It’s been a busy year so far. We packed up our life and moved to New York back in March, and it seems like we have only now started to settle in.
With our WFE site launched just before we moved, it had to take a back seat while we adjusted to our new life. I guess it’s a bit like traffic up here in NYC…from “close your eyes and floor it!” to “stand on the brakes, they’re stopped!”….just like rush hour.
It’s been tough to get any momentum, and summer is always busy for everyone. I’m still planning to post more recipes soon and our proximity to NYC will give me an opportunity to try some excellent WFO pizza places there.
My biggest obstacle about our location is not having a wood oven! Since we don’t know if our stay will be 1,2,3 or more(?) years here, building another fixed masonry oven didn’t seem very practical. Which leads me to what this post is about.
I’ll tell you about spare you the details of our family “discussion” about building another wood oven. Let’s just say that the time factor (our stay and weather) had a major influence in my direction, and you just can’t argue solid reasoning.
And so, after much debate, it was decided that I would PURCHASE a wood fired oven rather than build one.
A lot of you out there may know about Pizzamaking.com as the place for improving pizza making skill and a great resource for all things pizza.
Last year, a vendor from Italy joined the forum and some members purchased the nice little wood oven they offer – actually there are three sizes. The name of the company is called Pizza Party…how appropriate!
I like the construction, the styling and the portability of this oven. Never thinking they were an option for me, I didn’t look into them beyond what I saw on the forums…until we decided to buy.
Well, I went ahead and contacted Pizza Party, and we ordered a 70×70 (cm) oven in Gunmetal finish. We got the aluminum stand and the upgraded glass door.
The oven is so light! I carried it down from the driveway to our backyard (which is a LONG flight of stairs) by myself.
Assembly was fast and everything went together as expected.
It’s a nice little oven, and a great option for renters (like us) or someone that wants a portable oven. Check them out if your circumstances prevent you from building a wood fired oven onsite.
I’ll have have some more posts on usage and the stuff we bake in later posts. Don’t forget about our Forum page, where you can share some of your own pictures and what wood ovens you are building or using!
Special note: This is not a sponsored post.
Lee says
I am a semi active member on the Pizza Making forums as well. I have a Blackstone but I want a wood fired pizza oven and I have thought about the Pizza Party. What size did you get? Did it come with that stand? I couldn’t find any information on the stand on the Pizza Party website. Let us know how it goes.
Matthew Sevigny says
Lee, welcome to WFE! We ordered the 70×70 oven and the stand is optional. You can see that stand and other accessories by clicking the Pizza Party link above, then clicking the accessories tag on the tool bar. So far, I’ve only used it one time but I like the fast heat up time and the efficiency of wood consumption. I won’t hesitate to recommend this wood oven to anybody wanting to make the leap to wood fire cooking or baking.
Lee says
Awesome! Thanks for the recommendation. Is the heat up really 20 mins? Also how big are your pizza balls and how many pizzas can you get in there?
Matthew Sevigny says
The initial recommendation was to fire the oven for an hour or so, to drive out any retained moisture. Based on what I saw, I think 20 minutes to baking temp is an accurate time estimation. Remember, this oven achieves those times because it lacks masonry mass in the dome. The trade off of this design is that the oven will not retain heat for days after the live fire is removed like a masonry oven does.
As for the dough ball weight, I cheated and bought dough, so I didn’t weight them. I would guesstimate them at between 220-240 grams though because they were about 8″ around. I think you could do 2 @10″ in the oven, but I only do one at a time, since they come out less than 120 seconds.
Lee says
Ok good to know. By the way I tried your white pizza sauce a while back, it was fantastic.
Jordan says
Where have you beeeeennnn????
Matthew Sevigny says
I know, I know. Our family has moved to Belize for a year, and we’ve been here 5 months already. Between that and the months leading up to the move, the blog has really stalled out. I was hoping more people would get some topics started in the forum, but so far it hasn’t been happening. It’s my fault for not being present. I do have 10 or some recipes that we made some time ago and I want to find time to continue with the site. We are looking for input from our readers, so thanks for asking, and feel free to join the forum!