The fact is, I don’t actually like cooking all that much, so I prefer a low-fuss approach. If I can’t cook something on the stove or in the oven, I usually can’t be bothered. 

That was until a Gozney Tread pizza oven came into my life. Here’s why this addition to my family’s kitchen has won my heart.

You can make it as simple or as complicated as you like

If I’m preparing for a family pizza night (more on that later), I usually begin by making the dough and sauce the day before. Despite my general aversion to cooking, mixing up the ingredients for a perfect pizza base, shaping the dough balls, letting them rise, and having everything ready to go when it’s time to cook is a somehow enjoyable ritual. 

But for the days that I don’t want to think that far ahead? No worries, pizza dough is available from the supermarket, or you can easily use a shop-bought base.Ìý

The same applies to the sauce. Homemade is great (and you can do white sauce or red, depending on the toppings you have in mind), but buying one off the shelf is also an option. Too easy!

Pizza is a popular choice

Is it any wonder that pizza is one of the most popular takeaway and home delivery options around? Who doesn’t love the combination of carbs and fat (mmm, cheese) and the choose-your-own-adventure approach to toppings? Everything from potato and rosemary to pepperoni and ham has its place on the dough.Ìý

It can also accommodate most dietary restrictions. Vegetarian or vegan? No problem, there are lots of options for you, too. For the coeliac in the family, we’ve found that the gluten-free bases sold at the supermarket taste pretty good. 

Everyone gets involved

Sometimes, catering for a family can feel like a lonely pursuit. You’re in the kitchen while everyone else waits for you to deliver the meal. Not so with the pizza oven. Everyone wants to get involved! From stretching the dough to form a circle, to laying it on the paddle and arranging toppings to your liking, to sliding it into the oven and manipulating the peel to get the perfect cook on all sides – all of it makes cooking feel more like a fun group activity than a chore.Ìý

At a recent pizza night for my extended family, it seemed like the entire crowd of 15 people took a turn with the oven. It has quickly made our place the number one choice for family get-togethers, with everyone keen to have another go.

More reasons to love a pizza oven

Not convinced? Here are more reasons why the pizza oven has won a place in my heart. 

• When the weather is hot, I can cook outside and not make my kitchen even hotter.
• It’s fast! Once you get the pizza oven heated up (ours takes less than half an hour to come to temp), you can cook a pizza in under two minutes.
• It’s for more than just pizza. My husband decided that to really get the most out of a pizza oven, we needed a special cast-iron skillet so he could use the oven to cook steak. The high heat means the steak is rapidly seared while still staying juicy and tender.Ìý

Fancy a go yourself? If you think a pizza oven could become a valued member of your family, ÌÇÐÄVlog’s pizza oven review looks at 12 of the latest products on the market. We put each pizza oven through its paces, testing how well they cook thin and thick-crust pizzas, and how easy they are to use and clean.

The post Why I’m a pizza oven convert appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

Or maybe you’ve mastered the art of the perfect slice, and you’re looking for new ways to put your brand-new pizza oven to the test.Ìý

When ÌÇÐÄVlog experts recently tested and reviewed a range of pizza ovens, they found many that reliably turned out excellent pizzas – perfectly charred, puffy and crispy in all the right places. (Others were not so great, but you can check our pizza oven reviews to find out which ones aren’t worth the dough.)

It’s definitely an appliance that will take your outdoor entertaining game to new heights. But even the most dedicated pizza aficionados need a break from Margheritas every now and again, and you may want to experiment with cooking foods other than pizza in your pizza oven.Ìý

Before you get carried away, though, what you’re able to cook will depend on which type of pizza oven you have.Ìý

What type of pizza oven can cook more than just pizza?

“Some styles of pizza oven do just cook only pizzas, particularly the smaller countertop models,” says ÌÇÐÄVlog kitchen expert Fiona Mair.Ìý

“This is mainly due to the size and shape of the appliance, and that they have pre-set functions and a pizza stone specifically designed for cooking pizzas.Ìý

“But if you have a larger pizza oven, these are more versatile. They have a fairly large oven area that you can fit various different foods in – everything from desserts to a roast dinner.”

