Who doesn’t love pizza?! Nothing beats the smoky flavor that an outdoor wood fired pizza oven delivers. When building a house or a patio, if you are a real foodie, one of the features to consider for your outdoor area is a wood fired pizza oven. You can use it not only as an oven to make delicious homemade pizzas with fresh ingredients but also as a grill for roasting vegetables and meat if you don’t want to get a separate barbeque unit. What’s more, the warmth radiating from the oven makes it a perfect place to entertain guests or to bond with the family over a meal.
Dome Ovens, a company based in Tampa, Florida, has a lovely range of wood fired pizza ovens that are perfect for outdoor kitchen areas of big and small houses. Besides the reassurance of excellent customer reviews, the company offers live support to customers to sort out any issues related to the product specifications, installation, customization or troubleshooting. The range of ovens is competitively priced compared to other brands in the market, and the company offers accessory bundle deals that offer great value for what you pay.
Most homeowners overlook the benefits of having a wood fired pizza oven at home as they think it won’t be easy to install or needs to be custom-designed by a professional. The range from Dome Ovens includes wood fired pizza oven kits that are ready to install and are available for order online from the company’s website. There is also a DIY kit available for those who love to try their hand at building things for the home.
Today, let’s take a tour of some charming built-in pizza ovens for homes from Dome Ovens to get ideas on how to add one in the backyard or patio to enjoy the thrill and the traditional flavors of cooking on an open flame in the outdoors.
Although it looks like an aesthetic feature that enhances the style of an outdoor area, an outdoor wood fired pizza oven also offers several benefits.
Several models of outdoor pizza ovens exist in the market. The best ones are handcrafted and built using the same design and principles as traditional European ones. They can also be customized to suit the homeowner’s needs either in terms of size or style. One advantage with these models is that, unlike traditional built-in outdoor brick pizza ovens they have handles at the four corners and can be lifted to access or clean the chamber underneath.
Made from superior high-density red clay brick, the Tudor style pre-assembled wood fired pizza oven is dome-shaped and relatively compact with an internal diameter of just 32 inches. It makes it a perfect option for a small veranda or covered patio as it won’t occupy too much space. The handcrafted oven is built with pure refractory mortar, which allows it to resist very high temperatures. It has a cast iron glass door that can be used to ventilate the oven and regulate the temperature, besides a damper to control smokiness. Homeowners can choose from special pre-order finishes, such as white brick, and additional features, including a gas burner.
This large wood fired pizza oven is bigger than the Tudor and has an internal diameter of 42 inches. It’s made of superior alumina refractory brick that aids in resisting higher temperatures and in better heat retention than a traditional outdoor wood fired pizza oven. Add-on features include a two-flame gas burner and a stainless-steel chimney with a rain cap that protects the oven interior from flooding in the event of a downpour. Besides a damper for smoke optimization, this model includes double doors in a stainless-steel finish.
For homeowners who are looking for a multi-use wood fired pizza oven, the rotisserie model offers the option of grilling as it has a rotisserie handle built into the oven door to facilitate easy turning of the skewer.
These ovens can be customized to suit the design style of an outdoor or indoor area as well as the preferences of the homeowner.
Besides the traditional brick finish, one can opt for a stone finish, which would be a perfect addition to a patio or backyard garden with a classic design style. It has the same features of the other ovens but has the exterior dome clad with natural stone.
A mosaic finish on the dome is another attractive option for a wood fired pizza oven. It’s suitable for a rustic or country theme.
For homeowners who love mini build projects and are looking for ideas for an outdoor pizza oven, a DIY pizza oven kit is an excellent option. The kit includes four dome segments, an insulated and fully-assembled food grade base, a stainless-steel door with a heat resistant handle, four removable lifting handles, a pale of refractory cement (for joining the segments) and three chimney plugs.
First, one should mix the refractory cement as per the instructions on the pale, and then, spread it along the edge of the base. After this, the segments should be assembled onto the cement, without filling in the joints with cement to allow for expansion and contraction. Next, for insulation, the dome of the wood fired pizza oven should be covered with rock wool or ceramic fiber of approximately one-inch thickness, using a heat-resistant mortar to fix it to the dome surface. Following this, the entire dome can be covered with regular stucco and coated with an exterior masonry paint in any preferred color. Another option could be to tile the dome exterior in a mosaic finish. It’s advisable to fix the chimney with a rain cap to protect the oven from getting damp.
After the dome is assembled, the next stage is to cure the oven. The first two days, place an electric heater in the mouth of the oven, keeping the door open. Following this, you should light small fires in the wood fired pizza oven, starting with a temperature of 300 F for 3-6 hours on day 3 and slowly increasing around 50 F per day (for 3-6 hours) until you reach a maximum temperature of 500 F on day 7. Once this process is completed, the outdoor wood fired pizza oven is ready to use. You can enjoy experimenting with different dough mixes, toppings and cheeses or even grill meat and vegetables for friends and family.