Pizza Party 70 x 70

[Steve]

I took delivery of the Pizza Party 70 x 70 portable WFO the other day. I have it set up on my deck and it's ready to cook pizza.

First impressions are that it's very well built, very light (with the bricks removed), and it looks like it will do the job nicely. I have a load of seasoned oak scheduled for delivery, so I should be making pizza this afternoon (so, more photos to come!).

Here are some photos of the interior of the oven. As you can see, there are no vents or grates in the floor, the fire is fed air through the adjustable oven door. The usable floor of the oven is 23 inches (58.4 cm) deep x 23.5 inches (59.7 cm) wide.

[mkevenson]

Steve, what is the metal dome like structure at the back of the inside cooking chamber? Heat or flame diverter?
Looks beautiful! Hope your wood arrives on time.
Mark

[Tampa]

Wow, nice pictures Steve.  Thanks for sharing.

+1 on Mark's diverter question.

Dave

[Steve]

what is the metal dome like structure at the back of the inside cooking chamber? Heat or flame diverter?

There is a sheet of metal that arches over the cooking chamber (attached to the rear wall), That forces the heat to come forward, then up, then back, then exit the chimney. Here's a crude drawing of how the inner chamber works.

[Steve]

Ok, first run of the Pizza Party oven was a resounding success. Per the instructions, we let the fire burn for an hour before we baked pizza (this was done to season the oven, burn off any oils and residue from the manufacturing process). The oven was actually up to temperature in 20 minutes, so next time that's when the pizza goes in!

Note #1: Put the door on immediately after starting the fire, otherwise smoke will exit the front of the oven and create black soot above the oven door on the exterior of the oven. Installing the door (cracked) allows proper air flow and all of the smoke exits the chimney.

Note #2: Ditch the wood holder and heat diverter (shown in picture #5 below). While it's a great concept in keeping the coals away from the pizza, it blocked direct heat from the coals and prevented our crusts from charring. The oven works much better without it.

Note #3: This oven gets HOT. On several occasions it overloaded my IR thermometer which maxes out at 1,000 degrees F.

All in all, everyone loved the pizzas that this oven cranked out. First pizza (with diverter) took 2 minutes to cook, successive pizzas took about 90 seconds (without diverter).

I'm sorry to say that I imbibed a wee too much red wine and I ended up eating more pizza than I photographed. This was my first run with this oven, I'll do another run this coming weekend and I'll try to be a little more methodical in my approach with more photos and more measurements. But the following photos should give you an idea about how this oven performs.

[Steve]

Firing up the oven...

[Steve]

Oven ready to bake. We ditched the diverter that's shown in this photo.

[Steve]

Let the pizza making begin! That pizza peel is 13" wide to give you a sense of scale.

[Steve]

Some shots with the diverter removed.

[Steve]

Here's a finished pie.

[Steve]

As I said earlier, my scientific test quickly degraded into a social event with good friends present and wine flowing. All in all, I'm VERY happy with the Pizza Party oven and I promise I'll be more scientific in my next review.

[Tampa]

Great pictures, thx.  I'm liking that quick warm up. 

Even with the WFO and 2Stone, you'll need to add an oven like Walter's to make the place a real destination (as a Pizza Test Kitchen). 

I think there is a lot of pent up demand on this forum - that's all I'm sayin.

Dave

[wayno]

Great looking pizza and tasted great too!

[Simone]

We are happy with the success of his first pizza party

[tinroofrusted]

That's very exciting Steve. The pizzas look really good. Sounds like it heats up really fast and gets really hot. How much wood did you use to get it hot enough to bake a pizza. I see an initial picture of wood burning in the oven but I suspect that was just to get it started. 

Thanks and I'll look forward to more posts about this oven. It seems to have something in common with the Blackstone oven: light, quick heating, and relatively inexpensive (OK, not that inexpensive, but compared to the real thing it is). 

[JD]

I wonder how much radiant heat that sheet metal plate gives compared to a true WFO. It's almost like you'd need to build a big rolling fire to get sufficient top-heat while baking?

Looks like a great first attempt anyhow, looking forward to seeing more.

[Simone]

how many people for lunch?

[Tampa]

I wonder how much radiant heat that sheet metal plate gives compared to a true WFO. It's almost like you'd need to build a big rolling fire to get sufficient top-heat while baking?

Looks like a great first attempt anyhow, looking forward to seeing more.

Emissivity for firebrick is 0.75 - 0.8,  Stainless is 0.54-0.63.  In a simple sense, emissivity the percent of radiation that felt by the pizza.  So the material matters, but what matters more is that the coloration of the finished pizza is just right.

BTW, there are scary-smart members that may take issue with my numbers and simplicity.  Feel free to speak up if you disagree.
Dave

[mkevenson]

Steve, thanks for the report! I almost wish it would have been negative . Now I want one more than before! I knew this would happen.   Now let's see, where did I put that money?


Mark

[Steve]

Steve, thanks for the report! I almost wish it would have been negative . Now I want one more than before! I knew this would happen.   Now let's see, where did I put that money?

Mark, I had my doubts too... but I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm looking forward to making more pizza this weekend.