The Basics

• Most commercial pizza ovens operate at about 800 degrees Fahrenheit -- hot enough to quickly cook the toppings, melt the cheese and brown the top of the crust. The underside of the pie is crisped and browned by the oven's slate or brick deck, which absorbs the oven's intense heat and radiates it back into the dough. If it's properly constructed and the fire is well maintained, a small-scale backyard oven can do the same things. It does take hours for a pizza oven to heat and then cool, and it's a lot of effort for just a few pizzas with friends. You can get a better return for your effort by making some breads as well.

From Pizza to Pita

• While your oven is at its hottest, there are limits to the breads you can bake. Pizza essentially is a heavily-decorated flatbread, and other flatbreads are your best choice in a very hot oven. Once you've taken out your pizzas, slide in prepared rounds of Indian naan bread, Middle Eastern pitas or slabs of Italian-style focaccia. These and other flat, thin loaves are well suited to fast baking in the intense heat of the oven, which gives them a pleasantly chewy crust and a delicate, soft interior.

Baguettes, Ciabatta and More

• As the oven cools to a temperature that's merely very hot, roughly 450 F to 550 F, you can begin baking other types of artisanal breads. French-style baguettes, soft oblongs of ciabatta dough, and thicker American-style foccaccia all bake well at these temperatures. They puff up aggressively in the heat, creating a light, airy loaf with a chewy crust and the signature large air holes that professional bakers achieve so effortlessly. A conventional home oven replicates that end result poorly, and only after extraordinary efforts on the baker's part.

Boules and Batards

• As the oven continues to cool, it reaches temperatures in the 350 F to 400 F range. This is a suitable temperature for larger loaves, including the round boules and oblong batards of French-style country breads. You can use the oven at this stage to cook traditional sandwich loaves in metal pans, if you wish, though it's a less charismatic style of baking. This is also the best temperature range for baking dinner rolls. Shape the rolls and form them together into a loose circle, then slide the whole sheet of dough into your oven as a flat loaf. Remember that the opening of your oven is small. It's entirely possible for a loaf to expand enough during baking that you won't be able to easily get it back out again. Be wary, until you've gotten familiar with the oven.

Slow-Cooked Dishes

• When your bread-baking is done for the day, consider using its fading heat for a slow-cooked meal. Traditionally villagers brought earthenware crocks of slow-cooking stews or bean dishes to their communal oven to cook while they went about their day's business. You can do the same, bringing a touch of authenticity to your cholent or cassoulet recipe.