Pizza ovens

[Music Lover]

We're thinking of buying a pizza oven. We make our own pizza from scratch and are wondering if can get better results over using a regular oven with a pizza stone.

Does anyone here have experience with one? What are the pros and cons? If brand matters we're considering an Ooni.

A couple things we've already thought about:
- some pizza ovens are portable, with the right model we can take it to the cabin
- waiting for a pizza stone to heat up in the oven adds a lot of heat to the house in summer

 

[braumeister]

For me, a pizza stone is the indispensable requirement. I make pizza on one now and then in the BGE and I'm very happy with the system.

But I also know a couple of guys who use an Ooni pizza oven and they always rave about them, so I think it would probably be a good choice.

 

[Souschef]

We just use a pizza stone and a peel, and are happy with the results. In this era of downsizing, a single use appliance seems to be in the opposite direction.
YMMV

 

[Luvtoride]

Timely that you brought this up now. We were just looking at the Ooni Pizza Oven at a Williams Sonoma store two weeks ago. It was on sale, but still pretty pricey. Although we were intrigued with the specs and reviews to possibly buy this as a gift for our daughter and SIL, the added cost of a portable rolling table to place it on and overall usefulness year round in NY/NJ area made us decide not to purchase. I guess its a matter of how much use you will get from it. Good luck.

 

[Chuckanut]

My pizza stone has definitely improved the crust of my pizza. Also, get the rack with the stone on it as high as possible in your oven. Heat rules as long as you don't overcook the pizza.

Even though I can't get that wonderful crispy crust of a quality pizzeria, I come close enough. And my sauce and toppings beat most of them, IMHO. I also use less salt.

For me, I don't need another kitchen device that does just one thing, especially when I can get a very good result from an existing tool. Besides, that makes the rare times I get a pizza from a good pizzeria a treat. When I go out to eat one of my main reasons is to enjoy a food that I can't or won't make at home.

 

[NgineER]

Experienced the Ooni at a neighbor's house. Extremely fast pizza and it worked well in general. I didn't see the workings of making the dough, but it was a fun experience to make pizza and have it done fast.

 

[Bamaman]

I have a gas grill, electric smoker and gravity charcoal smoker on my screen porch. The pizza ovens cook very hot, and I would prefer it to be only used outside.

There are just so many cooking tools a person really needs.

And it's just 100 yards to the nearest Dominos. Their optional crust pizza is actually excellent--and cheaper than I could make a pizza from scratch.

 

[Music Lover]

I have a gas grill, electric smoker and gravity charcoal smoker on my screen porch. The pizza ovens cook very hot, and I would prefer it to be only used outside.

There are just so many cooking tools a person really needs.

We went to look at smokers and the store sold pizza ovens too so we checked out both. After we got home the wife said she'd probably be happier with a pizza oven than a smoker. We currently just have a gas grill so a pizza oven would add a 2nd cooking option.

 

[Music Lover]

My pizza stone has definitely improved the crust of my pizza. Also, get the rack with the stone on it as high as possible in your oven. Heat rules as long as you don't overcook the pizza.

Even though I can't get that wonderful crispy crust of a quality pizzeria, I come close enough. And my sauce and toppings beat most of them, IMHO. I also use less salt.

IMO the crust is the most important part. I make good dough and have been tweaking the sauce recipe. We've been using regular hard mozzarella cheese but want to try fresh mozza.

 

[dak2018]

Just got a gas fired Ooni Koda 12 and tried it out yesterday - there is a learning curve, but the first results were quite good. Simple setup, but you do need the right sized peels to work in the confined space. You absolutely need at least two peels - a wood one for launching the round and a turning peel to allow you to rotate the pizza without removing it from the oven.

If you are using a home oven, I recommend a pizza steel over a pizza stone. Makes all the difference in the world!

 

[Midpack]

A true wood fired, Neapolitan pizza is baked at 750-900ºF. No home oven that I've seen will come anywhere close those temperatures, maybe 500-550ºF at best. A pizza stone certainly helps but it doesn't make the oven any hotter. It's not just a matter of baking longer at home to accommodate the much lower temps, you can't make the best possible Neapolitan pizza unless you're up on the 750-950ºF range. Cooking at 500ºF, with a stone or a peel, will force you to leave it in longer - so the crust will dry out much more than at 900ºF by the time it's done and it won't rise as much during baking. The crust simply can't be as good at 500ºF...

Some home oven pizza cooks battle their topics being overdone before the crust is done. When I've made pizzas on the grill (closed lid), I bake the crust for a few minutes on one side, then flip and add toppings so the crust and toppings are done at roughly the same time.

