Time to get serious about a new pizza oven

[Donuthole]

I got a low end Komodo grill for Father’s Day (Char-Griller Akorn). Last night we cooked naan bread pizzas on it.

The smoke was subtle, but really a tasty addition.

"Mom, now he's doing it on purpose!"

[Shaka]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a game day pizza party. The issues of a pellet-fed smoker became apparent. The thing works great but it's really hard to keep it up to temp without constantly monitoring and dumping pellets into it. It's inspired me to start looking for a gas oven. The pellet oven is cool if you're cooking pizzas one after the other for maybe twenty minutes but after that, you have to let it cool off, clean the ash, and then start the process again.

I bought ten dough balls for Nico's, and they are better than the Trader Joe's version by a significant margin. The problem is that they are almost $6 per ball. I think if I'm only doing 2-6 pizzas, Nico's is the answer, but if I'm doing a party with a bunch of pizzas, then I need another solution.

This has been a good experience and a lot of fun. I look forward to finding the next oven.

[MartyFunkhouser]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a game day pizza party. The issues of a pellet-fed smoker became apparent. The thing works great but it's really hard to keep it up to temp without constantly monitoring and dumping pellets into it. It's inspired me to start looking for a gas oven. The pellet oven is cool if you're cooking pizzas one after the other for maybe twenty minutes but after that, you have to let it cool off, clean the ash, and then start the process again.

I bought ten dough balls for Nico's, and they are better than the Trader Joe's version by a significant margin. The problem is that they are almost $6 per ball. I think if I'm only doing 2-6 pizzas, Nico's is the answer, but if I'm doing a party with a bunch of pizzas, then I need another solution.

This has been a good experience and a lot of fun. I look forward to finding the next oven.

I've been really happy with my Solo oven. I would suggest though finding something that is larger. I probably will upgrade at some point. It was the right choice when I initially bought it, because I didn't have a backyard. Now, I would have gone with something different. Propane is the way to go. I doubt that the smoke adds that much flavor to it.

I mostly just go with the TJs dough because it is cheap and I'm feeding kids. If I was doing a couple of pizzas for adults, I would go with the better dough.

[Donuthole]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a game day pizza party. The issues of a pellet-fed smoker became apparent. The thing works great but it's really hard to keep it up to temp without constantly monitoring and dumping pellets into it. It's inspired me to start looking for a gas oven. The pellet oven is cool if you're cooking pizzas one after the other for maybe twenty minutes but after that, you have to let it cool off, clean the ash, and then start the process again.

I bought ten dough balls for Nico's, and they are better than the Trader Joe's version by a significant margin. The problem is that they are almost $6 per ball. I think if I'm only doing 2-6 pizzas, Nico's is the answer, but if I'm doing a party with a bunch of pizzas, then I need another solution.

This has been a good experience and a lot of fun. I look forward to finding the next oven.

A friend here who has a brick pizza oven gets his dough balls from Blaze pizza. However, he says not every Blaze will sell dough, so he had to call around to find one that did. He has to call and give them 24 hrs advance notice so they can prepare extra dough.

[Jeff Lebowski]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a game day pizza party. The issues of a pellet-fed smoker became apparent. The thing works great but it's really hard to keep it up to temp without constantly monitoring and dumping pellets into it. It's inspired me to start looking for a gas oven. The pellet oven is cool if you're cooking pizzas one after the other for maybe twenty minutes but after that, you have to let it cool off, clean the ash, and then start the process again.

I bought ten dough balls for Nico's, and they are better than the Trader Joe's version by a significant margin. The problem is that they are almost $6 per ball. I think if I'm only doing 2-6 pizzas, Nico's is the answer, but if I'm doing a party with a bunch of pizzas, then I need another solution.

This has been a good experience and a lot of fun. I look forward to finding the next oven.

That increment in quality is easily worth an extra $4.

You can always make a big batch of your own dough for a party. Pretty easy to make. You just need to make it 3 days in advance and have room in your fridge.

