Pizza Oven Installation
There’s nothing like the smell of a wood-fired pizza cooking, but imagine having that smell in your own backyard or patio. The Dome Ovens pizza oven can make that a reality. Dome Ovens offer a quality hybrid pizza oven that is fueled by wood or gas and is sure to be the center of attention in your new outdoor kitchen. Whether it’s a family meal or a backyard party, the pizza oven is where everyone seems to congregate.
Specifications
- Weight: 1300 Pounds
- Base Thickness: 2-5/8″
- Dome Wall Thickness: Approx 4-1/4″
- Length 41″
- Witdh 42-3/8″
- Height 20.5″
Dome Ovens pizza ovens are hand-made
Dome Ovens has been manufacturing ovens for over ten years. They offer a variety of different products that are handmade in Portugal and Brazil. The craftsmanship is truly stunning.
Wood Flavor
For me, there is no better flavor than wood-fired oven food. Although it is a “pizza oven”, any kind of food could be cooked in a Dome Oven and benefit from the wood flavor. Here in Connecticut, I strive to make “pizza” similar to “New Haven Style“, which is no easy task. Dome Ovens’ wood-fired pizza oven allows for that additional “char”, which is what brings New Haven-style home for me. However, if you are not a fan of the extra char this oven can accommodate any cooking style. The pizza oven temperature can be regulated by burning hotter or colder, for a more well-done or less-cooked pie.
Oven Cooking Surface
The inside of the pizza oven is lined with refractory bricks. Refractory bricks make for an excellent cooking surface as they are perfectly flat and can handle heat up to around 1800°F. Refractory bricks also retain heat longer, resulting in less wood consumption.
The inside cooking surface of the oven is 32″ wide by 30″ deep. Although that is enough space to hold two small pizzas, I usually cook them one at a time because they cook in about 3 minutes. While cooking I also like to move the pizza around in the oven. Moving from one spot to another puts the pizza onto a different, and hotter brick, cooking the bottom crust of the pizza more.
Oven Thickness | Insulation
The Dome Oven opening begins at about 4-1/2″ and widens to almost 6″ thick. The wall of the dome measure’s slightly over 4″ which makes for a well-insulated oven.
When cooking I prefer a really hot oven to get that “char.” Below you can see a reading of about 765°F . I know from experience that a larger fire will get the brick’s temperature even hotter.
While the inside of the oven gave readings over 750°F the outside was reading in the low 200’s°F. This indicates that the oven can handle extremely hot temperatures, but also confirmed that it is insulated very well. I find that my pizza usually comes out best when I get that “deep heat”. Therefore, I light the oven several hours before I cook. Having a thoroughly warm oven will help the pizzas cook more quickly and evenly. Did you know that most pizza restaurants don’t shut their ovens down completely overnight because they need to maintain a certain temperature? Although, not completely necessary, having that “deep heat” is helpful for a good result.
Shipment | Installation
Once you decide on a Dome Ovens pizza oven you can pick it up locally in Tampa, Florida, or ship it anywhere in the US. The Dome Ovens pizza oven weighs approximately 1300 pounds. You must have knowledge of handling something heavy, or hire a professional contractor ready to tackle the task. I picked the oven up from the local shipment hub in my truck.
Once I got it home, I used a tractor to lift it up and place it into its permanent resting place.
Building The Counter Base
For the foundation pad, we dug down to 20″ of undisturbed dirt and added gravel, wire mesh, rebar, and an 8″ concrete pad. When building the CMU base we chose to build out of concrete masonry unit block to be able to support the weight of the oven.
The CMU blocks have rebar vertically and horizontally and we filled the cores with concrete.
Breaking In the Dome Oven
It is recommended to “break in” the oven over a 10-day period by using a small heater for the first couple of days. Next, begin with small fires for an hour or two over the next couple of days. Small fires will help remove the moisture from the oven slowly and prevent cracking. Gradually increase the fire size and time of the fire until you can burn a large fire for several hours.
