Homeowners are hot for pizza ovens
GET FIRED UP: Kitchen countertop and backyard models will have you making pies like a professional
LAS VEGAS — Pizza Hut is fine when you feel like going out. But pizza at home is the newest trend, with pizza ovens designed for the kitchen or backyard.
This spring, one of the most recognizable names in home appliances will go after a piece of that pie when GE Monogram starts selling a $10,000 electric, residential wall model designed to fit into the space of a standard 30-inch wall oven.
GE fired up its oven and cooked pizza in the middle of the Las Vegas Convention Center at this year’s Kitchen and Bath Industry Show.
Sure, their professional chef made it look easy, but like most people, I’d never used a pizza oven.
Wondering what it’s like to use a pizza oven at home, I gave a propane-powered, outdoor, countertop Napoli Pizza Oven from Lynx Grills a try.
Like others, the Napoli has a stainless exterior, a pizza stone, and a stone-like interior designed to reflect heat like a brick oven. It requires about 30 minutes or so to heat to an internal temperature of 700 degrees or more.
After that, a Neapolitan-style pizza should cook in a matter of minutes, but the ovens also can be adjusted to cook other styles of pizza and calzone.
The Napoli was at the mercy of the elements, and my experiment was interrupted by high winds and cool ambient temperature. Working around the environmental curveballs and my own inexperience, I eventually made some misshapen pies that were certainly better than frozen, with a nice crunchy crust. But whether it was the recipe or the receptacle, they weren’t quite on par with the ones from my favourite pizzeria.
In addition to the $4,000 countertop model, the Napoli also comes paired with a free-standing cart at $6,500 for the set.
Another company, Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet, has a $6,900 outdoor countertop model called the Artisan Fire Pizza Oven that can be packed up for a tailgate party.
“It comes in three layers. Each layer can be easily unstacked and moved by one person,” said company spokesman Bradley Carlson.
“It’s not only about the grill anymore,” he said. “People are becoming more sophisticated in terms of what they’re cooking outdoors.”
Last year, the company unveiled a version of the Artisan Fire Pizza Oven that can be built into brick, stone or concrete for a clean look in an outdoor kitchen. It costs $8,300, plus installation.
Should homeowners tire of pizza, the manufacturers say the outdoor ovens can also be used for roasting foods, baking breads or making fajitas.