after the air levels off.
That's the whole point of a steel. Your home oven can't make 600 degree air. It can make a 600 degree surface. That's what your dough sits on.
Is the steel ready when the oven beeps?
On my oven, yes. It beeped at about 31 and a half minutes. The steel was already at 566. It crossed 550 at the 30 minute mark, before the oven said it was ready.
Every oven is different, so don't take my beep as yours. But on this one, the beep wasn't lying.
What happens when you open the door
After the full hour, I opened the door and left it open for one minute.
The oven air dropped from 569 to 401. The steel surface dropped from 597 to 513. Most of that steel loss happened in the first 30 seconds. In the next 30 seconds, it lost only about 3 more degrees.
Then I closed the door. Ten seconds later, the steel was back to 550. The heat stored inside pushed right back up to the surface. After five minutes, both the steel and air were close to where they started.
| Time | Steel (°F) | Oven air (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| Door open, start | 597.1 | 568.8 |
| Open 30 sec | 516.7 | 427.8 |
| Open 60 sec | 513.3 | 401.0 |
| Closed 10 sec | 550.0 | 480.0 |
| Closed 30 sec | 558.0 | 503.0 |
| Closed 1 min | 565.5 | 512.8 |
| Closed 2 min | 571.8 | 528.6 |
| Closed 3 min | 577.2 | 542.6 |
| Closed 4 min | 580.8 | 552.7 |
| Closed 5 min | 584.6 | 559.0 |
When you launch, work fast. Open the door, launch, close it. Don't stand there with the door open. The steel will bounce back. But the less heat you let out, the better.
What the broiler does
I like to hit the broiler before I launch. After the door test, I turned it on and read the steel every 30 seconds.
| Broiler time | Steel (°F) | Oven air (°F) |
|---|---|---|
| Start | 584.6 | 559.0 |
| 30 sec | 624.0 | 588.0 |
| 1 min | 642.0 | 597.0 |
| 1 min 30 sec | 660.1 | 606.2 |
| 2 min | 678.3 | 617.0 |
| 2 min 30 sec | 698.7 | 628.0 |
| 3 min | 708.1 | 632.0 |
| 4 min | 706.1 | 625.4 |
The steel passed 700 degrees in under three minutes. Then the broiler started cycling, and the steel leveled off around 708. On this oven, a few minutes of broiler gets you to the max. More time doesn't add anything.
That's how I load extra heat into the steel. Preheat, a few minutes of broiler, launch, then switch back to bake.
What's next
This page is going to keep growing. Same test, same method, more steels and more ovens. The MC Edition (3/8") is next, then the Pro, a gas oven and convection. Then pizza on the steel. That's where it really gets interesting.
Last updated: September 30, 2026
FAQ
How long should I preheat a pizza steel?
In my 550°F electric oven test, 45 minutes for the Original (1/4"). The steel was at 592°F at 45 minutes and 597°F at 60. I still recommend 60 minutes as the safe rule for any steel and any oven.
How hot does a pizza steel get in a 550°F oven?
In my test, 597°F after an hour. That's 47 degrees above the oven setting.
Can a pizza steel get hotter than the oven?
Yes. The oven's thermostat controls the air, but the heating element sends heat straight into the steel. In my test the air topped out around 569°F and the steel reached 597°F.
Is my pizza steel ready when the oven beeps?
On my oven, yes. The steel was at 566°F when it beeped at about 31 minutes. Ovens vary, so give it the full preheat to be sure.
How much heat do you lose opening the oven door?
With the door open for one minute, the steel surface dropped from 597°F to 513°F and the air dropped from 569°F to 401°F. Ten seconds after closing the door, the steel was back to 550°F.
How hot can the broiler get a pizza steel?
In my test, the broiler took the steel past 700°F in under three minutes and it leveled off around 708°F.
About the author
Andris Lagsdin invented the Baking Steel in 2012, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that steel conducts heat better than stone and grabbing a plate off the floor of his family's steel shop. He launched it on Kickstarter that August, Kenji Lopez-Alt tested it for Serious Eats saying it beat his favorite pizza stone, and over 200,000 home cooks have one today.
Every Baking Steel is still made at Stoughton Steel Company in Hanover, Massachusetts, the shop his father started in the 1970s. Before Baking Steel, Andris cooked under Todd English and spent fifteen years in the family steel business. He is the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jessie Oleson Moore.
He teaches free online pizza classes every month and makes pizza almost every day.
In 2026 he launched the 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix, the same recipe he has been teaching for over a decade, now in a bag. Just add water.