a new pizza oven

I love pizza and I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a pizza oven for a few years. I’ve even had fantasies about building a wood fired one. Back in the real world where there is no way I am going to build up a wood fire over hours in order to cook a pizza, I decided that gas is more practical for instant gratification.

Still I wondered whether I should get even a gas one. On the one hand I am opposed to single use items unless they are seriously good and cheap (such as a rice cooker), on the other hand it is just difficult to cook a decent pizza in a conventional oven without preheating it for ages.  Even then, the pizzas can be a bit hit and miss. A conventional oven just isn’t hot enough. A pizza oven will heat the pizza stone with direct heat, cranking the temperature up to 500F in a short time.

After seeing some incredible pizzas come out of a friend’s oven, I finally succumbed a couple of weeks ago and bought a new outdoor gas fired pizza oven in a box at half price on Gumtree. I’m currently obsessed with it.

I’ve been turning out really sensational thin, crispy, artisan style pizza for which I would normally happily pay $14.  They cost about $1. I’ve also been making a lot of flatbreads too. I think I have recouped my investment already. I’ve been using it a lot!

The joy of a gas pizza oven is that it heats up in about 10 minutes. I’ve been making a batch of dough early in the week and putting it into containers ready for rolling out in an instant.

I’ve switched toast at breakfast for flatbread. I head out to the oven, turn it on, feed the animals, take a couple of minutes to admire the garden, roll the dough and slide it into the oven and in the time it takes to make coffee it is cooked.

I’m using the no knead bread dough which works perfectly.

Here are some creations from the last couple of weeks. A roasted capsicum paste, garlic oil, roasted pumpkin and vegan parmesan pizza, a garlic oil, fresh tomato and basil flatbread, a flatbread beautifully puffed up, a garlic oil, olive tapenade, roasted pumpkin, potato and rosemary pizza and a flatbread with avocado and fresh tomato. The photo at the top of the post is a pizza with garlic oil, olive tapenade, cauliflower, caramelised onions and fresh parsley.