Iand pizza heaven It’s always 950 degrees, the temperature needed to make authentic Neapolitan pizza. That’s incredibly hot, and way hotter for a furnace than a broiler. My backyard pizza oven gets there in just 15 minutes. Crank it up all the way and the Ooni Koda shoots blue flames that bounce off the top of the dome. Within 60 seconds, the raw dough puffs up into a thick, fluffy crust. Cheese melted into sauce and simple ingredients Just a few things turn into a full pizza.
Violinists have Stradivarius, sneakerheads have Air Jordan 1s, and pizza is just as decadent as I am. Oven– I got my first one three years ago and since then have been on a singular and pointless mission to make the best pie possible. Unfortunately, I am now the person who knows that flour should pass the paneer test. Don’t even get me started on the pros and cons of Caputo 00 powder.
A home pizza oven is a ridiculous purchase. Much to my wife’s dismay. Now I have two cars. It’s even more laughable considering I live in New York City. Where amazing pizzerias are as easy as a mouse to find, and space is a precious commodity. This is not a city that supports single-use kitchen equipment. These appliances do one thing well (pizza) and only one thing (pizza). My 12-inch Ooni is one of the cheapest and smallest high-heat pizza ovens around. And still, at $400 and £20, you can get the Instant Pot and 11-in-1 air fryer combo for a bargain.
But somehow the portable pizza oven market is booming. Ooni makes nine different models. Including a $900 indoor model that looks like a toaster oven. And similar products are available from companies like Cuisinart, Ninja, Gozney, and Breville. Oprah included a pizza oven. Her 2023 Gift Guide– Florence Pugh posted a story about her portable oven on Instagram.
The pizza paradox has been around for a long time. That’s America’s favorite food. which is one of the eight countries You can eat any day.—It is difficult or impossible to stay healthy at home. Not anymore. We are in the midst of a pizza revolution. There’s never been a better time to make pizza at home.
THe uses a traditional home oven. Great for making many things, such as chocolate chip cookies. Thanksgiving Turkey Roasted Brussels sprouts, anything goes, pizza isn’t one of them. Consider the classic New York pie, which doesn’t require the same high heat as its Neapolitan brethren. It sounds strange, but you want your pie to be medium rare. The crust should be crispy but still pliable. The cheese is melted but not burnt. The only way to achieve this is by heating the pizza dough from both the top and bottom. It’s at least around 600 degrees, preferably 650 degrees, but almost every kitchen reaches 550 degrees. The required heat level is within reach of a typical home oven,” says Adam Ragusea, a food YouTuber who is helping open a pizza shop in suburban Knoxville. Tennessee told me The temperature difference is very significant. Try making pizza on a simple aluminum tray. in your home oven and when the shell is golden brown It will be brittle like crackers and the cheese will be fatty.
Conquering the limitations of a pesky kitchen product line that has long stumped home-made pizza enthusiasts, Julia Dek Tiling in her oven To absorb the heat of the oven and pour over the crust for extra crispiness. That was the inspiration for the pizza stone. These are large ceramic tiles that you insert into the oven. Sometimes humans just want to make good pizza. At home with a joke Before making pizza Some recipes recommend that you run your oven on high for 45 minutes, an hour or two. In the 2000s, a software engineer in Atlanta realized that in self-cleaning mode The oven may reach 800 degrees, but the door will lock. So he removed the safety latch with garden shears, and many others did the same. Voiding their oven’s warranty in the name of better pizza
Still, nothing you can do in a standard kitchen can compete with the tools a pizzeria has available. Traditional commercial pizza ovens are bulky and expensive. Sometimes costing as much as $20,000, some of the oldest pizzerias in the United States still use original ovens manufactured nearly a century ago. Even though your oven reaches 750 degrees, its walls “It’s not as thick as the walls of a commercial pizza oven,” says J. Kenji López-Alt, chef and author. Food Lab: Better Home Cooking with ScienceTell me, “There is less heat energy trapped in there.”
A portable oven is like an iPhone when it comes to making pizza at home. They Changed Everything The first Ooni prototype launched on Kickstarter in 2012, looking more like a medieval torture device than anything. You could use it to cook food. Soon there was the Roccbox, a stainless steel dome that ran on wood or gas. Newer models just kept getting better. An oven isn’t that complicated. but has genius It is not expensive. And it’s small enough to take with you camping and relaxing on the beach. For the home cook who isn’t making hundreds of pizzas at once. “Mimicking a restaurant oven would be great,” says López-Alt.
