Set Me Straight on Pizza Ovens

At Bunnings a couple of years ago, they were handing out samples of what they said was a supermarket frozen pizza that had been cooked in their portable pizza oven (possibly this one, but I can't remember for sure). It tasted amazing: I've never liked microwave pizzas, but I also never would have thought that a pizza oven (let alone a portable pizza oven) could make a supermarket frozen pizza taste OK. It was a surprise.

I also see quite a few pizza ovens in backyards around the place.

So this brings me to my question: are separate home pizza ovens really all that? Can they really make, say, a supermarket frozen pizza into something delicious? Would it be worth installing one?

Comments

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  • +5

    I had thought about this too a while back, but the cost-benefit wasn't there for me. The pizzas did taste nicer from the pizza oven.

    I just jumped on youtube to look at the numerous videos on this topic, but it came down to frequency of use etc.

  • +3

    Would it be worth installing one?

    I had been umming and arring about getting a Ooni Fyra 12 - they are like sub $500 most of the time - and use pellets…not really what i would call portable, but i just dont think i would get the use out of it, even if its slightly more convenient being a pellet type as opposed to a wood powered one.

    I would expect straight out of the microwave

    i would literally rather eat day old pizza cold out of the fridge than microwave a pizza…why are you microwaving pizza…

    i also think getting good ingredients helps too - eg sugo tu pizza bases are some of the best ones I have had when we made some pizzas base just in the home oven.

    • +4

      i would literally rather eat day old pizza cold out of the fridge than microwave a pizza…why are you microwaving pizza…

      Or toss it onto a frypan for a couple of minutes.

    • i also think getting good ingredients helps too

      Using FRESH ingredients is the key to good cooking. Especially Italian cooking. You have to get fresh ham from a deli, fresh mozzarella none of that pre grated shit.

      Even pizza dough is easy as hell to make.

      I had been umming and arring about getting a Ooni

      I have the gas and wood pellets version. It is a nice thing to have and use on a summer Saturday afternoon.

      • -1

        "Using FRESH ingredients is the key to good cooking" you can say this for almost all foods

        • +3

          They did

    • +2

      I bought my kids one each for Christmas last year and i regret not getting one myself. Pizzas in 90 seconds are the bomb!

      • +2

        90 seconds

        Damn and here I thought me doing 2 min noodles in 1 min 59 was quick.

        I HAVE been meaning to DIY Reno our backyard entertaining area… maybe it is time to reconsider

        • +1

          Just like back to the future part 2

      • +2

        COOKING pizza in 90 seconds… PREPARING pizza is a process that takes days.

        Nevertheless… I adore making homemade pizza in my Ooni. Am sure there's a lot of good cheap gas pizza ovens these days but I am v happy with mine, built like a tank.

    • +1

      I'm microwaving pizza for 30 seconds before placing in the air fryer. That's why I'm microwaving pizza.

    • +1

      Do not bother with solid fuel pizza ovens.
      They're so inconvenient you won't use it.

      Ooni gas, or all the copies (that use gas) are fantastic.

      A luxury for sure though.

  • +4

    I have a built in wood fired pizza oven, and a smaller gas one. The woodfired is a bit of work to get going and keep going. If you're into smoking and outside cooking you'll already be skilled. The gas oven is okay. Easy to use, but doesn't have the same flavour.

    When you make the pizzas from scratch they are pretty good. When you get a frozen pizza and put them in, it's still a crappy pizza, just hot.

  • +2

    Can they really make, say, a supermarket frozen pizza into something delicious?

    No

    But if you are making your own dough etc, then a Gozney would definitely make a difference.

  • +3

    Supermarket frozen pizza is par-cooked; finishing one off doesn't demand much from an oven. Home pizza ovens are now widely available across the price spectrum; 10 years ago it was either Zesti or don't bother. Gotta eat an awful lot of pizza to recover the cost; but much like swimming pools, purchases don't always have to be rational.

    • there are a couple where if you thaw them out completely and stick in a pizza oven you can get some bubbling in the crust to make it a bit more authentic but none of them have anything on a high hydration home made dough, which is so simple to make.