Customization
Dome Ovens frequently has new and different designs, models, and shapes available. A Dome Oven can also be customized to fit your outdoor kitchen. The version without tile can be finished in tile or stone of your choice, or placed on a base as is. Dome Ovens can be used anywhere from a backyard, to a restaurant or added to a trailer for mobile pizza making. However, it’s always nice to customize your oven to fit your space as we did in this project.
Installing the Chimney
First I cut the chimney from 4′ to about 2′. I did this for purely aesthetic reasons, I thought it was too tall. The chimney doesn’t come installed for shipping purposes. I also wanted the chimney to be permanent so I used a refractory mortar to secure it into place. Not everyone decides to permanently install the chimney. Another option is to just place the chimney onto the pizza oven when in use. This is a popular option as a removed chimney makes the oven easier to cover. The chimney is double-walled. Meaning that the hot exhaust air will travel through the inner chamber of the pipe. There is an adjustable damper to restrict ventilation flow. The outer wall of the chimney pipe is insulated and will not heat up as much as the inside chamber due to the insulation. This is particularly important in the event that one of your guests accidentally touches the chimney.
Adding Finished Corners
Next, I added 4 corners to the oven’s base. I wanted pointy corners that meet up with the granite. Again, Dome Ovens frequently has new and different designs, models, and shapes available. Currently, they did not have a model available with corners, so I fabricated them fairly easily. Once the mortar cured I painted the base in a black epoxy-based paint to get the look I was going for.
Hybrid Gas |Wood-Fired Oven Options
The Dome Ovens pizza oven is a hybrid pizza oven. This means that it can be used as a wood-fired pizza oven, or there’s an option to purchase it with a Drago Avanzi gas burner. If you purchase one without a gas burner it can always be added at a later time. Although I prefer to use the oven as a wood oven, many prefer gas. The Drago Avanzi gas burner can be easier, quicker, more consistent, and most importantly cleaner. As a result, there will be less emissions from smoke.
There is a metal plug in the oven where the gas burner can go if you do not order the oven with the gas burner installed. This plug easily pops out for a future gas burner install or can be removed and filled will refractory mortar if you choose. If using the oven with wood, the plug will not affect the performance of the oven as the wood typically covers this area.
Do It Yourself Kit
Dome Ovens also offers a DIY kit at a lower cost of $1,799.00. This do-it-yourself kit comes with the benefit of being able to customize the oven. It can be finished exactly how you want it to look, rather than being restricted by what is offered. In addition, you or your contractor can build it on-site. This will eliminate the need to use heavy equipment to place the oven on its final resting spot.
Room For Improvement
Like many companies, Dome Ovens has been having trouble sourcing some products since Covid. I am hopeful that they will soon be able to source pizza oven tools and covers, as they have in the past. For now, I had to purchase mine from Amazon. In addition, it should be mentioned that masonry pizza ovens do need maintenance from time to time. They should be covered to prevent moisture intrusion. If not used for a long time fires should start small to allow them to dry out. It’s inevitable that there will be some minor external cracks with this type of oven. Touching up the cracks with mortar in a caulking tube from time to time is not something to be alarmed by. Dome Oven has excellent customer service.
Dome Ovens Pizza Oven | Cost
A Dome Ovens pizza oven is an excellent addition to any outdoor kitchen. It’s available as a hybrid so you choose to cook with wood or gas. If using it as a wood model, the wood-fired pizza flavor you will produce will be a crowd-pleaser, no matter which “style” of pizza you are going for. However, you also can’t go wrong if you opt for a hybrid/gas burner as it will be cleaner and easier to regulate the temperature. The wood version, as pictured, can be purchased here for $2,999.00 and the optional Hybrid Gas Fired Oven can be purchased for $4,499.00 with free shipping. Although there are a lot of options out there, Dome Ovens is an excellent addition to any outdoor kitchen.
Dome Pizza Oven Review V ideo
Pizza Gallery Images Below:
Cheese
Margarita
Bacon | Potato | Garlic
Bacon
Mashed Potato | Bacon | Garlic