Models such as the Ooni Koda 12 pizza oven and the Gozney Roccbox have a large pizza stone surface area, so it’s possible to cook foods such as fish, small cuts of meats and vegetables.

“The key to cooking foods other than pizza is getting the right temperature and having the right cooking tools. And be prepared for a bit of trial and error – practice makes perfect!”

What other things can you cook in a pizza oven? 

Roasts

If your pizza oven is large enough, you can roast things such as whole chickens, pork loins, and beef or lamb joints.

“The trick with cooking roasts in a pizza oven is that you need to monitor the temperatures, as they can get extremely hot and burn food quickly,” says Fiona.Ìý

“Temperature gauges are not always accurate either, so invest in a sensor temperature probe so you can easily check what temperature the oven is and also a meat thermometer so you can check your meat is ready to eat.

“For best results, you’ll also need to use a heavy-based stainless-steel roasting tray with a rack.”

Steak or fish

Some pizza ovens have relatively flat or narrow openings, so foods such as a piece of fish or steak that you can easily fit in while placed on a cast-iron frying pan are fine to try.Ìý

Again, you need to be mindful of the temperature, as foods cook extremely quickly – when you cook pizza, the oven temperature will be as high as 400–500°C.Ìý

But for fish you’ll only need a temperature of 300°C, so you will need to wait until the oven cools down. A pair of long-handled tongs and heat-safe cookware is important too, according to Fiona.Ìý

“Pizza ovens can be quite dangerous because of the intense heat they produce, so it’s important you use frying pans and cookware that can withstand high heat and use long-handled tools so you don’t get burnt,” she says.

Bread and jacket potatoes

A woodfired pizza oven is essentially an outdoor oven, so you can cook a wide range of foods in it, once you get comfortable with cooking over fire and practising getting the right temperature.Ìý

You can wrap jacket potatoes in foil and chuck them in with your roast – they’ll just need to be turned a few times throughout the cooking process and may need to be placed on a rack off the brick or stone base.

“Foods such as bread require a lower temperature for cooking than pizzas (around 250°C) and a longer cooking time (around 30 minutes),” says Fiona.Ìý

“Remember the heat on the stone is very hot, so foods can easily burn on the base. When cooking bread in a pizza oven, you’ll need a cast-iron bread pan for best results, too.” 

Desserts and sweets

Cooking in your pizza oven can be an all-day affair, taking you from the beginning of an event into the night, or even perhaps the next day.Ìý

Some of the woodfired pizza ovens we tested can take two to five hours to cool down. (If you stoke the fire, though, it can run as long as you need)

So, you could kick off your shindig with pizzas when the oven is at its hottest, then let the oven cool down for a few hours and use the residual heat to cook dessert.

You’ll have best results with desserts that don’t require constant, specific temperatures, as this is difficult to monitor. Try sweet foods that can be cooked in a frying pan/skillet such as brownies, Tarte Tatins, baked apples or apple crumble.

“As with savoury foods, cooking desserts in pizza ovens can require a bit of trial and error to work out how to get the best results,” says Fiona.Ìý

“Remember that foods will cook much more quickly than in a standard oven. Where you place the food is important too – obviously the further away from the flame the food is, the less intense the heat will be.Ìý

“Turning the food a few times throughout the cooking will help it cook evenly as well.”

Can’t I just use my oven or barbecue?

“Many conventional ovens these days do have a ‘pizza mode’ as standard that’s really great at turning out good pizza,” says Fiona. “Plus, if you have a barbecue with a hood you can also just purchase a pizza stone and cook pizzas outdoors with that.

“So if you don’t actually think you’ll be using your pizza oven to cook a lot of pizza, perhaps you need to reconsider whether you really need one.”

The fun factor

Of course, a conventional oven or barbecue won’t necessarily help you with that ‘summer pizzaiola party in Napoli’ vibe you’re going for.

