What's the Best Way to Cook Pizza at Home?
I get this question more than almost any other. Friends, family, strangers at the farmers market, everyone wants to know how to make pizza at home that actually tastes good. Not just edible. Good. The kind where you bite into it and think,
"Wait. I made this?"
Here's the honest answer: it comes down to two things. The surface you bake on, and the dough you start with. Get those two right, and everything else is secondary.
The Surface Matters More Than You Think
Most home ovens max out around 500–550°F. That's plenty hot, but only if you're using the right baking surface. The surface is what transfers that heat into the dough fast enough to create a crispy, blistered crust before the top burns.
There are a few options people use at home:
A regular baking sheet. It works, and here's a small tip, flip it upside down. Then you can slide the pizza onto the back of the tray with no frame getting in the way. That said, you still won't get much crunch. Thin metal doesn't hold enough heat to crisp the bottom before the top is done.
A pizza stone. Better than a sheet pan. Stones retain heat and give you a crispier crust. But stone is a slow heat conductor — it transfers heat to the dough gradually, not quickly. By the time your bottom is crispy, your top is often overdone. Plus, stones are porous, they crack, and they take forever to heat back up between pizzas.
A baking steel. This is what I'd recommend. Steel conducts heat about 18x better than stone. Think of it like this: if you touch a metal spoon and a wooden spoon that are both sitting in a hot oven, the metal spoon feels way hotter — even though they're the same temperature. That's because metal transfers heat faster. Same thing happens with pizza. Steel dumps heat into the dough fast enough to crisp the bottom in 5-6 minutes, before the top burns. Stone can't do that. I started Baking Steel because I was frustrated with every other option out there, and nothing has changed that.
An outdoor pizza oven. These have gotten popular lately, portable ovens that run on propane or wood pellets and can hit 800–900°F. They make excellent pizza. But they're also $400–$1000's, they only cook pizza, and you have to set them up outside every time. For most home cooks, that's more commitment than necessary. A Baking Steel gives you comparable results in the oven you already have.
Want the full comparison? Read: Pizza Steel vs. Stone — Which Is Actually Better?
The Dough Is Everything
A great baking surface can only do so much if your dough isn't there. The biggest mistake most people make is rushing it. Store-bought dough, same-day dough, dough that hasn't had time to develop, you can taste the difference immediately.
The single best thing you can do is give your dough time to ferment. Cold fermentation — mixing the dough, then letting it sit in the fridge for 24 to 72 hours, lets the gluten strengthen naturally and develops a deeper, more complex flavor. You don't need to knead it for long. You don't need a stand mixer. Just flour, water, yeast, and salt, and patience.
If you have the time, go with 72 hours. That's the sweet spot, long enough for real flavor development, short enough to fit into a normal week. Mix it Monday, bake Thursday.
Need it faster? 24 hours still works. It won't be quite as complex, but it's close, and it's ready by tomorrow night.
Get the recipes: 72-Hour Pizza Dough | 24-Hour Pizza Dough
How to Actually Bake It
Once you have your dough and your steel, the process is simple:
Preheat early. Put your steel in the oven and crank it to 500–550°F. Let it preheat for at least 45 minutes. The steel needs time to absorb and store heat, this is where the magic happens.
Stretch, don't roll. Use your hands. Roll out dough with a rolling pin and you'll push out all the air bubbles that fermentation created. Hand-stretching keeps the dough light and airy. Unless you want thin crust, then the pin is your friend.
Keep toppings light. Less is more. A light layer of sauce, a handful of cheese, maybe one or two toppings. Overloading the pizza makes the center soggy and the crust can't do its job.
Use a peel or parchment. Getting the pizza onto a hot steel without a peel is tricky. A pizza peel dusted with semolina works best. Parchment paper is a solid backup, just pull it out after the first minute or two. And remember with parchment, do not use the broiler.
Bake for 5–8 minutes. Watch it, not the clock. You're looking for a golden, blistered crust and bubbling cheese. On a preheated Baking Steel, it happens fast. Want it even faster? This broiler method bakes pizza in 2 minutes.
The Bottom Line
You don't need a pizza oven. You don't need expensive equipment or years of practice. You need a good baking surface, dough that's had time to ferment, and about 10 minutes of hands-on work. That's it.
Do those things right, and you'll stop ordering pizza. I've been making this for over a decade. Your home oven can do this.
About the Author
Andris Lagsdin is the founder of Baking Steel. A former restaurant cook turned steel nerd, he invented the Baking Steel in 2011 after realizing home ovens needed better heat conductivity to make restaurant-quality pizza and bread. What started as a backyard experiment with a welder became a company that's helped thousands of home bakers stop compromising on crust.
Andris teaches simple, repeatable techniques focused on heat, timing, and confidence in the home kitchen. He believes the best tools get out of your way and let you cook. When he's not testing new recipes or talking about thermal mass, he's making pizza with his family in Massachusetts.
