Anyone own a pizza oven?

[ReeseWitherfork]

Are they worth buying? What sort of features should I look out for? How much am I likely going to need to spend? Are they just a big old gimmick or something we are actually likely to use?

DH and I don’t eat meat so a BBQ is a rad pointless. But quite like the idea of whipping up a pizza on a summers evening.

I think it depends on how much pizza you eat?

bbqs are for more than cooking meat, you can do lots of vegetables and vegetarian options on our gas one, We love doing things like asparagus, halloumi, sweet potatoes, aubergines, vegetable skewers , corn on the cob, veggie burgers etc, the list is extensive.

id say a bbq is more versatile unless you eat a fuck ton of pizza.

I bought DH a gas Ooni for his big birthday in January, and though we/he is still getting the hang of it totally, it is great fun, is ready to use very quickly, and dh and ds are very happy with their pizzas. I'm gluten free, and the frozen Ooni GF dough really isn't very nice and I only have one chance to have a pizza per use, so that is a big of a downer but we'll try another pizza base next time

We have a Clementi pizza oven. It was an absolute fortune but a present from my mum. DH loves it, there’s something about guys and BBQs/pizza ovens….! I’m not massively impressed though. I gave up on making my own pizza dough, I’m rubbish at it. I buy it from the supermarket so I might as well buy a takeout pizza or at least use the oven! It’s a bloomin status symbol that we bought (mum bought) into and I will hang my head in shame! A complete waste of 2k.
My friend has an Ooni that she loves and are much more sensible in price for the novelty value.

Gozney Roccbox! Best thing we ever bought but we are pizza mad here!

Have you seen the Aldi one? It’s about £180 and I’ve got it open in a tab debating it. It’s gas

We've got a big Cove oven. Love it. DP built an outdoor kitchen around it. It gets some hammer. Not just pizzas either. Brilliant for entertaining both young and old. We love ours. Soca was a great success as was roast chicken, so not just for pizza (although that is what we make most often). I knock up the dough, and keep lots of toppings in the freezer.

Echoing the chorus... gozney gas is perfect. Everyone I know who has the wood ones cannot be bothered to use it. The gas is just so easy. Either make own dough or buy frozen from the supermarket. Perfect pizza everytime. We use it at least once a week and is our go to for any entertaining we do

@Moooooooooooooooooo you don’t actually use it indoors, inside your house, do you? That’s really dangerous, it’s not only a fire risk but you will also be filling your kitchen with carbon monoxide

We have a gas ooni and we use it about once a fortnight. It does take some planning - I make my dough a few days ahead but we never eat pizza out anymore so I’m saving a fortune. It makes far superior pizza than my oven does, and I tried every trick going to replicate a proper Italian pizza without any success

Have an Ooni ( gas ) and it's amazing. The pizza is delicious. It does take practise though.
Someone above mentioned the pizza is soggy . I think this is because your oven is not hot enough. You need a digital thermometer and temperature needs to be over 400.
Highly recommend!

Ooni wood pellets.
Would recommend.
Pizza costs peanuts and tastes amazing.
Good fun.

We have the Ooni pellet one, it's really excellent. Found it quite easy to use - really quick, doesn't take any time really to set up and get going. The time is in getting the dough ready, but you can buy ready made. Definitely use semolina to stop it sticking, and don't overload on toppings - they get too soggy quite easily.

This is great, thanks everyone!

I don’t think we’d save much money as we don’t ever get takeaway pizza. But we do have pizza once a week (just from the supermarket though, usually a Chicago town “takeaway” one from the freezer section). Pizza places were always our restaurants of choice pre babies/pandemics. I quite like the idea of making my own. We’re both pretty good at cooking so not too worried about getting the dough etc right.

So from what I’ve read, we might be good candidates to own one.

Just now need to decide which. Gas seems to be the way to go. I’d say the Gozney crowd on the thread seem more passionate that the Ooni crowd. But I’ll do some research. And I’ll see what the internet says about the Aldi one - worth exploring based on the price.

@ChillOutPlease just wanted to say that I’m happy for you crisp bottoms. No one likes a soggy bottom! I think I want more the activity of making and cooking pizza than the actual pizza itself!

