Owning the best pizza oven will mean that you have an endless supply of homemade pizzas to eat this summer. It’s something which may take a bit of getting used to but once you start enjoying the results of your creation, you’ll (probably) never go back to buying a pizza again. You won’t be surprised to hear that most pizza ovens are wood-fired but as with our top picks from Ooni and DeliVita, they can also be powered with gas. Electric pizza ovens are a great option for using indoors, too, so you don’t even need to wait for the sun to be shinning to tuck into some hand-stretched dough.

We’ve been reviewing pizza ovens for a number of years from some top brands like DeliVita, Ooni, Woody, Gozney, and Sage. The overall design is an important factor we consider since it’s this which can determine the ease of use, manoeuvrability (of pizza and oven) and storing. We tend to review for a few months before writing up so you know that by the time you are reading one of our reviews, the pizza oven has already gone through the duration of a season.

With our top 10 outdoor ovens below, you can practice making the perfect pizza until you’ve mastered the art. Then, when summer comes back around, you can make delicious slices for the whole family with garden pizza parties. Sound like a plan? Keep scrolling to see which popular pizza ovens made the cut then, head over to our best BBQs guide for some grilling and searing options to complete your feast.

Best pizza ovens 2022

1. Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven

Best pizza oven for everyone

Fuel: wood or gas
Colour: black
Pizza size: 16-inch

Reasons to buy

• A larger internal capacity
• Very fast pre-heating
• Temperature gauge makes the process a lot easier
• Viewing window to watch your pizza cook

Reasons to avoid

• There’s no gas burner included

This is the best pizza oven you can buy, in our opinion. We’re impressed in so many ways, the quality in particular. The cooking process is incredibly straightforward which will result in a top-quality pizza, even if you’re catering for your entire family.

Our reviewer found that the viewing window is useful for checking in on the progress of the bake. The temperature display is useful for checking the internal levels so you can be confident (which is key) that you’re cooking the perfect pizza. And the increased cooking area makes it easier to turn the pizza for an even crisp on the dough where you want it.

There’s no denying that this is a sizeable outdoor oven but the foldable legs and removable chimney take it down a size which can be easily stowed when not in use.

Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven review

2. Gozney Roccbox

Best pizza oven for multi-fuel options

Fuel: Wood & gas
Colour: Green, grey
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• Silicone jacket is safe to touch
• Easy to transport
• Two fuel modes

Reasons to avoid

• When cooking with wood it’s quite fiddly

The Gozney Roccbox is a premium pizza oven. It’s got a silicone jacket that keeps it safe to touch while cooking and also helps to insulate throughout. We also think it looks a real treat, and you can choose one of two colours when buying this oven.

We found that the thermometer at the side of the oven makes cooking nice and easy, and you can keep track of how consistent the temperature stays when cooking to adjust timings accordingly. The legs fold down twice to make the oven very portable, and it comes with a strap that helps to hoist it in and out of the car. It is heavy though, so don’t expect to carry it long distances unless you’re very strong.

The gas and wood burners both twist onto the base of the oven, and it’s very simple to hook up the gas burner to keep it consistently burning. When it comes to wood though the oven is more high maintenance, and we found that it could use a larger capacity to keep it well-stocked enough to hit those high temperatures.

Ideal Home’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

3. Woody Wood Fired Pizza Oven

Best affordable pizza oven

Fuel: Wood pellets
Colour: Black
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• It’s reasonably priced
• Has everything you need
• We could reach high temperatures

Reasons to avoid

• It’s a high maintenance piece of kit

The Woody Wood Fired Pizza Oven is our top pick if you want the best pizza oven on a budget. It’s got all the main features of other portable pizza ovens, as well as a pizza peel included, and e ven a thermometer attached to the front of the oven. That’s great value when you compare it to alternatives such as Ooni, which don’t include these extras and cost a slice more.

The arched roof of the Woody Wood Fired Pizza Oven charmed us when we reviewed it, and the powder-coated oven body is insulated with ceramic fibre to make it easy to reach those high temperatures you’ll need to make a pizza in under 60 seconds. It also comes with a carry case and detachable chimney which makes transportation easy.

As with all wood-fired ovens, it’s quite an involved process to get that high temperature. Despite this we were able to reach 450ºC, and our pizza had that telltale charring that shows it’s been cooked to perfection.