And as our ÌÇÐÄVlog kitchen experts found out when they were turning our dozens of pizzas a day for testing, a pizza oven is fun to use, once you get the hang of it.Ìý

Find out more about the pros and cons of pizza ovens here: Should you buy a pizza oven?

The post Things you can cook in a pizza oven that aren’t pizza appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

As far as appliance purchases go, a pizza oven rates fairly high on the romance scale.

It’s easy to imagine yourself in the backyard, pizza peel in hand, with the sun streaming through the woodfired smoke as you belt out ‘That’s Amore’. 

Excuse us interrupting your pizzaiolo dreaming for a moment, but have you thought about whether it’s really worth buying a pizza oven?

ÌÇÐÄVlog experts have tested a range of popular pizza ovens to uncover which ones offer the best results for your dough. These are the pros and cons they say you should consider before you buy.

Which type of pizza oven should you buy?

Before we get to the upsides and downsides of pizza oven ownership, let’s look at the types of domestic pizza oven on the market. 

They range from electric and gas to wood- or charcoal-fired, and include models that sit atop your kitchen bench all the way to brick domes. 

No matter which you choose, ÌÇÐÄVlog kitchen expert Fiona Mair says there’s one thing you can’t compromise on: temperature. 

“To get a perfectly cooked, slightly charred, crisp and browned pizza base, you need intense heat of at least 400°C,” she says. So if your pizza oven doesn’t make the grade, you may as well stick to your oven. 

We’ve covered the different types of pizza oven and lots of buying advice in our pizza oven buying guide, but here’s a quick breakdown.

Electric benchtop

These models can be plonked straight on your kitchen bench for a Friday night pizza party, but can usually only do one pizza at a time. They can cost anything from around $200 to more than $1000.

Gas (natural and LPG)

Gas-powered pizza ovens have an inbuilt pizza stone and sit on a trolley or bench. While they can only fit one pizza at a time, they can also accommodate other foods. They’re easy enough to set up and light, but can take up to 40 minutes to reach the required temperature.

Natural gas pizza ovens will have to be plumbed in by a qualified professional; LPG models only need to be connected to a gas cylinder, just like a gas BBQ.

Wood or charcoal

These are the real deal, but they call for patience. They can take work to light and may take some time to reach the right temperature. Once they get there, though, they can maintain the heat for hours and, depending on their size, can often cook more than just pizza, such as roast meat or vegies.

What are the pros and cons of pizza ovens?

Con: Skills required

In Naples, Italy, being a pizzaiolo (pizza chef) can be a prestigious profession that takes years to master, so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t nail it on your first attempt. 

“Making pizza perfectly requires some trial and error,” says Fiona. “Don’t expect to produce restaurant-quality woodfired pizza the first time you use your pizza oven. And definitely allow enough time to practise using it before you invite everyone over for a pizza party.”

Pro: They’re fun

If you’re a true entertainer or enthusiastic home cook, a pizza oven can be a great appliance in your culinary arsenal. If you have an outdoor kitchen or space in your backyard to install a pizza oven, there’s no doubt your house will become the preferred location for many a gathering. 

It’s an appliance for all seasons, equally perfect for summer evenings and winter nights, when its warmth is as inviting as the aromas it produces. Everyone will enjoy getting involved in making and cooking the pizzas – it virtually does double-time as an entertainer. 

Con: Ongoing costs

Regardless whether you buy a gas, electric or woodfired pizza oven, you’ll be up for extra costs.

Some woodfired ovens we tested ran up costs of $400 per year, based on being used once a week. This price included buying wood, kindling and natural fire starters from a hardware store, but if you have access to wood and kindling, you’ll save yourself plenty of money. 

On the flipside, the LPG models we tested were cheaper to run – costing up to $130 a year – while electric ovens were by far the thriftiest at a maximum of $13. Even if you factor in $400 a year in running costs, if you’re buying store-bought pizza once a week at $50 for two, you’ll probably still come out on top, even when you add the cost of ingredients. 

But on top of running costs, you’ll probably also need to buy accessories, as the things you need (a long peel, broom, pizza stone or long tongs, for example), aren’t always included with every model.

