I’ve used my Pizza Oven as a Grill, Smoker & A Wood Fired oven to compare how versatile it is outside of just being a pizza oven. While I’ve loved cooking on my wood fired pizza oven, I’ve decided to sell it and try something else.
Why? I’ll cover what I was looking for in a pizza oven, a review of my La Piazza Piccolo wood fired pizza oven 2 years later and answer if I could do it all over again would I still buy a pizza oven to help provide some insights to what I learned about the reality of owning and cooking on a backyard pizza oven.
Chapters below…
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Chapters
00:00 – What I wanted in a pizza oven
00:51 – The features that drew me to La Piazza
06:02 – Is a wood fired pizza oven worth it?
10:15 – Would I buy it again?
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Great episode, like all of your videos. Question…how long are the discount codes good for? I just tried to use the one from this video and got this "Enter a valid discount code or gift card" Any thoughts or suggestions?
hahahaha…whenever youtube serves this up to you…..aint that the truth. Cheers bud.
Great video and love your thoughts on this. Just one quick thing, 2 local shops here say, dont use your kamado joe for pizza or really high searing temps. Everything above 275/300 degrees celsius is not recommended. Due to the controle tower top loosing coating and even cracking surfaces around the control top.
With these stories from both shops i am a bit afraid of getting a dojoe and i consider a seperate pizza oven. Is this something you have experienced as well? Or maybe have some tips to.use the dojoe safely? Or are these stories just a way to push me towards other grills?
Your reasoning makes sense. The mystery is what new toy will take its place?
I have a cheap poorly insulated stainless steel pizza oven, I can still build a big fire and cook pizza at high temperatures, but it can still cook with a small open flame without the temps spiking. I bought this knowing this and wanted it for the bigger utility options.
I looked at dedicated pizza ovens. Yeah, little things like the Ooni, nothing quite like your setup. But for the amound of use it would see for the cost, it was silly. What I ended up doing was spending $100 (CAD) on the Onlyfire pizza ring for my Weber kettle. Man, with a ring of coals along the outside and some sticks of wood, it gets right up in that 800-900 degree range without issues and makes some fantastic pizzas on a weeknight or smaller gatherings. (like 6-8 people, it's great) It's really a great option that's pretty low tech, simple, affordable, and effective.
With add-ons like that, the Kamado pizza kit, that offset rig, and other options for different grills (including gas), I think you REALLY need to want that dedicated oven to make it worthwhile, even if they are pretty great. Gotta do what makes you happy at the end of the day. 🙂
Key feature for me is that the dome in the inside is all brick not stainless steel since it produces a different kind of heat and I do not like the way the top of Napoletana pizza come out!
Great stuff James. I recently got rid of my wood pizza oven.
Great video! Looking forward to that smoke tube vs smokebox video..
Word
Is that a Ray Charles charcoal stain @8:17?
Good explanation, James. I think I use mine differently than you so I’m still happy – but I can respect your decision.
Thank you for your thoughts on a pizza oven. I been looking at yours for the 2 years and wondering if I should get one. I cooked many pizzas in my Green Egg and they came out great. I will continue to look at getting an offset because I love BBQ. The wood is the hardest part of an offset as I would have to truck hardwood in hundreds of miles.
I am too the only pizza maniac in my family of two! I bought this little indoor pizza oven called the Piezano Pizza Oven for $120! This pizza oven heats the stone to over 700 degrees in about 10 minutes. I keep pizza dough in the frig and many mornings I make a pizza with olive oil and mozzarella cheese in about 4 to 5 minutes then I after done I put on sliced avocados. I also do the pizza with sauce, cheese, and toppings. At any rate the pizza always comes out great with the crust crunchy and delicious. You can also adjust the temps for top and bottom which helps control the top burning too much. For what I paid it was well worth it for ME. P S The grandkids like it too.
tf is a learning? do you mean 'lesson'?
I love the pizza oven, but for years I can't justify the purchase. I would much rather you teach us all the methods for using our kamado (as you eluded to on this vid). Thanks!
I’m buying an Alfa pizza oven hopefully this week! So excited!
