Whenever I post pictures of my pizzas on social media, I usually get a couple of people reaching out with similar questions, “How can I make pizza like that at home?” “What kind of oven is that?” “How do you make your dough?” etc.
I wanted to put together a resource that answers some of the common questions I get and help you start to make amazing pizzas at home in an outdoor oven. I’ve also collected some guides, videos and recipes for people who are already making good pizzas and want to make them great!
Good overview the whole pizza making process. Nice place to start for a basic understanding of what lies ahead.
A more detailed look at the process, explores a lot of the theory behind each step.
How to shape the dough (the video will start the point I think is important here, but the whole video is worth watching!
Here is a video for a ‘same day’ dough that I have used with success 6 hours before a bake
Here is a 40 minute video that is part of a 3 hour series on making the perfect pizza by Bon Appetit, the whole series is well worth a look but this episode focuses on dough.
10 tips on pizza launch technique. Don’t let your pie get too friendly with that paddle.
This guy has dozens of episodes using his full dome wood fired oven and is living the life.
10 tips on pizza launch technique. Don’t let your pie get too friendly with that paddle.
To make 3x 220g 10 inch bases you will need:
To make adjustments for number of pizzas or size/weight or hydration use this app.
This recipe means that if you make the dough at 9a.m, ball them at 3-4, you can be making pizza by 7-8 pm.
To make 3x 220g 10 inch bases you will need:
To make adjustments for number of pizzas or size/weight or hydration use this app.
To make adjustments for number of pizzas or size/weight or hydration use this app (higher % hydration means puffier, lighter and chewier crust, but stickier and harder to handle). 60% hydration is plenty wet in my opinion, and easy to handle.
This is a screenshot for my settings when I make two pizzas and prove for 8 hours before being in the fridge overnight: adjustments can be made to all the elements (RT is room temp, CT is cold temp/fridge).
A great intro to cooking steak in a pizza oven on a cast iron pan.
I use this cheap cast iron pan from Amazon.
Regular cast iron pans can be used but the high sides on these pans can slow the cooking, I also worry that the high high heat will strip the seasoning on ‘good pans’.
The pan will get ripping hot very quickly in the pizza oven and will sear steak far quicker than on a grill or in a normally heated cast iron. I recommend keeping the flame on medium-low once the pan has come up to temp and put the steak close to the mouth of the oven. Otherwise it will literally burst into flames.
There is no need to put oil/fat in the pan before adding the steak, I recommend putting a thin layer of olive oil or peanut oil on the steak itself with seasoning of your choice and then searing for 30 seconds on each side in the oven, then check the temp and finish in the pan (outside the oven). Use a temp probe to ensure the steak is cooked to your liking. Since the pan will be so hot, it may seem done, but still be blue/raw inside. Be sure to take the steak off the pan and rest away from the pan/oven, otherwise it will overcook.
While it is possible to make wings from scratch (raw to cooked) in a pizza oven as in the above video, I think cooking them low and slow in a home oven or slow cooker and then finishing on the Pizza oven and cast iron before saucing while resting will create a more tender result.
Basic steps are the same as the steak above. I recommend sous vide with rosemary and garlic and finishing on the oven, or marinating overnight on rosemary and garlic and cooking from scratch in the pizza oven on cast iron.
The two most common brands you will see recommended are Ooni (formerly called Uuni) and Roccbox. There has been a huge explosion in interest in outdoor pizza ovens in the last 5 years and the technology has improved quickly in that time. This wonderful video from Kenji, even though it is from 2017 is already out of date but it gives a great overview of the most popular types and brands.
Here is a newer video where he compares the two current most popular ovens from Ooni and Roccbox.
The Ooni and Roccbox are the most popular for a reason, they simulate a traditional wood fired pizza dome quite well, are able to get up to 1000F and they are easy to set up, easy to use and are portable, they also have big online communities on Facebook groups and subreddits where you can find support.
I have an Ooni 3 wood pellet oven but also have a gas conversion kit for it and I now almost always use gas, it is much easier. They no longer make the Ooni 3, but if I was buying an oven now, I would get the Ooni Koda 16. It is expensive and hard to justify that price unless I was using it all the time, the Koda 12 is a smaller version and might be a better choice for your first oven. Both of these are gas-only and cannot be used with other fuels.
The cheapest Ooni they make right now is the Fyra, it uses wood pellets and seems like a really good set-up and could be a good beginner option if you want to go with wood pellets over gas. The newest Ooni is the Karu and can use wood chunks, coal or pellets and you can even add a gas conversion kit to it, it seems to be a very flexible option, here is a video comparing the Koda and the Karu.
Roccbox have one main product and I have seen solid reviews for it, the price is on the higher end of the Ooni ones and they have an absolute monster of a dome coming out next year for crazy prices.
The third option would be whatever is for sale in your local hardware/garden centre, this may even be an own brand or Chinese knock off. Pizza ovens are not rocket science, it is a metal box with a pizza stone in it with a fire at the back and it’s up to you to decide how often you will use it and what budget you want to go for. I would definitely consider a box/dome model over something that adds on to a BBQ or uses a heat source from below, the physics of these ovens would make neapolitan pizzas impossible but I am sure the results would be fine for use once or twice a year.
The secret 4th option is electric, which is handy but very expensive. This oven is a professional level oven that will last for years and is easy to use, but costs the same as a second hand car once you consider delivery.
The best advice might be to decide on a fuel type and then get whatever one is available within your budget, there are long shipping times at the moment with Brexit and high demand due to Covid lockdowns. With that in mind, here is a breakdown of the fuel types and their pros/cons:
While the nature of neapolitan pizza means that it needs a 500c/900f oven to be able to get that fluffy/chewy/crispy/moist texture on the dough and the freshness of the toppings, you can still make other kinds of great pizza in a ‘normal’ home oven,especially if you have a pizza stone, a pizza steel or even a large cast iron pan.
Even if you don’t have those things, you can still make a way better than average pizza which will be better than most of the other options available to you (especially in lockdown). Check out this video for how to cook a pizza from scratch using the bottom of a normal home oven pan.
There has been a lot of science put into answering the question as to whether you can cook a ‘proper’ pizza in a home oven, two of the best videos on the topic are this one from Bon Appetit titled Every way to make a pizza. They test all the possible ways to cook it in a home oven and even some specific tools and machines (like the Ooni and the Breville home oven) what they found was:
If I am making a pizza without an outdoor oven, the method I will use will be the Cast Iron Pan method. You can even use one of the above dough recipes to make a great dough, and then put it in a large cast iron pan in a home oven and get great results. It won’t be a Neapolitan pizza, but in some ways it will be better. The wonderful (and now cancelled) Bon Appetit have a full video on this here.
There is a pizza that is more popular in American than here called a ‘pan pizza’ and that is a great option if you’re looking to make a tasty pizza in a cast iron pan, it uses oil in the dough to give a wonderful crispiness. Here is a great video that shows the process start to finish.
Made by Mel for Kev. Thanks for all the pizza ❤️