  • +3

    Unless you are consuming a very substantial quantity of pizza, I would think just buying it when you want it would work out better. Good pizza ovens are expensive and use heaps of energy. Quality ingredients also aren't cheap. For me - I would never break even on the purchase

    • id make one once a week sometimes, lately its been more like once a month

      price depends on ingredients, the cheapest options I found is the pizza cheese, $3 chorizo, cabanossi/peperoni from the deli section etc. Supreme whatever you put on that, then 1 garlic/chilli pizza. You might spend $30 but will have a lot of left overs to freeze.
      I use a sour dough base which is home made, cooked on cast pans on the stove top to cook base, nearly foccacia style all thick crust. Top of our air fryer comes off and fits near perfect over my pans and cooks the top. Roughly 14 mins for the first and the next 2 are quicker

      id say each batch costs as little as 12 or as much as 20 using fresh mozzarella or if I use a large handful of prawns (frozen is best). Stuff like left over bbq chicken or robbing a sausage from a pack all freeze well and are good toppings.

      I use 2x 10-11'' pans and 1x 12'' and the 3 pizzas will do 2 people for 2 means. I considered getting a jumbuck pizza oven but it will probably be harder for my style of base and I dont make italian poolish base enough to justify it

    • +1

      Depends on what pizza you eat. Our family could consume three large pizzas for a dinner. They cost $25 each from our local. They are very very good pizzas tho

      • Maybe worth it for you then? What do you think the energy and ingredient cost would be if you were to replicate it at home? Maybe $30? That leaves you $45 better off per meal. Assuming a $900 pizza oven that would take you 20 uses to break even excluding time investment. So yeah could be worth it for you. For me it would be more like 40 uses to break even, and that would take me about 10 years.

        • You eat pizza only 4 times a year? That sound like a life unfulfilled…. Unfilled of cheese….

  • +3

    if ur looking to hopefully get better supermarket pizza the answer is no.

    Even if u make ur pizza at home are you going to get better results compared to other pizza shops?

    Most likely also no.

    At the end of the day its a hobby, we don't necssarily do it for better results but enjoy the process.

    It's satisfying making a delicious pizza at home though :)

  • +14

    I would say that if you are into supermarket pizzas, then you should just forget about owning a pizza oven.

    • -1

      Why, exactly?

      • +2

        On a scale of ROI, buying a pizza oven for supermarket pizzas is way down there. There is nothing to be gained by completing cooking of a par-cooked or even fully cooked pizza in a specialist oven

  • +1

    I don't understand the point of a pizza oven unless it's powered by wood?

    • +7

      Neopolitan pizza needs 400° which can be achieved with electricity, gas, wood pellets or wood. Not everyone wants to build a fire when they just want a pizza.

      • +2

        My point is… you buy a wood oven for the smokey flavor.

        • +2

          I hear you, but it's much like the charcoal vs gas barbecue debate.

        • +9

          there is very very limited evidence that a wood oven imparts more flavors than a gas oven due to how short the cook time is.

          Smoke will also flow well above and through the chimney.

          The upside is wood pizza oven is typically able to get much hotter compared to gas oven.

          • +2

            @darkkito: A mate and I did a bit of a test on this

            He has a Gozney, cooks amazing pizza.

            Using his dough we tried my kamado style smoker, got it to 400c, added some maple wood to it.

            We managed to get a subtle smoke taste on it but again the temp and dough was the key and why we still made good pizza, it didnt make enough of a difference to warrant having wood in the process over the gas ones.

        • +2

          Pizza cooks in these ovens in about 60 seconds so you couldn’t tell the difference if wood or gas powered. I have both options and they taste the same and I think a lot better than pizza shop ones imo.

          • -1

            @01001111 01000010: That's surprising. If I stand near a campfire for 60 seconds I will smell like smoke.

            The pizza cooked in wood fire doesn't even have a hint of smoke compared to the gas oven?

            • +1

              @StalkingIbis: I have a Ooni Koda and have used both both gas and wood to heat it, definitely cannot tell the difference in the taste of the pizza between the two.

            • +1

              @StalkingIbis: No, its so hot there’s hardly any smoke and what there is flies up out the flu.

            • @StalkingIbis: The smoke travels up and beyond, pizza cooks on the bottom

      • Lots of people refuse to believe that you can make great pizza in a run of the mill oven. You just have to learn how it works, where the heat spots are in it, etc.

        It is trial and error but once you figure it out it is great. Pizzas take a little longer 5-6 minutes. But turn out so good I won't buy a pizza oven until I move house and have to start over with a new kitchen oven.

