Wood-Fired Oven

• Wood-fired pizza ovens are usually made of brick with a stone floor. This is one of the oldest methods of making pizza and also the one that takes the most skill to master. Build a fire in the base of the oven and allow it to heat the interior walls until they are white hot. Move the coals to the back of the oven to make room for the pizzas. Slide the pies onto the stone surface of the oven floor and turn them every minute or two to create an evenly browned crust. Pizzas in this oven need constant attention, but they have a crispy crust with a smoky flavor that's prized in the pizza world.
  
  

Deck Oven

• Deck ovens are usually heated with gas, and consist of a metal box with a stone floor. Heat the oven by turning on the burner and waiting about 15 minutes until the interior has achieved the desired temperature. Make your pizza on top of a pizza screen, a pizza cooking pan made of screening material in a metal frame. Slide the pizza into the oven on top of the screen and turn it every two minutes or so to make sure it browns evenly. The deck oven creates a fluffy crust with a crispy bottom, but it takes quite a bit of skill to run a set of deck ovens on a busy night. Many restaurants have multiple decks, and cooks must keep up to 32 pizzas' relative positions and doneness memorized at the same time.
  
  

Conveyor Oven

• The newer conveyor oven can be heated with gas or electricity and has an electric chain-driven conveyor belt running through the middle. Make your pizzas in a pan or on a screen and place them at one end of the heated oven. The conveyor belt carries the pizza through the oven, allowing it to bake while being moved to the other side. When the pizza comes out the other end of the oven, it's done and ready to be cut. Conveyor belt ovens are very useful for high volume production and workers with little training, as there is no need to manipulate the pizza once it's in the oven. This oven produces a softer crust than other ovens because of the lack of a stone floor, and the flavor is blander and more doughy than with other methods.
  
  

Home Oven

• Home cooks can successfully recreate a pizza restaurant flavor in their own kitchen by using a pizza stone in the bottom of their regular oven. Place the stone on the bottom rack of the oven, making sure there is a gap between the stone edges and the oven walls for heat to circulate. Heat the oven to its highest setting. Make a raw pizza on the back of a pan and slide it off onto the surface of the stone. Use a large spatula to rotate the pizza for the most even bake. This pizza will be crispy with a quick baking time and slightly smoky flavor.