Yes — a kamado bakes excellent pizza, and the dome is the reason. Pizza cooks in the 250–400 °C band, and because “the heat circulates and refracts inside the firebox”, the top of the pie browns from above at the same time as the base crisps on a preheated ceramic pizza stone. What separates a leopard-spotted crust from a pale, floppy one is not the cooker but three variables you control: dough hydration, stone temperature, and how long you preheat before the first pizza goes on.
What temperature does a kamado need for pizza?
Pizza is a high-heat bake. The working temperatures are 250–400 °C at the stone: Neapolitan-style pies want the top of that band, thin crusts sit in the middle, and New York style or pan pizzas bake lower and longer. Set that heat through the vents rather than through the gauge — open the bottom vent wide, take the top daisy wheel off or spin it fully open, and let the ceramic soak up heat for 30 to 45 minutes before the first pizza goes in.
One clarification worth passing on to customers: the 50–800 °C scale printed on our dome thermometers is the instrument’s measuring range, not a cooking instruction. Nobody bakes at 800 °C. The gauge is built wide so the same thermometer reads a cold smoker and a raging searing fire, and pizza simply happens to sit in the middle of that range.
On a 22-inch kamado the 18.8-inch (47.8 cm) grid takes a 30 cm pizza stone with room to spare, and the 91 cm working height means you are sliding a peel in and out at a comfortable level rather than kneeling.
How do you place and preheat a pizza stone in a kamado?
Three rules cover almost everything.
Warm the stone with the cooker, never after it. A cold stone dropped into a hot kamado can crack from thermal shock. Put the ceramic pizza stone on the grid before you light the fire and let it heat through with the ceramic body of the grill. Dry it first; a damp stone steams and sticks.
Keep it on the main grid for balanced heat. Sitting directly on the grid, the stone gets conductive heat from below and radiant heat from the dome above — that is the combination that cooks the base and the toppings at the same time. If you want more bottom heat for a crisp, thin base, the versatile elevator lets you raise the cooking grid closer to the fire, but for most pizzas the standard position is the safer one.
Preheat longer than feels necessary. Thirty to forty-five minutes of closed-lid heating is normal, and longer is fine. A stone that is only half warm will give you a cooked top and a doughy centre, which is the single most common pizza complaint in a ceramic grill. Leave the lid closed during that time, because every opening costs heat you then have to rebuild.
What dough works best in a kamado?
The dough that behaves in a hot kamado is fairly dry, well rested and stretched by hand.
- Flour: a strong bread flour or Italian tipo 00. Weak, low-protein flour tears when you stretch it and gives a biscuit texture.
- Hydration: about 58–65% water by flour weight. Wetter doughs are harder to launch from a peel; drier doughs are easier to handle but need a little more time in the oven.
- Salt and yeast: roughly 2% salt and a small amount of yeast, or a mature sourdough starter. Salt is not optional; it firms the gluten and seasons the crumb.
- Fermentation: at least a few hours at room temperature, or better a night in the fridge followed by an hour or two on the counter. Cold dough dropped onto a hot stone pulls the heat down under the pizza and gives a pale base.
- Shaping: stretch with your fingertips and leave a rim. A rolling pin crushes the gas out of the dough, and the rim is the part that puffs into the blistered cornicione everyone photographs.
Keep toppings modest. Drain wet mozzarella, go light on sauce, and put heavy vegetables on a quick cook in a pan first. A heavily loaded pizza is a steaming pizza.
How long does each pizza style take in a kamado?
What this means for your retail customers
Three points a distributor or retail buyer can act on straight away.
1. Sell the stone and the size together. Our kamado range covers a 15″, 16″, 18″, 21″, 22″, 23″, 26″ and 27″ size band. A household baking one or two pizzas needs a stone that fits with room to rotate it — on the 22-inch AU-22 the 18.8-inch (47.8 cm) grid takes a 30 cm stone comfortably, with a 56 cm shell, a 91 cm working height and a 76.5 kg net / 88 kg gross ceramic body. Buyers who entertain, run a holiday rental or cook for a crowd should be steered to 23″, 26″ or 27″.
2. Bundle a pizza kit rather than loose accessories. The five that sell well together are the ceramic pizza stone (even base heat), the long pizza cutter (cut on the board, not in the cooker), the versatile elevator (raises the grid when you want more bottom heat), the BBQ grill brush (a clean grid for the next cook) and the rain cover (a kamado left outdoors keeps its temperature). A kit converts a casual buyer into someone who bakes pizza twice a week, and repeat bakes drive accessory reorders.
3. Give staff a demo script, not a spec sheet. Two sentences sell more than a paragraph: preheat the stone for 30–45 minutes, then bake in the 250–400 °C band and rotate the pizza every 30 seconds. Add that the 22-inch model carries a reported complaint rate below 1%, and that the same cooker bakes bread, roasts meat and sears steak — “It can be used to grill, sear, bake and smoke.” That range of uses is what justifies shelf space.
Frequently asked questions
Can a kamado really bake good pizza? Yes. The ceramic dome stores heat and radiates it down onto the toppings while the stone crisps the base, which is exactly the balance a pizza needs.
What is the best cooking temperature for pizza in a kamado? 250–400 °C at the stone, depending on style: Neapolitan-style at the top of the band, thin crust in the middle, New York and pan pizzas lower and longer.
Does the 50–800 °C thermometer mean the kamado cooks at 800 °C? No. That is the measuring range of the instrument, not a cooking temperature. Pizza bakes in the 250–400 °C band.
Do I need a pizza stone, or can I bake straight on the grid? Use the ceramic pizza stone. Without it the grid marks the dough, the base cooks unevenly and the centre stays raw.
Should the lid stay closed while the pizza bakes? Yes. Dome heat browns the top of the pizza and melts the cheese; an open lid gives you a cooked base and cold toppings.
Can I bake bread and then pizza in the same session? Yes. Bake bread first at 160–200 °C, then open the vents wide and let the cooker climb to pizza temperatures. The stored ceramic heat makes that climb quick.
Related reading
Auplex Export Team — Fujian Auplex Kamado Grill Co., Ltd. We manufacture ceramic kamado grills and accessories in Minhou, Fuzhou, China, and supply importers, distributors and retail chains worldwide. Contact us for wholesale, OEM or private-label enquiries
Post time: Sep-25-2026