Discussion
I'm intrigued by these pizza ovens people seem to be buying. Are they really that good? Pizza doesn't exactly take long to cook in a conventional oven so I presume they impart some better flavour to the finished product?
I guess that leads on to, would one want a wood-fired one over a gas or electric one to get the best benefit? Which brands are good?
I guess that leads on to, would one want a wood-fired one over a gas or electric one to get the best benefit? Which brands are good?
Have a look here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
The linked thread is a good but long read.
We've got a Gozney Roccbox which is gas. There is an optional wood burner for it but we've never been bothered to spend more on it. For me:
Gas - minimal faff, connect up, ignite and come back when ready to cook in ~20 minutes or so.
Wood - perhaps the purist option, obviously needs more effort to manage
Pizzas cook in 60 to 90 seconds in ours and, IMHO, are way better than anything done in the oven. Here's a simple one from our last outing at home a couple of weeks back
We've got a Gozney Roccbox which is gas. There is an optional wood burner for it but we've never been bothered to spend more on it. For me:
Gas - minimal faff, connect up, ignite and come back when ready to cook in ~20 minutes or so.
Wood - perhaps the purist option, obviously needs more effort to manage
Pizzas cook in 60 to 90 seconds in ours and, IMHO, are way better than anything done in the oven. Here's a simple one from our last outing at home a couple of weeks back
8bit said:
I'm intrigued by these pizza ovens people seem to be buying. Are they really that good? Pizza doesn't exactly take long to cook in a conventional oven so I presume they impart some better flavour to the finished product?
I guess that leads on to, would one want a wood-fired one over a gas or electric one to get the best benefit? Which brands are good?
They get the pizza stone to a higher temperature (450-500 degs) than most household ovens can, which is the perfect way of cooking a home made Neapolitan pizza, but to get a great tasting pizza you do also need to master the art of making your own dough. The dough and stone temp go hand in hand.I guess that leads on to, would one want a wood-fired one over a gas or electric one to get the best benefit? Which brands are good?
I have an Ooni Karu 12 pizza oven and whilst at first I was heating it by burning wood, I struggled to maintain the required temperature so now I use their gas attachment and a Calor gas bottle and can get the stone of 450 degs and maintain that temp
Had an Ooni (gas) for maybe 3 years or so. Good bit of kit, quality seems good given the temps the thing gets too the paint still looks as good as new etc.
Mine is the single burner one - so smaller you do 10-12 inch pizzas.
I use a combination of home made dough (when time permits) or shop bought dough balls.
Both give good results. Its mostly down to the temp you can get the stone. 400c to 450c ish. Not many home ovens can get close.
The prep takes the time. The actual cooking is over with in 1-2 mins.
Other than the initial set up costs, oven, gas, peels, dough box etc you can knock out pizzas pretty cheap.
Caputo 00 flour, some decent quality tomato pure mixed with garlic and a splash of water then cheese of choice.
Probably sub £3 a pizza and produces similar quality to what would cost c.£15 in a restaurant.
The technique is the main hurdle, its (IMO) not as simple as people make it look and it took me a good 10-20 pizzas before I started to get the hang of it. Now a few years later I can knock out 4-5 pizzas in 20 minutes for family and friends and sip a refreshing beverage at the same time. Back when I started learning it was actually quite stressful !
I use PizzApp for the dough, usually turns out good. Make sure you are using good quality yeast.
I am now into calzones and they need a whole new skill set.
The main skills to focus on are the actual making of the dough, ratios.
Then the stretching of the dough. This IMO is where most of the skill is needed.
Then getting the assembled pizza into the oven without a snafu.
The "cooking" is just turning it 3 times, once every 20-25 seconds or so.
Mine is the single burner one - so smaller you do 10-12 inch pizzas.
I use a combination of home made dough (when time permits) or shop bought dough balls.
Both give good results. Its mostly down to the temp you can get the stone. 400c to 450c ish. Not many home ovens can get close.
The prep takes the time. The actual cooking is over with in 1-2 mins.
Other than the initial set up costs, oven, gas, peels, dough box etc you can knock out pizzas pretty cheap.
Caputo 00 flour, some decent quality tomato pure mixed with garlic and a splash of water then cheese of choice.
Probably sub £3 a pizza and produces similar quality to what would cost c.£15 in a restaurant.
The technique is the main hurdle, its (IMO) not as simple as people make it look and it took me a good 10-20 pizzas before I started to get the hang of it. Now a few years later I can knock out 4-5 pizzas in 20 minutes for family and friends and sip a refreshing beverage at the same time. Back when I started learning it was actually quite stressful !
I use PizzApp for the dough, usually turns out good. Make sure you are using good quality yeast.
I am now into calzones and they need a whole new skill set.
The main skills to focus on are the actual making of the dough, ratios.
Then the stretching of the dough. This IMO is where most of the skill is needed.
Then getting the assembled pizza into the oven without a snafu.
The "cooking" is just turning it 3 times, once every 20-25 seconds or so.
limmy01 said:
Guys which ready built wood fired pizza over would you recommend?Would like to install one on the patio this year. At first it will be open to the elements, but eventually it would have a wooden pergola built around it.
I use the Igneus Classico. https://www.thepizzaovenshop.com/product-category/...No negatives to it. I have a cover on mine, it sits outside all year and is totally fine.