Ideal Home rated 4 out of 5 stars
Read our full Woody Portable Wood Fired Pizza Oven Kit review

4. Ooni Fyra Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven

Best pizza oven for design

Image credit: Ooni

Fuel: Wood 
Colour: Black and steel
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• Excellent insulation
• Easy to clean
• Speedy cooking

Reasons to avoid

• It’s exclusively wood-fired

Another tried and tested top pick,  this pizza oven gets the balance right when it comes to affordability and quality. We found that it takes a few tries to get the perfect pizza, but once you’ve got the hang of turning the pizza as it cooks you’ll have evenly-cooked and authentic Italian pizza, whenever you want!

The Ooni Fyra is easy to clean, you just need to empty the fuel tray at the back of the oven and wipe down the pizza stone. Its legs fold out for use on wooden, steel or stone tables, and the chimney twists off so you can store it inside the oven itself and take it on the go.

When we put the Fyra to the test it delivered perfectly cooked pizza in 60 seconds, as promised. There’s no temperature gauge but you’ll get the hang of identifying when the oven is heated up after a few attempts. This pizza oven makes the process easy and straightforward, and it’s guaranteed to be used all through the summer.

5. Sage Smart Oven Pizzaiolo

Best indoor pizza oven

Fuel: Electric
Colour: Stainless steel
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• It makes amazing pizzas with very little effort
• Custom modes for all sorts of pizzas
• Can be used indoors and outdoors

Reasons to avoid

• You’ll lose that wood-fired charm

The Sage Smart Oven Pizzaiolo is a seriously smart indoor pizza oven. It can heat up to 400 degrees and cook authentic Neopolitan-style pizzas as well as deep dish and even frozen pizzas. When we put this pizza oven to the test and were seriously impressed by how fast it cooked our pizzas, as well as the evenness of the cooking. Although it’s electric, the Sage Smart Oven Pizzaiolo gives you the experience of authentic wood-fired pizza but without the stress of firing up an outdoor oven. The immediate advantage of this is that you can enjoy fresh cooked pizza all year around, and no weather can rain on your pizza party.

The obvious downside of the Sage Smart Oven Pizzaiolo is the high price, but when you consider that it plugs right in, comes with a pizza peel, and doesn’t need a thermometer to tell if it’s hot enough to cook your pizza perfectly, it’s an unmissable option. If you want the best pizza oven to take the stress out of judging the heat and timing of your cooking, this five-star option is the one for you.

Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Sage Smart Oven Pizzaiolo review

6. DeliVita Outdoor Pizza Oven

Best posh portable pizza oven

Fuel: Wood-fired
Colour: Multiple
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• A spectacle for serious pizzaiolos
• Comes in a beautiful array of colours
• Can be used for more than just pizza

Reasons to avoid

• It’s very heavy and expensive

Enjoy pizza anywhere and any way you want it with this transportable oven. Handmade in Yorkshire, it’s one of the most beautiful ovens out there. When we put this pizza oven to the test it impressed us with its beautiful exterior and sturdy design. Heating the oven was easy, we just made a jenga-style tower of wood and lit it before leaving it for about half an hour to come to the desired temperature of 450°C.

The DeliVita comes in a gorgeous range of colours and can make 12-inch pizzas in just a minute. Its exterior is waterproof and it also comes with a cover, meaning you can leave it outside after use if you wish. It is a little on the heavy side at 30kg, so not the best for travelling, but there’s no denying the authentic feel of that crackling wood and our finished pizza was restaurant-quality.

Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars

7. Monster Shop Pizza Oven Outdoor Grill

Best freestanding pizza oven

Fuel: Charcoal
Colour: Black
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• It’s freestanding, which makes storage very easy
• Wheels for simple transportation
• Two ovens

Reasons to avoid

• If you want something portable, look elsewhere

The Monster Shop Pizza Oven Outdoor Grill is a fully freestanding pizza oven with an in-built smoker. With storage space for fuel and toppings built right in, this pizza oven comes on two wheels and while it can make delicious 12-inch pizzas, you can also use it for slow cooking and smoking meats and veggies.

Many of the pizza ovens in our guide will require you to either place them carefully on your prized patio furniture, or buy a dedicated pizza oven stand to keep them elevated when cooking. There’s no such issue with this freestanding oven.

The price is amazing for the cooking capacity and visual appeal. It has an in-built thermometer and the powder-coated black exterior is striking and easy to wipe down.

8. La Hacienda BBQ Pizza Oven

Best pizza oven for BBQs 

Fuel: BBQ
Colour: Alloy steel
Pizza size: 12-inch
Reasons to buy

• It’s the space-efficient choice
• Can be placed on BBQs
• Budget-friendly

Reasons to avoid

• Hard to transport because the handles aren’t heatproof

The double-insulated La Hacienda BBQ Pizza Oven can be placed on your BBQ and used to cook pizza, flatbreads and other treats on the built-in stone. It can be placed on gas and charcoal barbecues and heated through for an authentic wood-fired effect. The dimensions are 35 x 35 x 15 cm, and it weighs nearly 8kg, but the handles on the side mean it will be difficult to lift until cooled fully.

