Pizza ovens are increasingly becoming popular, and they are all the rage this summer. Because of how popular they have become, there are now more manufacturers making pizza ovens than before. This means there is now a wide range of options to choose from when looking for the best pizza oven, and this makes the shopping process much difficult than it used to be.
Shopping for a pizza oven is not an easy task, as there is a wide range of things you need to put into consideration. If you want to settle for the best pizza oven that will serve you for a very long time without any issues, then there are some vital things you need to consider.
A pizza oven plays a key role in the flavor of the pizza or food just like the sauce, ingredients, and other things used to make the pizza or food. To make the best pizza or food that would come out tasty on the other end, you need the best pizza oven, such as the Ooni Karu. In this guide, we will be listing some of the most important things you need to consider when buying a pizza oven.
Important Considerations When Looking for the Best Pizza Oven
Table of Contents
Available Space at Home
When buying a pizza oven, one of the first things you need to consider is how much space you have at home. You need to measure the free space you have to avoid buying a pizza oven that would be too large for the space. You want to make sure you choose an option that would fit perfectly into the space you have.
You should also make sure that there is enough space for you to move around freely after installing the oven. Ovens that use wood as fuel generate a lot of smoke, so you should consider a longer chimney that will take away the smoke from the way of the chef. If it is your personal house or you are not planning on moving out in a couple of years, you should go for a heavier option.
However, if you have very little space in your home, then your best option would be a portable pizza oven. In all, you should make sure the oven will fit perfectly into the space you have with enough room left for you to move around with ease while using it.
The Material Used to Make the Pizza Oven
Pizza ovens are made with a variety of materials, with metal, brick, and aluminum being the three most popular. All these materials are great, but what you plan on cooking will determine the best one for you. Your style of cooking will determine the type of oven to settle for. Do you want to use the oven for slow cooking or quicker cooking?
Quicker Cooking
If you want to use it for quicker cooking, you should consider going for a metal oven. The metal pizza oven takes less time to heat, which means your oven would be at the optimal cooking temperature in less time. Nevertheless, metal pizza ovens are very poor at retaining heat, and they cool quicker when you put off the fire. Brick ovens are very good at retaining heat, but they take more time to heat up.
Metal ovens are also very good at distributing heat evenly. You can use them to handle all styles of cooking. However, if you do more slow cooking such as baking bread or roasting a chicken, you will need something that can maintain the heat and keep it at the optimal temperature.
Slow Cooking
The major benefit of brick pizza ovens is that they are very good at retaining heat for a long time. Once you heat them to a certain temperature, they can hold that heat for several hours. The downside with brick ovens is that they take a longer time to heat. They can take over one hour to heat up to the optimal cooking temperature.
So you can make your choice depending on which one is more suitable for your cooking style. If you want something that will heat up quickly so you can get to work immediately, then the metal oven is the best option for you.
Fuel Options
There are different types of pizza ovens out there, and most of them differ in size, weight, build material, as well as the type of fuel they use. The different types of fuel pizza ovens use include wood, charcoal, gas, and electricity.
If you like the flavors and taste of wood-fired pizzas, then you should opt for an oven that uses wood as fuel. This is also the most common choice for residential ovens. In addition to providing you with great flavors, wood-burning ovens do not require any electrical power outlet. This means you can use them almost anywhere.
On the other hand, wood-burning pizza ovens generate a lot of heat, and they also take some time to burn. If you are looking for an oven that lights and heats very quickly, then you should opt for a gas-powered pizza oven. Interestingly, some pizza ovens use more than one type of fuel, such as the Ooni Karu 12 – it uses charcoal or wood, and it is gas compatible at the same time.
The Size of the Oven
Another vital thing you need to consider is the size of the oven. The biggest determining factor for the size of oven you need is the amount of food you want to cook. There are small, medium, and large pizza ovens, and the size of pizza or food you want to cook will determine the size of the oven you need.
The larger ones are great but more expensive. However, what is more important is that you choose a size that can accommodate the amount of food or the size of pizza you want to make. The oven should sizeable enough to allow for the free use of your pizza peel when taking out your pizza.
Conclusion
Pizza ovens are very useful in many homes. They come in handy when making different flavors of pizzas and cooking different types of food. However, for you to make the most out of them you need to make sure you choose the best option. With the guide in this article, choosing your next pizza oven should no longer be a daunting task. Also, read bout Tips for Designing an Outdoor Kitchen on a Budget.
