Summer is approaching, which means it’s time to enjoy the warm weather around the grill. But let me show you another way: Instead of the usual burgers, hot dogs, and kebabs, what if you make pizza? I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and while I still love grilling, it’s no longer the same as pulling pies on my Ooni Fyra 12.
A pizza oven previously seemed to me to be something reserved for fitness enthusiasts. I never thought to buy one for myself, because for many years I believed I hated pizza – the British food scene was not full of good options during my childhood, in my defence. But after my partner and I got our first gift a few years ago, I spent some time making my own, and I have to admit that I’m completely changed.
The Ooni Fyra 12 also retailed for $349 in the US at launch, but you can no longer buy this particular model on Ooni’s US website. It uses wood chips for fuel, which gives the pizza that authentic wood-fired flavor, so a comparable alternative would be something like the $200 12-inch oven from Big Horn Outdoors. Otherwise, the spiritual successor of the Fyra seems to be the Ooni Karu, which sells for the same $ 349 but uses wood logs or charcoal.
While the actual fueling process may vary between pizza oven models, the cooking process and speed should be the same. I found the Fyra very easy to assemble, only requiring you to attach the included chimney pipes and flame guard, and it comes with clear instructions for use. The Karu looks very similar to the Fyra, and the setup process is simple – the only real difference is that you’ll be stuffing wood or charcoal into the back of the fuel instead of special wood planks.
As its name suggests, the Fyra 12 is designed to make 12-inch pizzas. It came with a square pizza stone that works well, but you can use other 12-inch pizza stones and tongs if you like. It also came with an Ooni-branded pizza peel (the big paddle you use to move the pizza), but this felt poor quality compared to the brandless version I’ve used for years at my in-laws place, so I’d recommend investing in a better one. The metal of the one provided in the oven is thin, and the plastic handle is not pleasant to it, the handle.
But man, the cooking experience? It cannot be compared. On a recent weekend, I asked my partner to set up the Ooni because I didn’t want to get my hands dirty before handling the food, and the whole process from mixing to eating two fresh, hot pizzas took less than 40 minutes. It took about 15 minutes to preheat the oven by first filling its fuel hopper to the top with wood chips, and then four minutes to bake the pie to perfection. All you have to do during that process is use the peel occasionally to turn the pizza every minute or so. If you have pre-made raw pizzas or have a second person make them ready to toss, you can make more meals. a lot immediately. I’m sure I could comfortably use this to feed a group of six adults.
As long as you don’t put the pizza in and forget about it, the results will probably depend on the quality of your pizza-to do skills rather than baking skills – something you can easily acquire by buying pre-made dough and sauces, or just getting used to it a little. But even an average pizza can be elevated by cooking it over a real flame, and personally it only took me two tries to get comfortable with making pizza from scratch. It’s like making a pancake: They smell fear The process is actually pretty simple, but your first one will probably suck.
If you don’t want to make a ton of pizza, then you’ll be happy to know that the oven cools down quickly, so it’s still worth the effort to bake even just one pie. My pellet-burning model burned on its own fuel for about 45 minutes, and was cool enough to walk around by hand after an hour. I also find the oven much easier to clean than the barbecue in comparison because there is less oil involved. The stone can be washed if needed, and I just wipe off any soot from the inside of the oven chimney if I see it build up – usually after two uses.
The oven is quite portable, too. Its legs fold up, so you can put all the parts in a bag and take it to a picnic or barbecue. And it doesn’t get so hot that you can’t put it on a wooden table (we have it several times without a defect on the table itself), which is good because bending down to move the pizzas around when the Ooni is down is a quick way to strain your back. I can only warn that you should not put the oven on its back to anything. If you open the front grill and chimney vent, the extra air flow makes the fire explode in its rear area, so leave more space.
For me, if the sun is shining and we want to cook outside, this will win the sauce almost always. It’s quick to set up, bakes quickly, requires little cleanup, and gives you restaurant-quality pizza that’s much better than something you can cook in your regular oven. Having that authentic char in the crusts is something I’ve only achieved by cooking with a real flame. This realization has spread to many of our families, who have started getting portable pizza ovens for camping trips, beach trips, and garden parties.
And now I’m begging you, again: Get a dang pizza oven. You don’t even need to like pizza – for this, you will learn.