These ovens can be found in quite a few backyards. Then America used pizza ovens like crazy during the pandemic. What better way to care for a citrus starter? Maintenance of starter powder Top with sauce and light on fire. In 2020, Uni’s sales 300 percent increase– Ovens are still in high demand, Joe Derochowski, an analyst with market research firm Circana, told me at a home trade show these days. “You see pizza ovens all over the place,” Scott Wiener, a leading pizza expert, told me. Tours in New York City He always asks his group if they make pizza at home. And how to do it? “One person will say ‘Ooni’ every time,” he tells me.
Perhaps part of the appeal of these home ovens is that they serve the same needs as a grill: Let’s face it; Fire is fun Pizza was originally considered an extension of jacket– In Italy, pizza originated from bakers who wanted to sell cheap food to workers. Many of the oldest pizzerias in the United States were founded by bakers originally from Italy, but actually making pizza is more like grilling a burger than baking bread. Letting your pizza sit for a few seconds too long? Then the flame changes the powder from gently burning to completely burning. (All pizza is better than no pizza at all. Except when the pizza is so burnt it tastes like ash)
Home pizza ovens represent the next generation of grilling. They take those familiar and irresistible propane flames and apply them to an entirely different type of cooking. And the same goes for grilling. To make good pizza You must have accessories. I slid my homemade pizza into the Ooni using one of the tools. Rotate with another tool. Then check the heat with another tool. The pizza oven “reflects the world of barbecue and the world of home grilling,” says Wiener. You can buy an Ooni for $1,000. This allows you to make 3 pizzas at once. And it can remotely track the temperature from your phone. As Ragusea puts it: “Men love their damn toys.”
TVarious tools and equipment It can only take you so far. Even with the most luxurious ovens on the market You still need to learn how to stretch the dough and get it in the oven without creating a rectangular mess. “There are all these special techniques associated with pizza that don’t apply to other types of cooking,” says López-Alt. If you want to learn, There are pizza forums, pizza Facebook groups, and many, many more pizza YouTube videos.
My first pizza made in my kitchen oven. There was too much sauce and it looked more like tomato soup in a bread bowl. There were a lot of ridiculous videos later. My pizza game has gone from venture capital to the big leagues. The pizza oven gets a video on how to use it. More and more attention has been paid to ovens. GET MORE VIDEOS It’s the ultimate pizza spinner.
Even in Ooni, my pizza wasn’t much better or cheaper than what you’d find at a great pizza restaurant. But it is like that. I– I understand why fellow pizza aficionados gather online not just to hone their techniques. but also to share their creations. (Although they offer Italian food) fat Heart Attack) Lemon and Sweet Ricotta Pizza! Mexican street corn pizza! Detroit-Style Chongqing Chicken Pizza Topped with Green Onions and Sesame Seeds!
The irony of the pizza revolution is that This was supposed to be the moment of the pizza recession. Remember when the only thing you could deliver was pizza? And maybe Chinese food too? When you least want to cook It’s Pizza Time In 2011, one of the biggest days for eating pizza was the day before Thanksgiving. You can now DoorDash penne alla vodka or pork banh mi, but Americans are falling in love with pizza even more.
Now you can find amazing pizza everywhere. Pizza pop-ups are opening using a new, bigger, cheap portable oven. “Five years ago If you want to open a mobile pizza company You would have spent $5,000 on an oven and a trailer,” Wiener said. “Now you can spend half that and buy two ovens.”
Still, pizza sick people don’t always win. Recently, a craving for pizza made me late one evening. I lit up an Ooni, fiddling with the dough. And ready to open the pie when my hunger sabotages my concentration. The dough has holes in it. and decomposes into a sticky mess in the oven. So much for that.
Part of buying a pizza oven is learning how to use it. The other part is learning when you should leave it to the professionals.
This article appeared in the January 2025 print edition with the headline “I’m a Pizza Sicko.” When you purchase a book using the links on this page. We will earn commission. Thank you for your support. atlantic ocean
