Why temperature is everything when baking pizza
The difference between a good pizza and a great one almost always comes down to heat.
A regular home oven rarely reaches more than 250°C — which is exactly why homemade pizza often falls short. For a true Neapolitan pizza, with a crispy, slightly charred base and a soft, airy edge, you need much higher temperatures. Professional wood-fired ovens often run between 430°C and 485°C, baking a pizza in under two minutes.
What happens at high temperatures
At high heat, a pizza cooks incredibly fast: the outside of the dough caramelises and browns (the Maillard effect), while the inside stays moist and airy. At lower temperatures, baking takes much longer, drying out the dough before the base properly browns — the result is a chewy, flat pizza instead of an airy base with a crispy edge.
How hot does a Nero pizza oven get?
✓ The Nero gas pizza oven reaches 500°C within 15 minutes — well above professional wood-fired ovens — baking a pizza in just 90 seconds.
✓ The Nero-e electric pizza oven reaches up to 450°C, more than enough for a crispy, quickly baked base, with no gas bottle or outdoor space required.
✓ Both ovens feature a 12mm thick, PFAS-free pizza stone that retains heat for longer — important, because it's not just the air temperature but especially the stone's temperature that determines how quickly and evenly your base cooks.
Sure your stone is hot enough?
Oven temperature doesn't tell the whole story: a stone that hasn't fully heated up bakes more slowly and unevenly, even if the oven itself already shows 500°C. With the Thermo Laser Gun, you measure your pizza stone's exact temperature in a second, so you know exactly when it's ready to bake on.
Get started
Looking for an oven that actually reaches these temperatures? Check out the Nero gas pizza oven or the Nero-e electric pizza oven. And with the right Nero accessories — from pizza stone to thermometer — you get the most out of it every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I bake a good pizza in a regular home oven?
Yes, but due to the lower maximum temperature (usually 220-250°C), baking takes longer and the base ends up less crispy than with a dedicated pizza oven.
Isn't 500°C too hot for the toppings?
No — thanks to the short baking time (around 90 seconds), fresh ingredients like mozzarella and basil stay fresh and flavourful, rather than drying out as they would over a longer bake at a lower temperature.
How long should I preheat?
Allow around 15 minutes for both the oven and the pizza stone to reach temperature — the stone often needs slightly longer than the air alone.
Does the Nero-e perform as well as the gas version?
The Nero-e reaches 450°C rather than 500°C, but still bakes considerably faster and crispier than a standard home oven — and is ideal if you don't have a gas bottle or outdoor space.
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