You have choices. Lots of them. The lower price gets you smaller oven. More money gets you something larger and probably more versatile. And a ton of money gets you something that’s probably too much unless you entertain hordes of people. All of them have a learning curve.
The Ovens
We have a small, wood-burning Ooni. Some clients have gas-burning Oonis. Others have gas-fired Roccboxes. All work great. All have a steeper learning curve for pizza: several curves, in fact: prepping ingredients, heating the oven to the correct temperature, cooking techniques all come into play. Other things have learning curves, too – unless you’re used to cooking in an intensely hot oven that would give your home oven nightmares.
Pizza Dough
I’ll start here, since they are called pizza ovens for a reason. Although they are wonderful for other things, especially fish.
You either need to spend more than you should on ready-made dough or learn how to make your own. Basic dough is flour (preferably 00), water, salt, yeast and time. Fancier dough adds olive oil, sourdough starter, different types of wheat or grains… Then it has to be kneaded to develop elasticity. Then proofed. Then shaped, topped, placed in the oven.
Firing a pizza
You don’t just stick a pizza in a crazy hot oven and walk away. The pizza stone should be around 700° F or even higher, and one side of the oven has flames keeping it that way. Result: either you keep turning your pie or the side facing the flames will a black, carbonized mess. The pizza oven makers are really into accessories. Wooden peel, metal peel, turning peel, perforated peel… I use a wooden peel going in, a metal peel coming out and a long-handled grill spatula for turning. A grilling spatula costs about $50 less than a turning peel, and it turns pizza well enough if you’re careful.
Pizza in hot oven, wait maybe 10-15 seconds for the bottom crust to set, turn the thing 90°, wait maybe 5 seconds, another quarter turn, keep going until the outer rim of the pie has “panther spots” and looks toasty. Don’t pause, don’t wait, don’t get that text… or you’ll be chewing carbon.
Fish
A pizza oven gets hot, top and bottom. Very hot – up to around 500°C, 900° F. What does that mean? You can develop flavor on the outside of the fish before the inside heats up and dries out. You can also add glazes, like misoyaki, as you cook. Place the fish in a cast iron pan, preheated or not, put it in the oven and watch it carefully. If you have a wood-burning oven, you can close the damper for more smoke flavor.
Bread
Some ovens – Gozney Domes for example, hold heat well enough for bread. They even supposedly have a steam attachment if you want to try making artisan sourdough. Our Ooni Karu 12 does not – it’s metal and works by reflecting heat back down more than storing it. It also has a small opening, so when the bread rises it gets stuck and you have to cut the top off your loaf. The bigger wood-burning Ooni probably can do a better job on bread, but not likely as well as a steam-injected Gozney.
Finishing veggies, lasagna, baked pasta, etc.
If you pre-cook things like onions or potatoes, you can use the oven to finish them with melted cheese. Start in a regular oven or on the range with a cast iron pan, wait until your veggies are fork tender, sprinkle them with toppings and pop them in the oven to broil. Same for baked pasta – pre bake and finish. Unless you have good temperature control, your pizza oven will probably be too hot for baking. And it’s probably more expensive for the fuel, too.
Steaks and chops
Steaks and chops can be done in a pizza oven, although I’m not convinced it’s a better way to go than just searing them in a hot pan. Preheat your cast iron pan in the pizza oven, season and lightly oil your steak (too much oil will flame), pull the pan out of the oven with a super insulated fireproof glove that will likely scorch anyway, drop in the steak, sear, flip, sear, take out of the oven and rest on a cutting board. Our you could skip the pizza oven part and just sear the thing in the pan. If the oven is already going for other things, it makes sense, but lighting a pizza oven and waiting for it to come up to temp is slower than putting the pan on a burner.