If you want a cheap pizza oven for your garden BBQ, go for this one. It’s easy to store and the wood-fired stone will give you that leopard-print Neopolitan pizza crust you’re craving.

9. Ooni Koda

Best gas pizza oven

Fuel: Gas
Colour: Stainless steel
Pizza size: 12-inch, 16-inch
Reasons to buy

• Perfectly portable
• Convenient gas controls
• No assembly needed

Reasons to avoid

• It’s an expensive choice

You can buy the Ooni Koda in either a 12-inch or 16-inch size, so there’s an option for those with more space and one for a more portable option. The legs fold away for easy storage and there’s a dial to control the temperature. It really couldn’t be easier. Another thing we like is that the gas burner comes included. You’ll have to pay extra for this if you buy the Ooni Fyra, whereas the Koda is ready to go right out of the box.

As with the rest of the Ooni range you can cook your pizza in only 60 seconds, and it heats up fast to reach as much as 500 degrees in only 15 minutes.

10. Gardeco Pizzaro

Best traditional pizza oven

Fuel: Wood-fired
Colours: Clay
Pizza size: Cook three pizzas at once!
Reasons to buy

• It’s on wheels and easy to move around
• Lower level for storage
• Good insulation

Reasons to avoid

• A heavy choice that could prove tricky to store

Nothing says authentic quite like cooking pizza in a clay oven. This stylish design consists of a cooking dome and chiminea made from traditional, crack-resistant clay, which is guaranteed for 5 years against cracking due to thermal shock.

The rustic oven cavity needs to be heated from within first. One firing is then good for cooking two to three pizzas, one at a time.

How to buy a pizza oven – everything you need to know

Image credit: Morso

Check the weight of your pizza oven

Pizza ovens – particularly clay or brick ovens – can be VERY heavy and tricky to manoeuvre without equipment or a team of helpers. It’s always worth looking at the weight before you order, and check that if it is a beast, that the supplier will move it into position for you.

Related: Best fire pits – from fire bowls to chimineas, here are our top picks 

Alternatively, pick a design on wheels that you can move around the garden. 

Know your fuels

Pizza is traditionally cooked in a wood-fired oven for that signature smoky flavour. However, some pizza ovens have gas burners that will get your oven cavity up to temperature much quicker. Charcoal and pellet burners are other options.

The temperature of your oven will peak somewhere between 400 and 500 degrees C, and the better your oven maintains its temperature, the more pizzas you can produce from one ‘firing’.

Image credit: Sandtex

Note the cooking times

A small oven will take anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes to heat up (around 10 if you’re using gas, and closer to 20 if you’re opting for pellets or charcoal. Larger ovens can take anything up to an hour. You’re typical pizza will take around six minutes to cook, though remember to turn it for an even bake.

The smallest gas-powered ovens, however, can do the job in as little as 60 seconds. Every oven is different, but it won’t take long to ‘learn’ its optimal cooking time.

Treasure those little extras

A temperature gauge is handy, as you’ll always know when you’re ready to cook. A few ovens come with a pizza paddle designed to fit the cavity perfectly, though this is the exception rather than the rule.

Look out for models with griddles, as then you’ll be able to use your oven as a barbecue and not have to own two separate outdoor cookers.

Image credit: Joanna Henderson

Get an authentic base

‘For a 10-inch pizza with an authentic thin base, roll out a piece of dough just larger than a golf ball, certainly no bigger,’ says Digital Editor (and pizza aficionado) Amy Cutmore. ‘Also, don’t go too crazy with your toppings – overloading can cause your pizza not to cook properly.’

The post Best pizza ovens 2022: our top 10 indoor and outdoor ovens appeared first on Ideal Home.

Photo By Jeff Nigro

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Winter Colors” by Jeff Nigro.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including Assignments, Galleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

The post Photo Of The Day By Jeff Nigro appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.

Wouldn’t it be nice to conjure up majestic light on immaculate subjects any time of day? 5 a.m. wake-up calls to capture the sweet light of sunrise would no longer be necessary. Romantic sunsets with loved ones could occur every evening. Going to bed on a full stomach at 9 p.m. could become a thing of the past. The tradeoff is your subject matter will be restricted, but your subjects will still have allure. The shift in gears would have you limit your subject matter, but it wouldn’t be a trade-off because fabricating fabulous florals is fun and fascinating.