[Shaka]

I've been considering making my own dough balls. It was always something I was going to do. Nico's may have cured me of that notion. I'll check out Blaze as well.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I've been considering making my own dough balls. It was always something I was going to do. Nico's may have cured me of that notion. I'll check out Blaze as well.

We bought some dough balls from Mozz down on University once. They are pretty good, but a totally different style. Nico's is NY style with a high water content and optimal cooking temp of 650 degrees. The Mozz balls were more sourdough style and less water, so the optimal temp is more like 800 degrees.

[Jeff Lebowski]

When we first started buying dough balls from Nico's, they were $3 each. Good times.

[Shaka]

This week I was researching alternate dough ball locations and I found out that Harmons has pre-made pizza dough. I decided to do pizza for the game so I went over and snagged some of their dough balls and their sauce.

The sauce is a little thicker and sweeter than Nicos. I made one pizza with each kind of sauce and Nicos was the winner but the Harmons sauce blended well and surprised me.

The dough was pretty good. I found out the flour comes from Lehi Roller Mills. (I'm guessing its bread flour.) The pizzas cooked up great and it had good flavor. I'd rank both the Harmons dough and sauce significantly sabove Trader Joes and slightly below Nicos. The dough was slightly chewy but I'm guessing that's because I didn't take it out of the package and set it out for an hour or two.

If you're in a pinch and near a Harmons, their dough and sauce are worthy substitutes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This week I was researching alternate dough ball locations and I found out that Harmons has pre-made pizza dough. I decided to do pizza for the game so I went over and snagged some of their dough balls and their sauce.

The sauce is a little thicker and sweeter than Nicos. I made one pizza with each kind of sauce and Nicos was the winner but the Harmons sauce blended well and surprised me.

The dough was pretty good. I found out the flour comes from Lehi Roller Mills. (I'm guessing its bread flour.) The pizzas cooked up great and it had good flavor. I'd rank both the Harmons dough and sauce significantly sabove Trader Joes and slightly below Nicos. The dough was slightly chewy but I'm guessing that's because I didn't take it out of the package and set it out for an hour or two.

If you're in a pinch and near a Harmons, their dough and sauce are worthy substitutes.

Good to know. Will give it a try.

Yes you definitely men to let the dough come to room temp for a few hours.

Are you buying entire pizza kits at Nico’s? We do that occasionally for the Margarita pizza. But we usually just buy the dough balls.

[Shaka]

Good to know. Will give it a try.

Yes you definitely men to let the dough come to room temp for a few hours.

Are you buying entire pizza kits at Nico’s? We do that occasionally for the Margarita pizza. But we usually just buy the dough balls.

I bought the dough balls and sauce from Nico's. I didn't know they did full kits.

I've been very happy with the whole milk/low moisture Harmons brand cheese. They don't label it as such but the cheese monger assured me that it was whole milk. Even though it's soft, it grates pretty well and the crumbly stuff that falls off can be tossed on the pizza as well. Harmons another brand that is also good although I can't remember the name.

Harmons Boar's Head pepperoni is excellent and has just the right amount of kick.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I bought the dough balls and sauce from Nico's. I didn't know they did full kits.

I've been very happy with the whole milk/low moisture Harmons brand cheese. They don't label it as such but the cheese monger assured me that it was whole milk. Even though it's soft, it grates pretty well and the crumbly stuff that falls off can be tossed on the pizza as well. Harmons another brand that is also good although I can't remember the name.

Harmons Boar's Head pepperoni is excellent and has just the right amount of kick.

We use this brand of sauce:

https://www.target.com/p/classico-tr...caAqtmEALw_wcB

You can do 3 pizzas per bottle.

[Shaka]

I'll give it a whirl.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'll give it a whirl.

We have tried more expensive sauce (Rao's for example) and we have made our own from scratch. Can't tell that much of a difference. Crust is the most important part of the pizza by a mile. Sauce is less critical.

[USUC]

I just use a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (Cento is my favorite) Put it in a blender and add 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 Tablspoon of oregano, and a little bit of sugar. Then blend it. Makes about 5 pizzas depending on how heavy you use it. So much better than store bought. I keep it in a quart canning jar. I don't care for pizza sauce that has been pre cooked.