Con: Safety issues

A pizza oven needs to be very, very hot for that crisp perfection to manifest in all its bubbly glory. 

But all that heat can present a safety issue, particularly if children are present. Exterior surfaces can really heat up on electric and gas models, as they generally don’t have the same insulation as a brick oven. 

“A few of the cheaper models we tested were quite flimsy and became dangerously hot, meaning they are quite serious safety hazards,” warns Fiona. So make sure to check out our pizza oven reviews before you commit to your purchase – we’ve listed any safety issues we encountered during our testing.

Pro: Not just for pizza

Apart from those ovens that are designed solely for pizza, and only one pizza at a time at that, some larger models can cook a variety of foods. 

Other types of breads, such as focaccia, roast meats, and even sweet pies and tarts can benefit from contact with stone and high heat.

Con: You already have an oven…

How serious you are about pizza will probably inform your decision-making in regard to what you’re prepared to spend. 

But remember that many ovens these days have a pizza mode (fan-forced and base element or top, and bottom element and fan).

Even so, domestic ovens rarely reach temperatures higher than 250°C. If you’re OK with reasonably good pizza, your oven, paired with a pizza stone, might suit you just fine.

Still, there is something about that smoky, charred dough that a home oven will never quite recreate. But then neither will some pizza ovens.

“Not all pizza ovens will give you that authentic woodfired flavour and look – they will produce similar results to cooking a pizza in an oven,” says Fiona. 

So it’s worth trialling homemade pizza in your existing oven before handing over your cash for a second appliance that may not deliver results that are much different.

Pro: They’re fast, once heated

“Being able to produce authentic pizza in minutes with the right pizza oven is the biggest pro,” says Fiona. 

Once your pizza oven is heated, you can enjoy a slice of pizza in as little as two minutes. 

But it’s not a set-and-forget appliance – your presence is required to watch the dough bubble away, so you can whisk it out just before the char takes over. But then that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

The post Should you buy a pizza oven? appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

If you like the idea of whipping out freshly made pizzas in your own backyard, you may be considering investing in a pizza oven. And with some costing around $800 or more, Aldi’s latest Special Buy offer – a woodfire pizza oven for just $199 – is a tempting offer for budding pizza chefs on a budget.Ìý

But before you rush in, there are a few things to consider. ÌÇÐÄVlog’s chief pizzaiola and kitchen expert Fiona Mair has put a range of pizza ovens through a series of tests in our kitchen lab, including the pizza oven from Aldi (purchased in 2022) which was for sale under the brand Coolabah. The pizza oven on sale next week looks to be the same model, which is a combined woodfire pizza oven and charcoal barbecue.

“Although this is a very cheap pizza oven that performed adequately in our cooking performance tests, I wouldn’t recommend anyone purchase it due to the fact it can be a safety hazard. The unit is flimsy and becomes dangerously hot, and it’s just not great to use,” says Fiona.Ìý

“To get a perfectly cooked, slightly charred, crisp and browned pizza base, you need intense heat of at least 400°C,” she says. “Which means that safety should really be a priority when you’re choosing a pizza oven. It’s also important that the oven can maintain a consistent temperature.”

The Aldi pizza oven failed on both counts.

‘Flimsy and dangerously hot’

Our testers found that it was very difficult to control the temperature, it came with limited instructions on how to use it (as well as limited instructions on how to assemble), and there were many issues with how safe it was to use.

“This unit is flimsy and becomes dangerously hot. It is difficult to control the temperature and flames can lick up and out of the door melting the paintwork, causing a toxic smell and black smoke,” says Fiona.

“Although it does have a temperature gauge, it was difficult to read and wasn’t found to be consistently accurate, and there were no hot surface warnings on the exterior which you would typically expect to see on a product like this.”

Plus, Fiona says, using a pizza oven can take practise, with a lot of trial and error, which means that detailed instructions are vital to help you get the best results. So don’t expect to pick up this oven from the store and be churning out perfect thin ‘n’ crispies come nightfall.

ÌÇÐÄVlog members have exclusive access to our full review of the Aldi Coolabah pizza oven.