Flowers are like magnets. Their colors, shapes, forms and textures attract us, compel us to record them and whisper in our ears to experiment with light, the angle, grouping and more. Their beauty drives us to find the perfect specimen. Nature photographers are instinctively drawn to them, which makes them an often photographed subject. What is it that separates a good floral image from an ordinary one? Three main factors enter “the picture.” No one factor alone makes the photograph work. It’s a combination of light, controlling the background and specimen choice.

Quality Of Light In Flower Photography

As with any subject, the quality of light plays a huge role in what makes or breaks the image. Because of a flower’s small size, harsh natural light can be modified or augmented with easy-to-carry, inexpensive equipment to give the flower a more pleasing look. During mid-day when the light is hard and contrasty, it can be softened through the use of reflectors, flash or diffusion material. When skies are dark and gray, flash can be utilized as a main light to provide highlights and sparkle.

Nature photographers know that sunrise and sunset bestows warm and beautiful color and that late morning, mid-day and early afternoon light should be avoided. It’s during these times we nap, download, clean gear and answer emails and texts. Overhead light creates bright highlights and deep, black shadows. This light isn’t conducive to good photography. HDR captures can help soften the contrast, but they can’t change the modeling of the light. Highlights blow out and shadows go black. But, when we work with small subjects, we can modify the light via the use of reflectors, flash, diffusers, women’s makeup mirrors, umbrellas and more. Light can be added to the shadow areas and contrast can be softened.

Using A Reflector

A reflector adds light to dark areas of the flower and/or its surroundings. This reduces contrast between the brightest and shadowed parts. The light becomes more pleasing and even. With your eye to the viewfinder, angle the reflector so the highlight portions soften. The bounced light should be directed toward the shadow areas to open them up.

Don’t let your creativity stop here. Depending on what you use as a reflector, the contrast can be controlled to a greater or lesser degree. Mirrors reflect the greatest amount of light and also create a narrow sharp beam. The larger the mirror the wider the reflection. Foil or silver reflectors are another way to bounce back a considerable amount of light. A plain white card will bounce back the least amount but create a softer wraparound effect. To more closely convey sunrise or sunset conditions, add warmth to the image. Gold foil or warm tone reflectors work great to impart this effect.

Flash can also be used to soften the contrast. The use of fill flash has become easy in comparison to years ago. Camera bodies and flashes communicate with each other so an easily obtainable balance between the ambient light and flash output can occur.

Many flowers have multi-colored sections that range in tone from bright white to deeply saturated dark hues. Depending on the contrast between the bright and dark areas, use varying amounts of fill flash to lessen the range. My go-to setting is -1 flash compensation and I adjust from there. This fills in light on the darker parts of the flower yet has no impact on the highlights. In essence, the flash brightens the shadows while the sun determines the exposure on the bright sections. When the contrast is high, use more fill. When the conditions are soft, use less. Check the LCD and scan the entire screen to fine-tune the amount.

Using Off-Camera Flash For Flower Photography

When thick clouds dominate the sky, the skies are gray. This dull light gets reflected onto the flower and creates a flat look. I rescue the light with off-camera flash. I use up to three flashes that are triggered wirelessly. One flash is offset to the side of the flower, another lights it from down low and a third is sometimes used to illuminate the background. All the flashes read the subject using TTL and I adjust the output using the power ratio. I sometimes use a tiny softbox on the head of the main flash to diffuse and soften its quality. A good technique to incorporate for the third flash is to backlight the main flower to give it a rim lit glow effect! In the amount of space I have in the weekly Tip of the Week, a detailed how-to is tough to explain, but I encourage you to take charge and learn how to use a multiple flash system with small subjects.

My favorite condition under which I photograph flowers is bright overcast. Shadows are soft yet apparent, highlights are held in check and colors saturate. It’s simple to meter the image because the contrast range is compressed and provides evenly-lit, wonderful-to-look-at photographs. When Mother Nature readily accommodates me with bright overcast skies, I exploit these conditions and head to my backyard, open field or botanical gardens.

Using A Diffuser

When the sun is intense, bright overcast conditions can be mimicked using white diffusion material between it and the subject. Whenever it’s sunny, I always carry a small white photographic umbrella to soften its intensity. To exhaust all my photographic possibilities, I take some photos using the diffuser and some without and decide which one I like better when I view them on my computer. If you’re shooting with a friend and you don’t have a diffuser, have the person cast a shadow across the image area to produce nearly the same effect.

Be sure to check back next week when we’ll discuss ways to control the background in your flower photography.

To learn more about this subject, join me on a photo safari to Tanzania. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com to get more information.

The post Flower Power, Part 1 appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.