    • For me it was temperature. My conventional oven couldn't reach the the temperature I required to cook the pizza (or more accurately couldn't raise the pizza stone temperature.

      Now I can cook pizzas in about two minutes (prep is a whole other story).

      Wood ovens are just more of a hassle. Maybe that's worth it for some (I'd give it a go if I had one for free), but I've also seen some rumblings that it doesn't make a flavour difference with the short cooking time.

  • My gas pizza oven (Jumbuck) cost me $120 from Bunnings, because it was missing some part. I use it occasionally, but its worth the money. I can't really imagine spending $1000 on the same item based on how often i use it…

    • Bought the same, use it fairly regularly.
      Wife is coeliac so getting pizza out is difficult, jumbuck has been fantastic for us. I’d gladly buy Roccbox on one of their regular sales when the jumbuck dies

  • +4

    If you like supermarket pizza - don’t bother.

    If you want restaurant quality Neapolitan pizza at home, that hasn’t gone cold and soggy on the back of a uber bike - then absolutely yes.

    Neapolitan pizza needs to cook hot and fast. 90 sec on a 400C stone. Conventional oven maxes out at 250C and takes 15mins or so. You cannot cook “real” pizza dough in your conventional oven as it will dry out by the time it’s sufficiently cooked (and it won’t rise), supermarket doughs have done 2 things, par cooked and added fat and or sugar to the mix to account for not drying out over that cooking time.

    So, a dedicated pizza oven won’t elevate your supermarket pizza but will make fantastic pizza if you make your own dough

  • +6

    It tasted amazing, and much better than I would expect straight out of the microwave

    brother, what.

    • Yes, I can see the confusion there: what I meant was I've never liked microwave pizzas, but I also never would have thought that a pizza oven (let alone a portable pizza oven) could make a supermarket frozen pizza taste OK. It was a surprise. I've edit the post to clarify this.

  • +2

    TIL that there are monsters in this world who think microwaving a pizza is ok. FFS.

    Just grab an Aldi turntable gas pizza oven next time they are available and make your own.. Bloody awesome pizzas.

    • had a friend who would microwave a whole mcains when we had the munchies. Good for that purpose because in the oven its dry as fk

    • I have this oven but my results haven’t been great so far. I think I need a new dough recipe. Which one do you use?

  • -2

    Set Me Straight on Pizza Ovens

    Blow torch.

    • +1

      Should take blow torch to some of your comments.

      • +1

        Why?

        You will damage your monitor

        • +1

          They might be improved with a bit of charring.

  • Have you considered a baking steel? https://youtube.com/shorts/GlEA9KfFxFo

    • Yep, baking steel has been great for us. Even store-bought pizzas come out much better on ours than just on the oven rack directly.

  • +6

    It is all about the dough. You need to make good neapolitan style dough with 00 flour and let it rest at least overnight for the best flavour and texture. Don't ever use a rolling pin, you need to make dough balls and then stretch by hand, look at Youtube for tutorials.

    Yes these gas ovens make a HUGE difference. I have a Coles Monro which is very similar to that Bunnings one, they are all knockoffs of the Ooni Koda and work just as well for a fraction of the price. Pizzas cook in less than two minutes. I only paid $99 for mine and I love it.

    • I endorse this. It matches my experience.

    • 'rest overnight for the best flavour and texture'

      agrees with our experience too - makes a BIG difference.

    • +2

      I think the Gozney's of the world do make amazing pizza and if you're doing it weekly, could be worth the investment over the $99 ones. It's like a coffee machine, you'll make great coffee with a breville if you buy decent fresh beans, grind fresh and dont murder your milk. That's your 90%.
      Paying for a separate grinder and a $2k+ machine will give you an extra 10% and make amazing coffee, but it's an investment

      These pizza ovens are the same, if you make your own dough, nail that, have fresh ingredients, and use something that gets to 400 degrees with a stone, that's your 90%. A Gozney will be an extra 10% for $1500

  • +1

    Free food is the best tasting, especially when you're hungry.

  • If you have a modern, good quality convection oven that gets hot and has a strong fan, you can still make a decent pizza. The main thing that improves the pizza is making the bread yourself. If that’s too much hassle, just buy the most expensive fresh or frozen pizza available at the supermarket (e.g. not McCain), and add nice cheese, olives, truffle, prawns/pepperoni, etc.

