The Importance of Cooking Pizza in an Extremely Hot Oven

In addition to serving as director of content and image for WBNS Radio in Columbus, Ohio, Mike Ricordati also hosts a daily WBNS talk show that covers Ohio State sports. When he isn’t working, Mike Ricordati enjoys cooking pizza.

To reach the optimum cooking temperature for pizza, many cooks use a wood-burning pizza oven. Those that don’t must heat a conventional oven up to around 550 degrees in order to produce a pizza like a professional pizza maker. They may want to cook on a pizza stone or an oven rack lined with quarry tiles for optimum heat distribution.

Pizza must bake at exceptionally high temperatures to produce the final results that diners have come to expect. In particular, an extremely hot oven creates a crust that is crispy in texture without drying out or becoming brittle. High temperatures also ensure that the pizza contains no cold spots and that the cheese melts evenly in all areas.