Glossary
Infrared thermometer
A point-and-shoot thermometer that instantly reads surface temperature, used to check how hot a pizza stone or oven floor actually is.
An infrared thermometer is a handheld tool that reads the surface temperature of an object from a short distance, without any contact, by aiming a laser pointer and pulling the trigger. For pizza, it is mainly used to check the actual temperature of a stone, steel, or oven floor rather than relying on the oven's own dial.
This matters because the number an oven displays is almost always the air temperature, not the surface temperature of the stone or steel sitting inside it, and the two can differ by a large margin, especially early in preheating or in ovens with uneven hot spots. Wood and gas pizza ovens in particular can vary a lot from one spot on the floor to another.
When using one, check several spots on the cooking surface rather than a single point, since floor temperature is rarely uniform. A common mistake is aiming it at the open air inside the oven instead of the solid surface, which gives a misleading reading that has little to do with how the crust will actually cook.
Where this comes up
- Best Infrared Thermometers for Pizza OvensBuying guide
- Pizza Oven Temperature ManagementArticle