From what I read, the Ooni units are capable of up to 950ºF, so you could make a superior Neapolitan pizza at home with one. Needless to say they go from raw to done (60-90 seconds) to ruined pretty fast, so you have to watch them closely and pull at exactly the right time. If you wait until it's obviously done, it's probably late as the pizza will continue to bake some after you pull it. You will probably have to spin the pizza once or twice while it's baking to avoid uneven doneness. And you'll get a better result if you knock down blowouts as they occur, or they will burn.

As much as we love pizza, and have it once a week on average, it's just easier to buy them at wood fired Neapolitan restaurants nearby to us than to buy an Ooni, or any of the high temp purpose built pizza makers. It would take many years to justify an Ooni, and it would be costly to match the ingredients at a top level pizzeria.

Can you explain a bit more? How to make Neapolitan style pizza at home?
Yes, to make Neapolitan style pizza you need to cook the pizza dough fast. Normally between 60 and 90 seconds.

You can understand that to achieve such a quick cooking you want to have the right temperatures. Being at 500 °C you dry the pizza dough properly while the crust (without topping) inflates pretty fast. If you do not cook enough the pizza dough you have a raw dough that makes hard the digestion.

At the same time, if you are at lower temperatures what happens? Even if you are at 300/350 °C the cooking is not going to work as you can imagine. In fact you will need to cook the pizza dough for too long. The effect of that is that the dough dries to much. Therefore the biscuit effect.

What can I do if I do not have high temperature oven?
Well, I would say: try a different Italian style pizza as first. You have a lot of options you can use. Included some examples on this website.

Actually the majority of the methods that you find on YouTube – or in general online – are exactly trying to overcome the problem of not having a proper oven. Honestly speaking I don’t think they are really worth a try, unless…

Unless you are prepared to:
- have a super crunchy pizza, not Neapolitan style
- put a lot of efforts not using proper equipment
- risk of hurt yourself trying to reach the highest possible temperature
- spend pretty high amount of time to cook each pizza
To me is pretty fine if you want to try yourself. I did it as well. A couple of times. Then I decided that it was not worth it.

https://www.italianpizzasecrets.com/how-to-make-neapolitan-pizza-at-home/

 

[Sunset]

Does anyone use a cast iron "stone" like this :

 

[Music Lover]

A true wood fired, Neapolitan pizza is baked at 750-900ºF. No home oven that I've seen will come anywhere close those temperatures, maybe 500-550ºF at best. A pizza stone certainly helps but it doesn't make the oven any hotter. It's not just a matter of baking longer at home to accommodate the much lower temps, you can't make the best possible Neapolitan pizza unless you're up on the 750-950ºF range. Cooking at 500ºF, with a stone or a peel, will force you to leave it in longer - so the crust will dry out much more than at 900ºF by the time it's done and it won't rise as much during baking. The crust simply can't be as good at 500ºF...

From what I read, the Ooni units are capable of up to 950ºF, so you could make a superior Neapolitan pizza at home with one. Needless to say they go from raw to done to ruined pretty fast, so you have to watch them closely and pull at exactly the right time. If you wait until it's obviously done, it's probably late as the pizza will continue to bake some after you pull it. You will probably have to spin the pizza once or twice while it's baking to avoid uneven doneness. And you'll get a better result if you knock down blowouts as they occur, or they will burn.

As much as we love pizza, and have it once a week on average, it's just easier to buy them at wood fired Neapolitan restaurants nearby to us than to buy an Ooni, or any of the high temp purpose built pizza makers. It would take many years to justify an Ooni, and it would be costly to match the ingredients at a top level pizzeria.

https://www.italianpizzasecrets.com/how-to-make-neapolitan-pizza-at-home/

There are no wood fired pizza places close to us and virtually nothing near our cabin. Our oven is "adequate" at best with a pizza stone at 550 (max) but we want better. We're not concerned about saving money or justifying the cost if we can create a great pizza from home.

 

[MichaelB]

Wirecutter, a product review site, likes the Ooni Koda 16.

the most convenient and user-friendly portable outdoor pizza oven we tested, and it also bakes up a stellar pie

Cooking surface is 16 inches, also the largest of the models they tested.

 

[Midpack]

There are no wood fired pizza places close to us and virtually nothing near our cabin. Our oven is "adequate" at best with a pizza stone at 550 (max) but we want better. We're not concerned about saving money or justifying the cost if we can create a great pizza from home.

Then by all means, an Ooni is probably the best choice. You will be able to make a much better Neapolitan pizza assuming that's what you're after, than you could with any method in a 500ºF home oven. Not the same.

 

[Music Lover]

Then by all means, an Ooni is probably the best choice. You will be able to make a much better Neapolitan pizza assuming that's what you're after, than you could with any method in a 500ºF home oven. Not the same.

