Pizza is one of the world’s most popular foods. We all love a hot slice of pizza pie and if it’s fresh out of a wood-fired brick pizza oven, all the better!
Over time, you may find your friends and family decline your offer of a fresh wood-fired pizza. It seems unlikely, we know, but some people like a bit of diversity in their diet. Some people think eating pizza seven days a week is too much. Not us. Just some people.
For those people, we’ve taken a look at a few other things you can cook in your outdoor brick pizza oven. Pizza ovens are incredibly versatile and can be used to cook meat, fish, bread, cakes and more!
1) Cook the Best Steak of Your Life in a Brick Pizza Oven
The first thing to consider on your journey toward the best steak of your life is fuel. The wood you use as fuel to heat your oven will have an impact on the taste of your food. Only hardwoods are suitable for use in a pizza oven.
Burning oak creates a woody, smoky flavor that works well with most foods. Hickory is another favorite and gives meat that traditional BBQ flavor. When it comes to steak, super-smoky mesquite wood is the best choice.
You can cook your steak using a chargrilling pan or a rack, both of which will need to be pre-heated in the oven. Once your oven has reached optimum roasting temperature (around 450℉) you can begin cooking. Drizzle your steak with a little olive oil and seasoning on both sides and slap it on the grill pan or rack, turning part way through cooking. Cook to suit your taste and enjoy!
2) Baking Bread in a Brick Pizza Oven
It used to be that bread was baked in brick ovens that were heated with the flames of burning wood. Today, most of us buy our bread in plastic bags from the grocery store. This bread is often tasteless, dense and so packed with preservatives it can last for weeks without growing mold. Wouldn’t you like to have fresh, artisanal loaves, baked in your own back garden? Of course, you would!
Baking bread in your brick pizza oven is easy. There are many recipes out there for you to discover and experiment with, like this easy no-knead dough recipe. We have a few general tips to get you on your way to baking the perfect loaf.
- Ensure the floor of your brick pizza oven is evenly heated before baking your loaves. A good bake is only possible if your oven is ready for it!
- You can’t rely on steam in a wood-fired brick oven to give your loaf a good rise. Instead, you need to make a dough that is much wetter than normal.
- Make sure you give your loaf enough time to rise. A long rise is key to ensure your bread is airy when baked.
- You should have a firm base to your loaf after about 20 minutes of baking. After that, you can rotate the loaf every 10 or 15 minutes so all sides cook evenly.
Once the loaf has cooled it’s ready to be torn into and devoured!
3) Cook Blackened Fish in Your Brick Pizza Oven
A brick pizza oven is the perfect place to cook a whole fish or two. The heat inside the oven gently steams the fish while contact with a searing hot baking tray will give the fish a crispy blackened skin. The Mediterranean technique of salt-roasting fish works great in a pizza oven.
First heat your oven to optimum temperature then let it cool a little until it reaches a roasting temperature of around 450 ℉. Prepare your fish (seabass or similar works well) by creating a marinade of melted butter, diced garlic, thyme, and lemon juice. Cover the marinaded fish with a salt crust made from egg whites and salt. After around 30 minutes the salt crust will be baked hard and brown. Crack the salt crust away from the fish and enjoy with rice or potatoes and salad.
4) Brick Pizza Oven-Baked Cakes and Desserts
Your brick pizza oven can retain heat for hours. Once you’ve cooked your main course, why not use the oven’s remaining heat to cook your dessert! Pretty much any kind of cake or baked dessert can be cooked in a pizza oven. Your wood-fired pizza oven may infuse your dessert with a smoky flavor that varies in intensity depending on what sort of wood you use. This flavor works well with desserts containing fruit or plain desserts like Dutch Pancakes.
Here are a few of our favorite dessert recipes, all of which work well in a brick pizza oven.
- Who doesn’t love an Apple Brown Betty? This recipe from the Food Network would cook perfectly in a cooling pizza oven and infuse the apples in the Betty with a delicious woody flavor.
- This Gingerbread recipe from Once Upon a Chef would also work beautifully in a pizza oven. Ginger tastes even more delicious when it is infused with a smoky taste and the cake is dense enough that it can withstand high temperatures.
- Delia’s Dutch baby Pancake recipe is made for a pizza oven. Like a pizza, the Dutch pancake tastes better with a slightly charred crust.
- There’s no reason you can’t throw a batch of simple chocolate cookies onto a pre-heated baking tray and into your pizza oven. The cookies will be done in no time.
Bear in mind, all of these desserts will cook more quickly in a hot pizza oven!
Why Choose a Dome-Shaped Brick Pizza Oven Kit?
Outdoor brick pizza oven kits contain the oven dome, cooking floor, vent, insulation, door, stovepipe, and mortar. Everything you need to assemble a safe, efficient pizza oven right in your own backyard. Classic Neopolitan dome-shaped pizza ovens have been used for centuries. Dome-shaped ovens are the only ovens that can achieve efficient heat distribution.
There is a huge range of pizza oven kits available. As we’ve demonstrated, you can use your pizza oven to cook much more than pizza. Steak, bread, fish, dessert, even a whole lamb or suckling pig. All you need to decide is who to invite for dinner!