    Failing that, go to your local pizza cafe.

  • +1

    I like good pizza. Regional town where i live there is dominos or a pretty crap expensive pizza place. To make good pizza i have to do it at home. I have hosted multiple pizza parties providing pizzas for up to 10 people, plus many more occasions feeding 4-6 people. Although not an exact rational equation, would have been at least $150 in pizza on each of those occasions. I can make a margaritta pizza for less than $2 ingredients that a shop charges at least $20 for if there was a good pizza place in my town.

  • +4

    MasterPro Ultimate Pizza Oven in Red with window
    $100 delivered at Victoria's Basement
    https://www.victoriasbasement.com.au/p/masterpro-the-ultimat…

    I followed an obsessive Italian casual baker who did things like visit flour mills.
    He used this type of equipment for his pizza at home.
    His point was that pizza is bread so the better you make your dough the better it is.

    I've got a couple of these and recommend it.
    Easy to use and to store, fast start up, no clean up, you can have multiple going at once.
    Haven't tried it with supermarket pizza but not a bad idea to test.

    I'd suggest getting one for $100 and giving it a go.

    • I used to use one like this weekly to make pizza. But I'd cheat and buy the bases. Quick and easy dinner you can pop one out every 6-7 mins (and make pizza too..)
      it's great you only need a few ingredients to make something really tasty.

      Its fallen out of favor with the SO though, too many carbs :)

      • I know what you mean with the carbs.

        Here's an idea: raise the hurdle by making your own dough.
        That way it's more of an occasion.

        You can make a basic instant yeast one in 2-3hrs from idea to baking.
        Puffs up like a Neapolitan / sourdough version.
        This assumes you have something like a KitchenAid mixer.
        If you don't have one of those, there's a gift idea as well.

        If you make a sourdough version it's actually healthier:
        https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/tips-and-advice/is-sourdough…

    • +1

      I have the same Masterpro. It's legit great.

      As always, your pizza is only as good as your dough tho.

    • Thanks, cheaper than amazon. Purchased!

    • Xmas prezzie for "home" sorted — cheers!

      Edit- damn just missed out while I was loading debit card. Subbed to be notified.

      • +1

        It's on ebay for $110 delivered from minimax, haven't bought from them before but that's another option. I've bought it from a few different places for around this price.

        • EDIT: what a weird day this has been. Good-weird.

          Just got an email informing it's back in stock! Checkout completed.

          • @Speckled Jim: Awesome, nice not to miss a deal.

            What other weird stuff is going on?

            • @shima888: This site was acting up since they updated the navigation. Also kept getting Cloudflare checks.
              There was an unexpected seller's offer at eBay. All I'd done was visit their page, I hadn't even placed item on watch.
              Then finally the in-stock notification right after I submitted my email. I'd only seen a few other prices ($130-185) for the same thing.

              T&C at Victoria's didn't fill me with confidence, but we'll see. Minimax is the fallback.

  • No. Hot air is hot air.

  • For me the ooni looks amazing, but only for hand made base and pizza. I went with a cheap oven to start with because I thought I'd only use it a few times and get bored. And guess what? I was right :D

  • I have a pretty serious pizza oven; brick / dome - had 3 parties which it got used; made decent, nice pizza; but it was fairly expensive in materials. Problem with many cheaper ones like Jumbuck - they don't retain heat all too well; and it has to be REAL hot!

    Haven't used it in approx. 2 years. Great for parties as a novelty - Takes too long to heat up; then cool down (safely) just for a family meal.

    Little portables or BBQ ones may be more useful, I'd check 2nd hand - most likely find a quality 'like new' for less.

    Pizzas with 50%-100% cashback deals =/= profit

  • +2

    I read your post. Then messaged my friend asked him when he is making wood oven pizzas for us next. So going over tonight. Taking bacon salami and pizza sauce I have in the freezer.

    • +2

      Legend. Please report back, and I hope you enjoy the pizza.

  • I have a gas pizza oven, I think that it is a jumbuck brand from Bunnings. Really is is not much different from an inside gas or electric oven, you could achieve the same result from your inside oven turned to max (usually somewhere between 250 to 300 degrees celsius for most. What is really necessary for a nice pizza is a good pizza stone that is heated up with the oven, I would go a Cordierite Pizza Stone over terracotta/clay as have had too many cheap pizza stones crack when a cold pizza is put on top.

