Pizza lovers everywhere will always swear by an excellent woodfired pizza. There is just something so alluring about that smokey flavour of the sauce and cheese, and the burnt bits of the crust. It is easy to achieve the taste and look of the perfect pizza in your backyard with the right outdoor pizza oven. The pizza ovens available today are said to replicate the original brick oven that was used to create the first ‘Margherita Pizza’ in the 1800s. While these are modernised versions of brick ovens, you can rest assured that your pizzas will turn out great almost every time.
Different Types of Pizza Ovens
There are three different types of pizza ovens that you can purchase online.
Portable ones are ideal for people who don’t want the hassle of having to move around a heavy piece of equipment when they go camping or take it to a friend’s house. The compact size really makes it easier for you to move it around.
Benchtop pizza ovens are meant to be placed on your benchtop, hence they are portable as well. You would normally find more electric pizza ovens in this option.
Freestanding pizza ovens, as the name suggests, are a complete unit. They usually come with wheels to make moving it around easier. Furthermore, some of them come with attached bench space or storage.
What to Look For in a Pizza Oven?
Unlike normal indoor ovens, outdoor pizza ovens are slightly different. Like indoor ovens, you can always go for an electronic or gas option for your pizza oven. However, we recommend going for the traditional woodfire pizza oven that is easy to operate and can fit snuggly in your backyard.
REFRACTORY MATERIALS
Getting the right material makes all the difference when selecting a pizza oven. While most pizza ovens will be made of refractory materials, you can never be too sure. We recommend looking for ovens made of alumina or aluminium as it is a perfect conductor of heat. Some pizza ovens are also lined with ceramic fibre insulation in the hearth for even distribution of heat.
THE PIZZA OVEN SHAPE
Yes, there is a specific shape that you should be looking for when buying a pizza oven. The dome shape is a game changer as it allows the entire cooking area to heat up quickly as well as retain heat for a long time. Within this dome shape, there are two types of pizza ovens that you can choose from.
1) You can opt for a pizza oven that has the fire burning within the chamber used for cooking. One-half or a quarter of the dome is taken up by the pieces of wood that are set on fire to reach the ideal temperature. The food is cooked alongside the burning wood resulting in those lovely burnt bits and smokey flavour. Some pizza ovens tend to incorporate a little tunnel along the side of the dome shape. This gives you enough space to burn the wood in the tunnel and cook multiple pizzas in the cooking area.
2) The second option is a pizza oven that has a separate combustion chamber that cooks your pizza by transferring the heat indirectly to the dome. The combustion chamber is usually placed on the bottom and the heat is transferred upwards into the cooking area (dome). This results in an even distribution of heat within the dome and a super smokey-flavoured pizza. It also allows for the cooking area, i.e., the hearth and dome to be free of ash and soot created by the burning wood.
Additionally, the overall structure of the pizza oven also includes the chimney. All that smoke created by the burning wood needs to escape from somewhere.
FAST AND HOT
Pizza ovens are meant to get really hot, really fast. The structure and materials of the oven are crucial here. If the material is not ideal or the structure of the pizza oven is not the ideal dome, hearth and opening, then it won’t heat up as fast. This also means that it won’t retain heat for long periods of time which takes us to the next point, why is heat retention important?
HEAT RETENTION
It is important for your pizza oven to retain heat in order to make the cooking process easier. Putting your pizza in when the fire in the oven is the strongest can burn your pizza or result in some undercooked bits. It’s a process of trial and error to get the perfect pizza but heat retention will play a huge role in this cooking process. When the heat of the fire is dying down that is when it is most controllable. The best part about using pizza ovens is the fact that you can cook multiple dishes one after the other. A good pizza oven should be able to retain its heat for a couple of hours. Since the oven originally heats up to a temperature of 450℃, as it cools you can bake things like bread (200-250℃) or roast any protein (180℃).
FUEL TYPE
If you’re buying a pizza oven for your backyard, along with having a designated space for the oven you need to be sure of what sort of fuel you want to use. The most popular choice would be wood since woodfired pizzas are all the rage (and rightfully so). On the other hand, you can opt for gas pizza ovens as well. They give you pretty much the same result as a woodfire pizza oven, except they heat up much faster. Electric pizza ovens are more of an indoor option. Charcoal is the last alternative. Just like your barbecue grills, charcoal would cook your pizza with its burning embers resulting in a pizza that has a heavy smokey flavour but one that doesn’t cook as fast as a wood-fired pizza oven.
Get The Right Size Pizza Oven
If you like to entertain guests regularly or just enjoy cooking pizza every weekend, you need a pizza oven that can make multiple pizzas at once. Getting the right size pizza oven will depend on how you are going to use it. If you are planning on buying a pizza oven to take with you to the beach or camping, then you can get a small portable one that is big enough to bake one 12” pizza. The Ooni Fyra Portable Wood-Fired Pellet Outdoor Pizza Oven is perfect for camping or road trips. You can easily carry it with the rest of your luggage and can have pizzas on the go. It reaches up to 500℃ and can cook a pizza in approximately 60 seconds.
A moderate size pizza oven should have just enough space for 3-4 small pizzas. The Alfa Pizza – Forno 4 Pizze Wood Fire Oven provides a cooking floor of 31.5”x 23.6” which is enough for four small pizzas. However, if you like hosting pizza parties often, you might need to look into larger pizza ovens. The Ooni Karu 16 can accommodate a 16” pizza or two small pizzas at once. On the other hand, you can go for the La Diabla Pizza (Wood Fire) Oven that is big enough to cook 3 large pizzas at once. This way you won’t have to keep your guests waiting for their custom-made pizzas!
Gas and Electric Models
When it comes to buying outdoor pizza ovens, we would always recommend getting a wood-fired oven to replicate that perfect smokey flavour anywhere you want. However, you can go for gas or electronic alternatives. A gas pizza oven would still provide your pizza with that smokey char that you only get when it is directly exposed to fire. The electric pizza ovens work on the same principle of cooking the pizza on very high heat. However, the lack of wood-fire results in pizzas that don’t have that quintessential smokey pizza oven flavour. Moreover, electric pizza ovens are meant for indoor use for their compact size and the fact that they need to be connected to a PowerPoint.
Understanding Your Pizza Oven
The most important thing you need to consider when buying a pizza oven is that you can get the best model according to your needs but you will need to use it several times to get the best results. When buying a pizza oven you can look at the materials used, the temperature control (for gas pizza ovens), the heat-up speed and the accessories provided with it. But you will only be able to truly understand how well it works after using it a couple of times. You can’t expect your very first pizza to turn out with the perfect flavour and charred bits.
Trust the process and take your time. Buying a pizza oven online should not be a hassle especially when all the information mentioned above and more details are provided to you. The real test is getting used to the product.