The real info the OP needs to know is as follows
Using one of these ovens generally cooks a pizza in under two minutes, the dough preparation is vastly different from what you would get using a store bought/frozen pizza and greatly affects the quality of the pizza it is generally better in every way assuming you use quality ingredients.
The big difference between a "tabletop" pizza oven and a full on Wood fired Oven is prep time, it can take 2 hours+ to heat up a WFO but the tabletop ovens can be ready to go in 20 minutes.
More than just pizza can be cooked in both - that comes down to how adventurous you want to be with it. For me there is something about getting the WFO going, all the prep, managing the fire and then banging out 25-20 pizzas for guests is a great way to spend a saturday afternoon/evening, but sometimes it would be nice to have a tabletop oven so on a wet wednesday after work we could have some really nice pizza without all the fuss and effort.
Using one of these ovens generally cooks a pizza in under two minutes, the dough preparation is vastly different from what you would get using a store bought/frozen pizza and greatly affects the quality of the pizza it is generally better in every way assuming you use quality ingredients.
The big difference between a "tabletop" pizza oven and a full on Wood fired Oven is prep time, it can take 2 hours+ to heat up a WFO but the tabletop ovens can be ready to go in 20 minutes.
More than just pizza can be cooked in both - that comes down to how adventurous you want to be with it. For me there is something about getting the WFO going, all the prep, managing the fire and then banging out 25-20 pizzas for guests is a great way to spend a saturday afternoon/evening, but sometimes it would be nice to have a tabletop oven so on a wet wednesday after work we could have some really nice pizza without all the fuss and effort.
As the OP (and having forgotten I'd even started this thread), I should probably close it out - I ended up going for this:
It's a combined smoker and pizza oven. The heat is electric but it has a box for wood pellets which are smouldered to generate smoke. You can use it for pizza on a hot stone (supplied) and the smoke imparts a nice wood-fired flavour. I went for this one because I also wanted to get something for doing stuff like ribs, brisket, pastrami, hams etc. I'm sure it's not the best at either but we've done pizzas a few times and meats a couple of times and so far the results have all been delicious. As it is electric-powered it's quick to heat and control. The smoke function is optional too. It can do a lot more besides pizzas and meats too.
It's a combined smoker and pizza oven. The heat is electric but it has a box for wood pellets which are smouldered to generate smoke. You can use it for pizza on a hot stone (supplied) and the smoke imparts a nice wood-fired flavour. I went for this one because I also wanted to get something for doing stuff like ribs, brisket, pastrami, hams etc. I'm sure it's not the best at either but we've done pizzas a few times and meats a couple of times and so far the results have all been delicious. As it is electric-powered it's quick to heat and control. The smoke function is optional too. It can do a lot more besides pizzas and meats too.
8bit said:
As the OP (and having forgotten I'd even started this thread), I should probably close it out - I ended up going for this:
Nice, can this be used indoors (without the smoker function)?Love my gas Ooni but it's an outdoor machine and I miss not being able to make home made pizzas when the weather is cold/wet.
The Gauge said:
8bit said:
As the OP (and having forgotten I'd even started this thread), I should probably close it out - I ended up going for this:
Nice, can this be used indoors (without the smoker function)?Love my gas Ooni but it's an outdoor machine and I miss not being able to make home made pizzas when the weather is cold/wet.
The Gauge said:
21TonyK said:
How good is the grill on your oven? Pan pizza is a credible alternative.
I haven't tried to be honest, I kind of don't want to waste the effort of making the dough etc only for my oven to let me down 
Trick is to find a pan that you can get close enough to the grill, ie. no handle in the way. I ended up bending the handles flat on a couple of old pans.
Makes me think, should do pizza this weekend
21TonyK said:
Just whack the grill on max for 10 minutes and then check to see if its glowing. Theres plenty of online stuff for pan pizza but essentially a medium hot pan, get the base in, top it and then under the grill as close as you can for a minute.
Trick is to find a pan that you can get close enough to the grill, ie. no handle in the way. I ended up bending the handles flat on a couple of old pans.
Makes me think, should do pizza this weekend
Interesting. I had wondered if I could put the pizza stone from my Ninja unit under the conventional grill for a while until it got hot and then chuck the pizza on it.Trick is to find a pan that you can get close enough to the grill, ie. no handle in the way. I ended up bending the handles flat on a couple of old pans.
Makes me think, should do pizza this weekend
You can get indoor pizza ovens, some friends of ours have one on their kitchen counter. I'll ask what they have.
8bit said:
Interesting. I had wondered if I could put the pizza stone from my Ninja unit under the conventional grill for a while until it got hot and then chuck the pizza on it.
You can get indoor pizza ovens, some friends of ours have one on their kitchen counter. I'll ask what they have.
I picked up one of these a couple of years back. Does the job but a bit slow, takes 3-4 minutes per pizza.You can get indoor pizza ovens, some friends of ours have one on their kitchen counter. I'll ask what they have.
A pan under a hot grill is quicker and I can have a couple of pans on the go so 4-5 pizzas is realistic.
I bought a baking steel for bread and if I get this up to 250C and then the grill on max it works but its not as easy as pans for more than one pizza.
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