A kitchen oven heats mostly with hot air, and Modernist Pizza explains that air alone can’t deliver enough heat to the bottom of a pizza to cook it properly. A stone or a steel fixes that: it soaks up heat during the preheat and passes it into the base when the dough lands. Neither makes the oven hotter. The difference is how quickly each one gives up its heat.
Why steel browns faster
Modernist Pizza puts a baking steel’s thermal conductivity at more than five times a stone’s. That ratio compares the materials; it doesn’t mean a pizza bakes five times faster. Conductivity isn’t the whole story, because how fast a surface pushes heat into dough also depends on its density and heat capacity, and steel is far denser than stone. The book recommends a steel over a stone for exactly that reason: it’s denser and gives up its heat to the pizza more quickly. Its authors’ verdict is that stone isn’t better in a home oven; its one advantage is that it’s lighter.
Ken Forkish, who tested every recipe in The Elements of Pizza on a steel, reports the same result: more heat reaches the bottom of the crust, and the base shows more of the dark leopard spots you’d see at a good pizzeria.
The oven settings don’t change. The Pizza Planner uses the same windows for a steel and a stone: 500 to 550°F (260 to 288°C) on the dial for round pizzas, after a 45 to 60 minute preheat. Where your steel’s maker gives its own preheat time, follow that first.
Side by side
| Steel | Stone | |
|---|---|---|
| Heat into the base | Faster, per Modernist Pizza, which puts steel’s conductivity at more than five times a stone’s | Slower |
| Weight | Heavy: a 16 × 16-inch plate is about 18 lb at 1/4 inch and 27 lb at 3/8 inch (calculated) | Lighter |
| Sizes | Limited, per Modernist Pizza | Available in larger sizes |
| Price | Usually more | Usually less, per both books |
| Breakage | Won’t crack (Forkish) | Forkish has heard of some brands cracking under pizza-baking heat |
| Care | Carbon steel isn’t stainless, so it needs seasoning and careful cleaning | No seasoning |
| Preheat | The maker’s time first (Baking Steel: 60 minutes for the Original, 60 to 75 for the Pro); otherwise the Planner’s 45 to 60 minutes | The maker’s time if it gives one; otherwise the Planner’s 45 to 60 minutes |
Cast iron is just as good
You don’t need a purpose-made steel. Modernist Pizza found that baking pizza in cast-iron pans and planchas works just as well as a steel and costs less. A large cast-iron griddle does the same job on the rack. Check the size and weight of the particular griddle before you buy, since they vary a lot.
When a stone is the better buy
- Weight matters. A stone is easier to lift and asks less of the rack.
- You need a big surface. Modernist Pizza notes that stones come in larger sizes than most steels sold for home ovens.
- Budget comes first. Both books say a stone usually costs less. Forkish suggests reading user reviews before you buy either, since he has heard of some brands of stone cracking under the heat of pizza baking.
- You already own one. A stone in a kitchen oven still bakes good pizza. The Planner and the oven guide give the same settings and preheat for a stone as for a steel, so there’s no need to replace a stone that works.
If you also bake bread, JayArr Bread covers stone and steel for bread, where the trade-offs are different.
Pan pizzas
A pan pizza doesn’t touch the surface, but the surface still helps. Modernist Pizza recommends baking even pan pizzas on a baking steel for a crisper bottom crust. Forkish sets his pans on the steel or stone, in the middle of the oven, and sometimes slides the pizza out of the pan to finish it directly on the surface if the bottom needs more color, as long as the pan wasn’t oiled, since oil on the hot surface smokes. Either surface works for that.
In an outdoor pizza oven
Outdoor pizza ovens come with their own floor, usually stone, and the maker’s manual sets the heat, the preheat and the loading around it. Bake on that floor and follow the manual, and don’t add a kitchen-oven steel unless the maker says it suits that oven. The oven guide has model-by-model steps, and biscotto stones covers the clay floors some pizza ovens use.
Choosing a steel
Thickness changes how much heat a steel stores, how long it takes to heat and how much it weighs, not how hot it gets. Roughly: 1/4 inch for one or two pizzas at a time, 3/8 inch for several in a session. Modernist Pizza’s conclusion is that a dark 12 mm plate (just under 1/2 inch) gives the best crust but is very heavy, and that a 10 mm plate also works very well and is far more manageable. The baking steel thickness guide has the full weight table, sizing and brands.
Two cautions apply to every steel:
- Handle it cold. Put a steel in and take it out only when the oven and the steel are completely cool. Steel holds heat for a long time after the oven is off. Most people leave it in the oven between uses.
- Check the rack. Follow your oven’s guidance on what its racks can carry. A 16 × 16-inch, 3/8-inch plate weighs about 27 lb, and Baking Steel lists its own Pro at 27 lb.
Setup and preheat
- Put the surface in before you turn the oven on. Modernist Pizza places it in the top third of the oven, and Baking Steel tells owners to use the upper rack. Forkish’s rack sits about 8 inches below the broiler. Check what your oven’s manual allows.
- Preheat at the hottest bake setting. If your steel’s maker gives a preheat time, follow it: Baking Steel says 60 minutes at 500 to 550°F for its 1/4-inch Original and 60 to 75 minutes for its 3/8-inch Pro. Those are instructions for those steels, not a measurement of every oven. Otherwise, the Planner allows 45 to 60 minutes. In Modernist Pizza’s infrared photos, an oven that beeped “ready” after 22 minutes still had clear cold spots, which is why the authors recommend at least 30 minutes and note that a steel can take at least that long to heat fully.
- For long sessions, consider a second steel. Modernist Pizza suggests stacking two steels during the preheat so you can bake pizza after pizza without the steel running cold. Two plates add up quickly, so check the rack first.
An infrared thermometer is handy, but bare or shiny metal reads low on most of them. Use readings to compare one session with the next, never to chase the number on the dial.
Sources
- Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya, Modernist Pizza (2021), volume 1, printed pages 389–393: steel against stone (conductivity, density, weight, sizes, price and care), cast iron, two stacked steels, preheating and the infrared photos, pan pizzas on a steel, and the 12 mm and 10 mm conclusion.
- Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza (2016): chapter 4 (“Pizza Steel or Pizza Stone”) and chapter 5 (“Step 9: Bake the Pizza”, rack position and pan pizzas).
- Baking Steel: Original and Pro product pages (sizes, weights and preheat times). Checked October 14, 2026.