Making delicious pizza at home is easier than ever. Over the years, home pizza ovens have evolved to become more affordable, accessible, sophisticated and convenient. With the right one, you can give commercial pizzerias a run for their money and cater for all tastes and diets.
With the growing popularity of electric pizza ovens and modular models, you don’t even need a backyard entertaining area to cook a pizza that rivals your local restaurant. There are so many options out there; your biggest challenge is choosing. Do you want the smoky, rustic charm of a wood-fired pizza oven or a gas pizza oven’s steady reliability? Maybe even both?
Pizza ovens require some skill, and you need to be safety conscious if there are children present, but generally, the pros outweigh the cons. They’re perfect for entertaining and throwing great parties, fast to warm up and can cook a variety of foods (not just pizza) with mouth-watering results.
Pizza is one of the most popular foods in the world and it can even pack some surprising health benefits. You just need to cook it the right way. Whether it’s a gas, wood or electric pizza oven, here’s the Home Fires guide to the pizza oven options available.
The Different Types of Pizza Ovens and Their Benefits
Wood pellet
Wood-fired pizza ovens are designed to be low-maintenance but still infuse your cooking with a fiery flavour. Wood pellets spice your food with different flavours depending on the type of wood they’re made from. Maximise your food’s taste with smoking woods spiced with pecan, apple, cherry and more. Pellets are easy to light, produce a lot of energy for their smaller size and produce very little ash, so there’s not much to clean up afterwards.
Gas-powered
A gas-powered pizza oven is as convenient as a regular oven, cooking your pizza with just the push of a button. While wood-fired pizza places are still popular places to dine, gas-powered ovens are increasingly in vogue with professional chefs for the same reasons they can benefit your household. They’re easy to use, easy to store, quick to clean, simple to control and cook your pizza evenly and well.
Electric
Electric pizza ovens are the ultimate convenience, especially if you don’t have a backyard or are short on space. These modern and efficient ovens are space-efficient, which makes them perfect for inner-city apartments. They cook fast, are easy to use and come in handy when you want to expand your repertoire beyond pizza.
Multi-fuel
Multi-fuel pizza ovens are the most versatile options available. Whether you’re craving the delicious wood-smoked flavours of a traditional pizza or have a lot of cooking and just want to apply gas power, they measure up to the job. Multi-fuel ovens can stay hot, which is handy when you need to cook multiple pizzas back to back quickly. You can warm your oven up fast using the gas feature and then throw in some wood pellets to create the flavour you crave.
How long does it take to cook a pizza in a pizza oven? That depends on the oven’s temperature, the fuel source, and the thickness of the pizza. On average, cooking a pizza takes between 90 seconds and five minutes, and some models can do it in as little as 60 seconds.
Pizza Oven Maintenance
Making pizzas is fun, but it can get messy. Pizza oven maintenance is important. Here’s a brief guide to how to clean a pizza oven:
Wait for it to cool down
This may sound like an obvious point, but it’s an important one. Pizza ovens can get up to twice as hot as other domestic appliances. Wait until your pizza oven is cool, and watch for any sharp nicks or edges while cleaning.
Brush
The food char inside your oven is safe (and adds to the taste), but brushing away excess soot prevents a build-up that can cause a fire hazard. You don’t need any chemicals to clean with.
Take on the stubborn stains
For particularly stubborn stains, you can use baking soda and water paste.
Clean the outside
All you need is a microfibre cloth and a mild degreaser.
Remember never to soak the pizza oven stones in water. Pizza oven stones are highly permeable, and this will interfere with the oven’s proper heating.
Of course, you’ll have to adjust your cleaning routine based on the style of pizza oven you have. Make sure you consult your instruction manual.
What Else Can Be Cooked In A Pizza Oven?
Pizza ovens are versatile devices. If you’re wondering what other things to cook in your pizza oven, you have a wide range of options to choose from. Common choices are roast meat and vegetables, rotisserie chicken and breads like flatbread, focaccia and ciabatta. You can also whip up a smoked salmon side, a fruit dessert, some grilled seafood, smoked ribs and countless other dishes.
Find Your Pizza Oven at Home Fires
Home Fires is pleased to stock Ooni’s Karu, Koda, Fyra, and Volt pizza ovens. Ooni was established in 2012 by a Scottish couple who created the world’s first portable wood-fired pizza oven. Some of their models can cook a pizza to perfection in just 60 seconds. The brand specialises in models that can rapidly outpace traditional ovens when it comes to cooking the perfect pizza.
Home Fires also has a wide range of BBQs and smokers and accessories to go with them, from seasoning to briquettes to smoking wood. No matter what kind of addition or extra you need with your oven or BBQ, you’ll find it in our range. Home Fires is Sydney’s leading fireplace retailer. We’ve been a trusted name in cooking and heating for more than 40 years, so on top of providing you with the right oven, we can also supply, install and service the perfect fireplace or barbecue.
Whether you’ve already decided on the perfect pizza oven or you have some more questions to ask, contact the Home Fires team or visit our Minto or Casula locations.
