GET FIRED UP

A smart investment in a portable oven will grant you a bigger pizza the action in both nutrition and flavour. Here are five of the best

Light up your al fresco eating with our pick of the five best portable pizza ovens

Everyone remembers the first time they had a slice of proper pizza. It may have been from a street vendor in Naples, or from one of the artisan pizzerias that have sprung up across the UK in the past decade – that first bite of authentic dough-covered-incheese-and-tomatoes is never forgotten. But it’s hard to replicate at home: that blistered, charred effect takes an intense heat that normal ovens can’t create. But before you redesign your kitchen to accommodate a brick-built pizza oven, consider these options. Best of all, they’re portable – sort of.

Pizza is traditionally cooked in a wood-fired oven, which gives it its signature smoky flavour. The temperature of a pizza oven peaks at around 400-500°C, and the better your oven maintains its temperature, the more pizzas you can produce from one firing.

These ovens have a thick, porous stone floor that creates the environment necessary to bake from below, giving dough its lift and restaurant-quality crust.

Most portable pizza ovens are wood-fired; however, there are a few on the market that use gas burners, which require far less maintenance but don’t have that authentic smokiness.

We rolled all of our cheat days into one to test the best of both. They may vary in price, design and mobility, but one thing they have in common is they’re all quicker than a Deliveroo driver.