Orders at Gus Franco’s Pizza should be made in advance because the artisan pies are hot — real hot.

Boasting a top-of-the-line, wood-fired pizza oven from Italy, Gus Franco’s sizzles dough with an air temperature reaching 900 degrees, which is more than 100 degrees higher than many commercial pizza ovens.

The light and crispy pizzas that emerge from the blistering heat are the product of handmade dough that ferments for 48 hours, said Patrick Elston, who owns the Lower Burrell shop with his wife, Mandy. They opened in mid-October.

“Just one little dough ball turns into somebody’s happiness on a Friday night,” said Elston, 45, of New Kensington.

But residents looking for pizza happiness, especially on a Friday night, are wise to call starting at 3 p.m. to claim a pie. The pizzas are hot, in another sense of the word. They often sell out every night, Tuesday through Saturday.

The Elstons spend a good deal of time explaining why reservations are recommended at their takeout-only shop.

The reason: Only so many artisan pizzas can be made in one day — eight pies every 20 minutes, to be exact.

Each pizza bakes for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The homemade dough recipe has evolved to allow a crispy exterior while not drying out. The specialty wood-fired oven with a stone bottom cooks the pizzas within inches of the wood fire, without a barrier.

Using special kiln-dried oak supplied by Vaughan’s Tree Service of Tarentum, the pies rise faster on the fireside of the oven, Elston said. He spins the pies in the oven for even baking.

“It requires constant attention,” he said. “You’re dancing with the oven when you are cooking.”

Given the tight baking schedule and a finite amount of dough, the shop turns any leftovers into buns for meatball sandwiches and pepperoni rolls.

The wood-fired oven caramelizes the homemade Italian meatballs, made with a blend of beef and pork.

At the end of the day, just about everything sells out, Elston said.

“We don’t have a lot of waste,” he said.

When the pizza shop makes fresh buns with leftover pizza dough, they alert their patrons on Facebook and Instagram.

The success of the Elstons’ craft pizza is not surprising.

He began selling wood-fired pizzas, with a different oven, from a trailer four years ago. A frequent vendor at festivals and private events, he took that success to another level and looked for a building to buy.

“We wanted to be a neighborhood pizza shop,” he said. “We like meeting the customers and just getting to know them, just like when we were on the road with the trailer.”

He settled in Lower Burrell because the former dentist’s office at the corner of Leechburg Road and Michigan Avenue fit their needs. Plus, the two parking lots make it easy for patrons.

Elston quit his job at Westmoreland County’s parks department last year to pursue his pizza adventure full time.

He always wanted a small place like Andy’s Restaurant in New Kensington, which his grandfather Francis Datres owned until the mid-1990s. A black-and-white photo of Datres in a kitchen apron hangs in the waiting area of Gus Franco’s.

The Elstons named their pizzeria after their two sons. Francis (“Franco”) is 7 and August (“Gus”) is 4.

Opening the Lower Burrell shop was part of a four-year plan the couple devised.

“We had a small taste of success,” Elston said. “People enjoyed what we were creating and we just grew from there.”

He credits his family and staff for making it happen: Elston gave a shoutout to his aunt Nancy Alfera of Arnold; sister Sarah Yurga, who is a new member of the New Kensington-Arnold school board; and neighborhood kids Nick Sofaly and Karly Wass of Lower Burrell.

Gus Franco’s is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The phone line — 724-212-3758 — opens at 3 p.m. for reservations.

People can still stop in for a pizza without calling, Elston said, but they run the risk of waiting a little longer based on the volume of other reservations — or hearing, “Sorry, we’re sold out for the evening.”

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