How to Use a Pizza Oven

When you want to bake your own, homemade pizza, nothing beats using an official pizza oven. You can use a regular oven, and it will do the job. But it will take longer, you’ll only be able to bake one at a time, and it will probably have a mixture of burnt and undercooked spots. Pizza ovens can heat up to over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, so your pizza will be cooked quickly. Also, many allow for baking multiple pies at once. Even better – pizza ovens usually bake your homemade creations evenly. No more burnt and undercooked sections if you do it right.

Pizza ovens work by conduction. Once they’re heated with the fuel of choice, the heat circulates and, more important, the heat is retained via specially insulated walls. The heat source gets the oven started, but the retained heat is what gets the job done. Pizza ovens also have a unique domed shape that aids in keeping the air inside at high temperatures.

Just like outdoor grills, pizza ovens come in a variety of fuel types. They can be heated with pellets, propane, wood, charcoal, natural gas or electricity. Many of the outdoor pizza ovens allow you to change the fuel source while the oven is baking. A few are designed to only use one type of fuel. Indoor pizza ovens are another type, though this guide focuses on the outdoor varieties.

What do you need to make the perfect pizza in your pizza oven? While perfection is no guarantee, there are a few must-haves to get you closer to that goal.

• Infrared thermometer
• Pizza peel
• Long-handled spatula
• Heat-resistant/fireproof long gloves
• Long-handled brush

Baking pizzas outdoors often means you’ll be serving multiple people. Keep safety in mind. The pizza oven should be placed away from areas where people may accidentally touch it.

For tabletop pizza ovens, you will need an outdoor table, stand or cart. The table needs to be able to withstand heat, and make sure it's stable and on a flat surface for safety. Try to find a table that's a little bit bigger than the pizza oven itself. It should also be high enough to make it easy to stand while getting finished product out. Having to bend over too much is less safe.

Standalone pizza ovens should be on a flat surface. They should also be out of the way of foot traffic.

You may also want an outdoor prep area near the pizza oven. This will be used to make the dough and for adding the toppings. It should be big enough for the ingredients to be stored for easy assembly and for rolling out and spreading the dough. This area will double as a surface to place your finished, hot pizza when removing it from the oven.

When you’re ready to bake your pizza, the steps are straightforward. It’s best to follow a recipe for the dough and the pizza itself. Some dough is wetter than others, some toppings cook more quickly, cheeses are different and so on. The required temperatures vary as a result, as does the order of cooking. Some recipes may even call for rotating the pizza during the baking process, or you may even need to precook some toppings.

• Turn on the pizza oven or ignite the fire in the oven according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Wait for the oven to reach the appropriate temperature from your chosen recipe.
• Roll out the dough and place it on the pizza peel.
• Add your desired sauce and toppings to the dough.
• Flour the spatula in case you need it to help transfer the dough from the peel into the oven.
• Make sure the dough slides and shifts easily on the peel before it goes in the oven. You may need to use the spatula to accomplish this.
• While wearing heat-resistant gloves, open the oven and jerk the peel forward and backward to transfer the dough to the oven. Be careful – it will be extremely hot!
• Bake the pizza until the crust and toppings are done, rotating as needed. This should only be a few minutes.
• Remove the pizza using the pizza peel, placing it onto a nearby, prepared surface for cooling, cutting and serving.

If you want your pizza to taste even better, consider using fresh ingredients from your garden – or maybe from a friend’s yard or a grocery store. If you’re growing your own garden, and you plan to bake homemade pizza often, here are some must-grow vegetables and herbs you can get from the Garden Center:

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Peppers
• Oregano
• Basil
• Arugula
• Garlic
• Parsley