There’s a reason people line up for the world’s best pizzas. From charred Neapolitan pies to crusty New York-style slices, this universally loved food is something that can be tricky (and sometimes expensive) to perfect at home. If you find yourself in pursuit of the best possible pizza, obsessively trying various doughs and oven temperatures to get the texture just right, then you find yourself in good company. We’ve done tons of research and countless tests trying to nail our recipes and techniques. Along the way, we’ve found some tools that are essential for making pizza at home, including pizza peels and even the humble bench scraper.
When it comes to actually cooking the pizza, many types of pizza ovens can nearly replicate the results of commercial establishments. But we’ve long held the belief that if you want to make awesome sauce pizza at home (without shelling out hundreds for a dedicated pizza oven), the tool you need is a pizza (a.k.a baking) steel. Pizza steels, like pizza stones, are a slab of solid material that you place in your oven to offer a temperature conduit that helps crisp the crust. But while pizza stones are made of a porous stone called cordierite, pizza steels are made of, you guessed it, steel.
While often sold for making pizza, these steels can also be used to cook a myriad of other things, like crusty artisan boules and crispy roasted vegetables. According to Joe Hurly, owner of Falls Culinary Inc., the manufacturer of the Dough-Joe pizza steel, “Steel's benefit is that it transfers heat rapidly, giving good oven spring, and it allows home ovens to cook pizza very close to what you get in a 900° wood-fired oven.”
At a glance, it may not seem like a solid slab of steel can differ much from model to model, but we wanted to be sure. So, we slung pie after pie to determine which pizza steels are worth buying and which will make the most difference in your quest for the perfect crust.
The Winners, at a Glance
This steel did the best at regulating the temperature of the oven, distributing heat fairly evenly across the surface despite oven hotspots. It hit the ideal temperature of over 500°F after just 30 minutes of preheating, producing a killer crust.
This pizza steel did almost as well as our winner during our tests, resulting in a nicely speckled crust. Like the the Original Baking Steel, it’s also made in the U.S.A.
Bigger, thicker, and heavier, this is the steel to pick for pizza pros and aficionados who want the best possible pizzas. It created an airy, crisp crust on our pizzas, rivaling what you could expect even from a dedicated pizza oven.
The Tests
Note: We did both tests with our winning pizza stone from Unicook as a control.
- Steel Temperature Test: We preheated our oven to 500°F and placed the steel inside. We used an infrared thermometer to take the temperature of the steel in three spots (center, bottom right, and top left) after 30 minutes and then after one hour.
- Pizza Test: After the steels preheated, we shaped a ball of store-bought pizza dough and topped it with sauce and cheese. We launched it onto the steel with a peel and cooked each pizza for exactly 12 minutes. After it was done, we took notes of the appearance of the crust on top and bottom, then sliced it and tasted it.
What We Learned
Thicker, Carbon Steel Performed Better
Throughout testing, we noticed that thicker, carbon steel offerings, like the Original Baking Steel, heated up faster than stainless steel ones; they also retained their heat well, even after they were used to bake a pizza. Other steels, like the Ooni, had more noticeable declines in temperature after baking a pizza. Think of it like frying: when you add something to the hot oil, the heat transfers to the item, leaving the oil a bit cooler after you’ve removed the food. The same is true of a pizza steel. We liked carbon steel pizza steels since they bounced back to temp quickly after cooking a pie. (This is especially helpful if you’re slinging multiple pizzas and don’t want to wait a long time between bakes.) Carbon steel does a better job at heating and re-heating because it’s more conductive than stainless steel. “Stainless steel, though it has nice properties, doesn't conduct heat as well as carbon steel,” says Hurly. Carbon steel’s conductivity is at about 45 watts per kelvin per meter, while stainless steel’s is at 15 watts per kelvin per meter.
The only downside to thicker, carbon steel baking steels is that they’re often quite heavy: The Baking Steel Pro, for example, is 11 pounds heavier than The Original Baking Steel, even though it’s only 1/8 -inch thicker.
Finger Holes Are Nice, but Not Necessary
We appreciated the steels that had finger holes, like the Vevor Baking Steel, since they made it easy to pull steels out of the oven. That being said, the steels that performed the best didn’t always have these holes and, really, we preferred steels that performed better. Plus, virtually all pizza steel manufacturers insist that you don’t attempt to handle the steel until the oven has completely cooled to room temperature anyway, and by then the steel is easy enough to just grab by the edge.
A Note on Cleaning
Pretty much all the manufacturers stated that a pizza steel doesn’t need to be cleaned and to just burn and brush off any stuck-on debris. All of the steels we tested did end up with a few spots and stains, especially in places where mozzarella burned on, but this is to be expected, and your steel will patina over time no matter how careful you are.
The Criteria: What to Look for in a Pizza Steel
Our favorite steels are made of carbon steel, which heats up faster and is stronger and more durable than stainless. We preferred steels that are at least 1/4-inch thick; the thicker the steel, the more even the heat tended to be. That said, thicker steels were heavier and a little more difficult to maneuver. If you go for a thinner steel, make sure to get one that’s at least 16 pounds. In our tests, any lighter than that, and results suffered.