Thank you for doing this video. I love my Ooni Karu 12 but ever since you got yours I have been wanting a big oven like it. I think this video has finally put that itch to bed and I will stick with the portable Ooni that can still easily handle catering for lots of guests
I worked at a popular pizza place with a very nice and very expensive wood fired stone pizza oven for a few years and made many many thousands of pizzas. I actually prefer to cook pizzas longer and at a lower temp lol. 425-500 F is my preferred temp to cook pizzas.
I agree that cooking them at this temp on a smoker is way more flavor than in a pizza oven, and the toppings get more cooked.
It's really interesting to hear your thought process. I've spent the last 3 years trying to master cooking on a cheap offset smoker and I pretty much has that dialed, but after learning so much I'm selling that and getting a KJ (after weeks of watching the freight tracking number, it arrives later this week!). Thanks for walking us through your process. Excited to see what you do next!
I’m was surprised by the comment about visual feedback for filming. I actually LOVE those shots when you do them. I also really admire your ability to pare something away. It really shows that your goal isn’t the kitchen itself, but what the kitchen is doing for you and your family. I know you mentioned raising things up higher in the Joe to get that effect of flames lapping over the roof of the oven. Is that how you’ll do things like the lasagna and cast iron chicken now?
I have a dual fuel Ooni Karu 16. More often than not, I'm using the gas attachment as ease of use is important. What I've also found is that in the 90 seconds that pizza cooks on, there is ZERO smoke flavor, so the fire aspect is a moot point.
please try the Gozney dome I'd love to hear your open and honest review of this.
Great video. I had always thought that the the difference in pizzas between the KJ and the pizza over wasn't so great that it justified the purchase of the pizza oven. The pizzas using the DoJoe are just amazing and the versatility of the KJ, along with my somewhat limited backyard space for cooking, it wouldn't make sense for me to purchase a pizza over and this video does a great job of explaining why. Thanks.
A big fan but please….your grammar,"There WAS a bunch"(just one example) Your verb has to agree with your subject. Something we all learned but forgot from grade school. If the subject is plural your verb has to match. So,"There WERE a bunch". PS-I'm not perfect either unlike Trump. All the best.
I was just watching your older videos of the La Piazza. Thanks for sharing!
what was sales price on 2 year old pizza oven?
With all of your wonderful content and information; I've decided to just add the Dojo to my series 1 Big Joe this spring instead of buying another piece of equipment.
Thanks for all you do!
I’m doing a gozney arc xl. Ordered on release day. This was a great video! Thanks for all of your unbiased and great content.
recently picked up a used OONI 3 in excellent condition for only $100. comes standard with the pellet feed wood option and also included the propane burner adapter (around $100 option). for this low price, it produces some incredible high quality pizzas, etc. the high dollar pizza ovens at $2K have distinct advantages over a small oven, but not enough to justify the cost……or space.
Great video James! Like how u keep pushing the boundaries and keeps wanting to try new things
Well, James you saved me some money. I wanted to get a pizza oven to add to my collection. But, controlling temperature would be difficult. I have used my pellet grill and Kamado to make pizza with good results. Getting a pizza oven would be just something to play with. I do want to add another grill to my collection, but no sure what kind. I thought about a stick burner, but the cost is way up there. Thought about a Santa Maria grill. But the weather plays a part with that grill. And, a drum cooker don't seem to be practical as well..
Thanks for another good video. I can tell Spring is in the air cause the birdies are back,,,
I have two Gozney Domes…That's how much i like them. Having the dual fuel makes them incredibly versatile and a breeze to use. They have really taken the home pizza oven segment by storm and have put considerable pressure on the competition because their pricing is fantastic. They deliver the best value proposition without sacrificing anything in quality. The build quality and customer service from them is amazing!
Yes, please do more Joe Jr. videos! I just got one for Christmas with a bunch of accessories and have watched all of your J.J. Videos at least twice and need more. Thanks for all the incredible content.
You teased us with a crate, so I'm wondering if we'll be seeing a direct heat cooker like a Chud Box or something similar.
Hi James, I live just east of T.O. and would be interested in your pizza oven. If it hasn’t been sold, let me know! Thanks
Can't wait for the Joe Jr content