We’ve got the gozney multi fuel but only use the gas

we moved last june and haven’t used it much at this house because the garden is a bit upside down but we did use it over Christmas

weve tended to use it with the children but once the garden is sorted over the next week or so then dh and i will just use it by ourselves a bit more frequently

My family recipe for dough I got it at 16. And I make multiple batches and freeze them and then we have family recipe for fillings. Large pizza tray for oven - never had an issue and far far cheaper and nicer

We debated this then splurged and got an alfresco chef one.

it cooks pizza and al forno, so lasagna, cannelloni etc, plus baked potatoes, long stewed meat like greek stifado, etc. proves bread, is reliable (no hit and miss basis) and can cook a pizza in minutes.

but yes, I am part Italian and love making bread, pasta and pizza and will do so anyway, I just find the results better in this oven as it heats way hotter than my domestic (and pizza needs way hotter)

This is the one we have
thealfrescochef.co.uk/product/verona/

Ooni fyra here. Pellets and portable.

We don't eat out like we used to, and love pizza.

Agree, don't overload with toppings, maybe adorn with extras once they come out.

There's a real knack to it, but it's great fun. Easier than a bbq I think.

We have an Ooni and I’m a big fan.
Takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it but the Pizza is definitely some of the best I’ve had.
They take maybe 3 minutes to cook and you can easily churn out enough for a family in 10/15 minutes.
Has been a good investment.

We have the Ooni pizza oven and we use a charcoal and wood mix. I am the pizza maker, Dh makes the dough and is the one who puts it on the peel and puts it into the oven. We absolutely love it and use it regularly.

Dh did a lot of research, there are many videos on YouTube of people perfecting their ooni pizzas. Dh has experimented with different dough hydration and he perfected it a couple of years ago. He makes the dough in the stand mixer in the morning and we have the pizzas for an early dinner. We have two teenagers and all agree that Dh's pizza beats any restaurant/take away/supermarket pizza we have ever had.

An ooni pizza oven reaches very high temperatures, we cook our pizzas at 425C which a domestic oven cannot compete with.

I’ve just ordered the Aldi one that you put in the bbq and pull the lid over, at £40 it was less of an expensive mistake to make for what I feel may be a DH Fad… 🤔

We have a wood burning one. I love it. We use it at least once a week in the summer and the pizzas are so nice from it. It was a present to me from DH, I never would have got one but I am so glad we did.

As others have said, 00 flour is best - you can get it in Lidl sometimes - but strong white will do, and semolina to stop it sticking. Another tip would be to use minimal amounts of toppings as the can be a bit sloppy. I use passata brushed on with a basting brush, and drain the Mozarella really well otherwise the base can burn before the toppings have got nice and crispy.

We have one but built it ourselves from a DIY youtube video as a lockdown project. We used a inflatable gym ball covered in clingfilm as a support to build the dome out of concrete and vermiculite.

We put in logs and it gets unbelievably hot. As well as making amazing pizzas, dh has shoved meat on a tray and cooked it there too. We use it a couple of times a month.

Great for a party - but putting home made pizzas in the house oven is quicker and cleaner!

We have an Ooni gas one and we’ve just had our first pizzas of the year. Bloody delicious. Top tip, lurpak sell the most lovely garlic butter, a few dollops of that and shit loads of mozzarella make the best cheesy garlic bread 🤤

We have a multi fuel gozney roccbox. We only ever use the gas as it's so easy and gets hot really quickly .
We have had it for a few years, I bought it from kick starter.
We love it
Use it as our go to nice weather entertaining food. It's more popular , and loads cheaper, than a bbq.
Last year , at the point where we didn't know how long covid would last , we built a whole outdoor cooking /entertaining area based around it and have used it loads more since . Ds will often have mates round and feeds them pizza too .
We just use the simple Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe , takes about ten mins and a few hours to prove .
Also makes amazing garlic bread

We've got an ooni gas one, used it around once a week last summer, have already had it out a few times this year but only tend to use it in nicer weather.

We use the pizza express dough recipe which they released during lockdown, and it comes out amazing (IMHO).

We've made converts of lots of friends and family who have gone on to get one.