The Top Pizza Steels
What we liked: Even though pretty much all of the steels produced far better pizza than we could ever achieve in a regular oven without one, the Original Baking Steel differentiated itself on a few of the finer points. After the pizza came off, the temperature across the steel had the least amount of temperature swings and hotspots, with the center temping at 500°F immediately after baking (indicating consistent, even temperature during baking). The steel also hit its total heat potential (an average of 517°F) after 30 minutes in the oven and stayed there, as opposed to other steels that needed a full hour to do the same.
What we didn’t like: The steel didn’t get quite as hot as some other steels after an hour in the oven. Even so, the pizza we cooked on it still had a crispy, airy crust texture and even got the Dalmatian-like spotting that’s prized on Neapolitan-style pizzas.
Key Specs
- Material: Carbon steel
- Weight: 16 lbs
- Dimensions: 14 x 16 inches
- Thickness: 0.25 inches
- Pre-seasoned: Yes
What we liked: The Dough-Joe, which is made of durable carbon steel, hit the highest temperature (560°F) during preheat of any we tested, perfect for achieving crisp crust and airy oven spring. It also stayed at a high temperature after cooking the pizza. The 15-inch model fit easily in our oven while still providing plenty of room to turn the pie.
What we didn't like: The Dough-Joe took an hour to reach its maximum average temperature of 533°F, though we’d be happy to start cooking pizzas when it reached an average of 527°F after 30 minutes.
Key Specs
- Material: Carbon steel
- Weight: 16 lbs
- Dimensions: 15 x 15 inches
- Thickness: 0.25 inches
- Pre-seasoned: Yes
What we liked: The Baking Steel Pro got just a smidgehotter during the preheating process, reaching an average of 529°F after one hour in the oven. There was huge oven spring when we baked the pizza, creating large fluffy dough bubbles like those you might see in a wood-fired coal pizza oven. The crust had that coveted leopard spotting that is prized by pizzaiolos in Italy and had a flavor and texture that could rival any made in a dedicated pizza oven.
In terms of manufacturing and construction, the pro version doesn’t differ that much from the Original Baking Steel. Both are made of pre-seasoned carbon steel and manufactured in America.
What we didn’t like: It’s pricier, heavier, and bulkier. Make sure to measure your oven before purchasing, since it's quite large.
Key Specs
- Material: Carbon steel
- Weight: 27 lbs
- Dimensions: 16 x 16 inches
- Thickness: 3/8 inches
- Pre-seasoned: Yes
The Competition
- Ooni Pizza Steel 13: The center of the steel was the lowest of any we tested after the pizza came off (even compared to the Unicook pizza stone). We suspect this steel would take some time to come back up to temperature, which is annoying if you’re slinging multiple pizzas. The final pizza came out fine though.
- VEVOR Pizza Steel: This steel was prone to hotspots even after sufficient preheating, which resulted in charred patches on the crust.
- Steelmade Baking Steel: It needed a full hour to reach its maximum temperature potential, and couldn’t get as hot as the pizza stone control.
- NerdChef Baking Steel: This steel absorbed heat the slowest of any that we tested, hitting the lowest overall temperature average even after an hour of baking. We noticed wild hotspots after the pizza came off, which could result in uneven pizzas and poor-quality bakes.
FAQs
What else can you make on a pizza steel besides pizza?
All kinds of baked goods (and more!) can be made on a pizza steel. Crusty boules and other artisan breads form a wonderful, crispy texture, while roasted vegetables and frozen foods, like French fries, develop much better caramelization when baked on a steel. The temperature of the steel can get quite hot, however, so we recommend not using it to cook delicate pastries, like croissants, that would benefit from a more circular heat.
How do you clean a pizza steel?
Most of the pizza steel manufacturers claim that the pizza steel needs no cleaning at all. Instead, a few extra minutes in the oven should be more than enough to bake off any stuck-on food. After cooking pizzas, we only had to brush off a few crumbs and grains of flour. If you find yourself with more of a mess, a quick scrub with hot water and soap, followed by a thorough drying, will suffice.
Is a pizza steel worth it?
In general, we think a pizza steel is a worthy purchase for most home cooks, even those that don’t intend to cook pizza from scratch much. That’s because a pizza steel can function as a heat sink that will stabilize the temperature inside even the most temperamental of ovens.
How thick should a pizza steel be?
All the steels we tested were at least 1/4-inch thick, and we think that is the minimum you should look for to achieve top results. Thicker steels offer more even heating and less hotspots; that said, they’re also usually significantly heavier and, often, more expensive.
Why We’re the Experts
- Taylor Murray has been working in food and food media for over 10 years, including in award-winning restaurants. She has written extensively for Serious Eats.
- Taylor tested seven pizza steels, using them to cook New York-style pizza from scratch. As she did this, she evaluated each steel’s performance, usability, and design.
- She also interviewed Joe Hurly, owner of Falls Culinary Inc., the manufacturer of the Dough-Joe pizza steel.
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