I've been doing research while reading the replies to my question and everyone agrees that if we want a Neapolitan pizza then we need to get a pizza oven. It's funny...I wasn't even sure what a Neapolitan pizza was before, I just wanted the crust to come out a certain way.

 

[Midpack]

I've been doing research while reading the replies to my question and everyone agrees that if we want a Neapolitan pizza then we need to get a pizza oven. It's funny...I wasn't even sure what a Neapolitan pizza was before, I just wanted the crust to come out a certain way.

Just double checking, you do want to make Neapolitan or thin crust pizza at home? Because thicker pizzas are typically cooked at lower temperatures, and you probably won't see an improved result from an Ooni vs a home oven with a steel if you're trying to perfect deep dish pizza.

Pizza Baking Temperatures for Other Types of Pizza

In this article, I’ve mostly talked about Neapolitan-style pizza (900ºF). Baking pizza at 900°F creates a unique product you can’t get in a regular home oven.

But for other types of pizza, you may want a different baking times and temperatures.

New York Pizza is usually baked at 600-700°F (315-370°C) in an electric pizza oven. The combination of a pizza steel and broiler is therefore perfect for New York-style as well!

Thick Crust Pizza needs a little more time to fully bake the curst to fully, and should therfore be baked at around 400°F (200°C).

Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza has a different type of crust, that’s more biscuit-like than most other types of pizza, it, therefore, needs a little different treatment. This style of pizza is also very tall, so a long slow bake of around 400°F (200°C) is ideal for Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

https://thepizzaheaven.com/pizza-baking-temperature/

 

[RobbieB]

I agree about the high heat. Cooks it real fast and most important blackens the crust on the bottom which adds so much flavor.

There was a pizza forum I visited and they were all over discussing how to defeat the door locks on self cleaning electrics so you can cook on "clean cycle"

 

[Music Lover]

Just double checking, you do want to make Neapolitan or thin crust pizza at home? Because thicker pizzas are typically cooked at lower temperatures, and you probably won't see an improved result from an Ooni vs a home oven with a steel if you're trying to perfect deep dish pizza.

https://thepizzaheaven.com/pizza-baking-temperature/

Looking at the descriptions, we like both Neapolitan and thin crust (New York?). Neither one of us are fans of thick or Chicago style deep dish styles.

 

[Jerry1]

And it's just 100 yards to the nearest Dominos. Their optional crust pizza is actually excellent--and cheaper than I could make a pizza from scratch.

That made me cry a little bit.

 

[Music Lover]

There was a pizza forum I visited and they were all over discussing how to defeat the door locks on self cleaning electrics so you can cook on "clean cycle"

I love it

 

[Happyras]

OK timely for me as well. I have a Vision Kamado (egg) grill. I have been studying the Kamado Joe Pizza oven kit for that version of an egg. (it won't work on the vision grill due to diameter and lid support interference) So, as a former engineer with too many tools and time, I am designing my own. First, the Kamado Joe DoJo pizza kit is cast aluminum. It specifically states to control heat no more than 700 F. I want more. The egg style dome grill is perfect for a wood fire oven if proper baffles and deflectors are used. The DoJo attempts to do just this with a ceramic lower deflector and an upper pizza stone.

The advantage is the open slot to place and pull the pizza/monitor. The lower temp is not as good as I want. However this is fairly rated. Using wood and lump coal I can get this egg up to very high temp beyond 750 maybe 900 using a forced fan if needed.

This is something to consider as an alternative to a dedicated oven unit, but there are many such "ovens" that sit on top of a gas grill. Just not as hot as I would like. The egg is an awesome grill, smoker and pizza oven as is, but could be even better with a little modification, or in the case of that one brand, just buy the kit for $200.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I have a Presto table top pizza oven I bought at a thrift shop for $15. We used to use the built in wall oven which would heat up the house in summer and use a lot of electricity. The Presto doesn't use much electricity at all compared to the wall oven, takes less time and we can use it in summer without heating up the house. We don't make our own pizza and just buy frozen ones on sale.

 

[RockyMtn]

I purchased a Gozney Roccbox about 14 months ago. Heats up very fast. Gas or wood. Cooks a Neapolitan pizza in about 90 seconds at 900 degrees. Make you own dough and play around with different recipes. It's a blast.

 

[Zona]

We use a pizza stone on our gas grill. Probably doesn’t get hot enough to make Neapolitan pizza but I have a good dough recipe that we like. After some trial and error we can consistently make a pretty decent pizza for minimal effort and cost. Living in AZ this lets us have homemade pizza in summer without heating up the oven/whole house.