Features of the Aldi Coolabah pizza oven

• Removable ashtray 
• Built-in temperature gauge and damper to chimney 
• Includes pizza stone, cooking grill and charcoal grate 
• Weight: 28.3kg (you’ll likely need someone to help you if you want to pick one up) 
• Dimensions: 64.5cm x 51cm x 177cm 
• One-year warranty (as a comparison to other models we tested, Breville and Matador pizza ovens have a two-year warranty; Gasmate and Ooni have a three-year warranty; and the Gozney Roccbox has a five-year warranty. The Masterpro also has a one-year warranty.)

More than just pizza?

An advantage of choosing a larger woodfired pizza oven is that you can cook other things beside pizza in it, including things such as whole roast chicken, pork loins, and beef or lamb joints. However, don’t expect the Aldi oven to come to the party here. Our kitchen testers tried to cook a roast chicken but found it wasn’t suitable for this purpose, due to constant heat loss and its difficulty maintaining the consistent heat required to cook meat through without burning.

The last word

Pizza ovens are great if you want to be able to make excellent quality pizzas in just a few minutes, and they can be really fun to use – imagine all those great pizza parties in the backyard! But if you choose the wrong model, they can also be difficult to use and cause safety issues. ÌÇÐÄVlog experts recommend checking out our pizza oven reviews and doing your research before you buy.

The post Should you buy the Aldi Coolabah wood-fired pizza oven? appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.

On this page:

• Our expert testers and kitchen lab
• How we choose what we test
• How we test pizza ovens

We’ve put a selection of pizza ovens to the test so we can tell you which models work best.

Our expert testers and kitchen lab

There’s no doubt our home economist Fiona Mair and test coordinator Chantelle Dart know their way around a kitchen. With 30 years of combined experience between them, they’ve seen lots of new technology enter the kitchen space, including the increasingly popular air fryer.Ìý

Fiona and Chantelle know how to put kitchen appliances through their paces and pizza ovens are no exception. They carry out their testing in ÌÇÐÄVlog’s kitchen lab, which is kept up to date with the latest reference machines and calibrated measurement tools so we can bring you the right results.

How we choose what we test

With a range of products on the market, what makes us choose one pizza oven over another to test? As with most of our product testing, our aim is to test the most popular models on the market and what you’re most likely to see in stores.

We survey manufacturers to find out about their range of models, check market sales information and also check for any member requests to test specific models. From this information we put together a final list that goes to our buyers, and they then head out to the shops and purchase each product, just as a regular consumer would. We do this so we can be sure products are the same as any consumer would find them and not ‘tweaked’ in any way for better performance.

How we test pizza ovens

The ÌÇÐÄVlog Expert Rating, which helps determine the pizza ovens we recommend, is made up of a performance score (50%) and an ease of use score (50%).

Performance

Fiona and Chantelle put pizza ovens through their paces by making their own pizza dough to cook fresh pizzas to assess each oven’s performance.

They test with a thin-crust and thick-crust pizza to assess the ability of the pizza oven to evenly cook a fresh pizza with differing base thicknesses. The goal is to achieve a crisp, firm, golden base with evenly cooked toppings that are moist and not dried out, all within a short period of time.

For the larger pizza ovens, Fiona and Chantelle also conduct a roasting test to see how well the oven can roast a chicken (a non-uniform food containing bones and a centre cavity that can dry out, as some parts cook faster than others).

For ovens with multiple shelves, an additional multiple-shelf cooking test is conducted, cooking pork and potatoes (though this test does not contribute to the overall score).

And as with other kitchen appliances such as ovens and cooktops, when we’re done testing, we get to eat the results. One of the perks of working at ÌÇÐÄVlog!

Ease of use

To work out how straightforward the pizza oven is to use, we look at:

• how easy it is to cook pizza in it
• how easy the pizza ovens are to move around
• how stably they sit on the bench or floor
• how easy it is to ignite and use the controls
• how easy they are to clean.

The post How we test pizza ovens appeared first on ÌÇÐÄVlog.