    I also have a woodfired pizza oven. Large size, made of solid thick steel with firebox below and separate from the cooking area (can fit approx 7 large pizzas on two levels). I use Cordierite Pizza Stones in this as well rather than cooking on the fire bricks as easier to clean up. Can get to temps between 300 - 400 degrees celsius on average and cook a pizza in minutes. Definitely a difference between gas/electric and wood fired in taste and the quality of the crust. The high

    I would always go with make your own dough over any premade pizzas, frozen or otherwise. Making the dough can be a bit of a hassle so another option that I have found is doughballs that come in single serve sizes. They are available at most decent size Woolworths, Coles and Aldi. Usually around $2 each, a bit pricey but a good option if you don't have time to make your own dough. Would suggest avoiding too many toppings as will often end up soggy. Higher temp (combined with a hot cooking surface such as a good quality pizza stone), a good dough and a few high quality toppings is the way to go for great pizza

  • https://www.kitchenwarehouse.com.au/product/cuisinart-pizzer…

    I bought one of these due to comments on here from a previous discussion.
    Very VERY GOOD !

    Next door neightbour bought a $2k Gozney.
    No different IMO

    You want to be be making your own dough though, which isnt hard.

  • +1

    Here is a review where a home oven vs a outdoors oven they got from Hammerbarn is compared

    YouTube

  • Was on the same boat earlier this year, decided to get the Tefal Easy Fry & Pizza for a little over a hundo. It's basically square airfryer with heating elements on top and bottom and have a glass viewing part. It has frozen and fresh pizza settings but obviously you can adjust temp (max is 240c I believe) and time.

    Frozen supermarket pizzas fits perfectly and they get ready in 10 mins. The top is cooked to perfection and the bottom is crispy and has the "grill lines" from the bottom heating element.

    For regular airfrying it's not the best since the food isn't elevated so hot air doesn't hit food from bottom as effectively as other airfryers with mesh baskets, but it does the job for occasional fries with longer time, we do have another "dedicated" airfryer so not a big issue for us.

    If you are after an affordable pizza cooker I say get the Tefal, great for when you want to make frozen supermarket pizzas and also functions as a decent airfryer so it doesn't collect dust when you aren't making pizzas.

  • We bought a steel pizza plate for our bbq and it does great pizza. Heavy as.
    But if you want to make homemade pizza (worth it) learn the dough!!
    Home made pizza is the best….

    • Great idea. Ceramic / stone plate is a good option too and a bit lighter. Also works well in the oven on max.

  • i got the aldi one, i used it a few times, we made our own dough, it gets hard the whole process and clean up so i haven't used it in like a year, the pizza comes out so good and i love the taste and love the eating part, just the making part and the clean up is such a hassle, im wondering if the 5 dollar aldi pizzas can be upgraded in this pizza oven, the dough is the hardest part and launching it in the oven, thats whats so convenient about the aldi pizza but yeh well ofcourse it wont come out like a fresh dough

  • If you eat alot of pizza type of food then it will be worth it and would make really good pizzas. Otherwise not so much (cost wise). If you also do charcoal bbq, get a pizza stone for it and it will achieve very similar results except you can use the same space and unit for lot of other things :)

    cheers!

  • I own a food fired portable oven, its main issue is being portable the materials dont hold the heat in so you need to stay on top of the fire to maintain temps. A friend bought the bunnings gas one and it is awesome set and forget temp control and definitly hot enough. its small enough to bring camping and run of the same bbq bottle. I was extremely impressed

  • I have a wood pizza oven, i used it a few times, but the amount of wood you require is significant, and you do end up spending a fair bit. Great for a party but not one or two pizzas.

    A better buy is a kamado, which you can purchase a pizza stone for. I have a metal insulated kamado and find it awesome for anything. (that said i haven't actually made pizza's in it), but it gets super hot and u get the charcoal/wood flavour, and uses a lot less wood.

  • I have the $99 cheap pizza oven from Baccarat and it is worth every cent

  • https://kegland.com.au/products/hizo-g14-orange-burst-portab…

    We bought this and at first didn't use it a lot. But I stuck with it and now I have my "perfect" dough and we have pizza usually twice a month.

    I could probably see myself upgrading to a Gozney or something in the future, but I'm not sure what I'm really missing out on?

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