DIY Pizza Oven Review - does it work?

A couple of years ago I made a pizza oven and filmed a video of me making it which got over 3 million views, I get quite a few questions asking how it held up so I thought I'd make this video as when I built mine I wasn't sure if it would hold up either.

The original video

[darrelcraig]

Hi Dave. I have a oven like yours but did improved the base by putting in 30 mm fire brick and have 50 mm of insulation and plaster ovre the dome. The oven goes for more then 6 hours when hot. I noticed you had your coals arund the d[side and back of your oven when cooking pizza. The trick is to move the coals to one side just before cooking so the floor is hot and you can put your pizza further into the oven. I use my oven for everything including roasts, chicken, fish and of course the odd pizza. I have a steel door to close off the opening to retain heat.

Darrel

[DavidParker]

Hi everyone, I forgot to say that I didn't build the chimney at first because I didn't know if the oven would work... and then I never got around to it!

[diydaisy]

Warning: do not watch this video while hungry!

So great David! Loved the update ☺️

[PicSta]

I like the idea of simplicity and cheap way for a pizza oven solution. I am not an expert of pizza ovens, but what I have learned when you make your own pizza oven, you have to cure the oven for days, before you actually heat to max temps for making pizza, bread or anything in it. The moisture must escape slowly as possible, this way you avoid big cracks. Fire stones beneath is of course the much better solution, for the dome you could isolate it and what most people do with wires and a new layer of cement finish and paint it in your desired color. This can be done still cheap and minimal more effort.

[ic]

Great video and honesty on the built. I will be given it a try as a started with updates on fire brick laying . Many thanks,

[SignatureEdits]

THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO! So so helpful in preventing mistakes i was going to make! haha

[JudiChristopher]

Thank you for the Update...
Defentitly Fire Bricks on the bottom
I would also have had rebar in the cement (bottom) Chicken wire over the ball...
Here in New Mexico (US) I would do Adobe Mud on the outside and make it look more like a Kiva fireplace? Hatch Green Chile Pizza here we come...

[bensondowler]

Your Formwork was good, so that can be replicated using better heat retaining building materials. When you made the base I did think that there was room to of tiled it to make it more food friendly. The use of Perlite in the dome for lightweightness another good idea, that could of been tiled inside by placing the tiles on the rubber ball higher up inside just to reflect the heat down, there's lots of ideas, thanks for your videos, I really enjoy watching them, they are well done 👍

[druruguay]

Dear David, as per what I can see, you ended up with a great pizza oven, congrats!! Your neapolitan pizzas look great! Cheers from Uruguay.

[BCole-bjlv]

I wonder if a lower dome height would help or putting a 1/2 inch steel plate on the bottom or possibly a round ceramic pizza stone. I use a Lodge cast iron pizza pan in my oven and I'm very happy with it. Pizza's take 10 minutes at 550 degrees and they dry a lot so I add extra sauce or wet ingredients.

[SpaceGhostNZ]

Thanks for the follow up! You deserve all the YouTube success you get!

[ljpate]

put a 1/4" steel plate in there and cook off that, steel holds and reflects heat really well

[iluomopeloso]

Thank you so much for following up on your original video, and for pinning a link to the follow up on the original!

I was just about to make the same mistake by skipping the fire bricks because they're pricey. You just saved me years of wifely eye rolling and comments about "that thing in the back yard that doesn't work". 😅

[rumpelshtinskiy]

Thank you very much for your experience

[etfvfzq]

I was thinking if you cut a sturdy stainless mesh and incorporate that as rebar as centered as possible then another on the outside where you can a layer to press small tiles or colored glass into which would protest the outside.

[WesD]

It was really a great idea to use the exercise ball. I've been looking into making my own pizza oven as like you said they are so bloody expensive. So I've watched a good few videos of how to make them and your video is the best idea I've seen.
I'm going to try it but I'm going to use bricks with the exercise ball instead of cement. Thanks for the idea 👍💡

[paulholmes]

great honest video man! please do a new build 🙏

[TakamiWoodshop]

So weird, just this week I WAS thinking of making one of these using YOUR video as a guide. Brilliant timing for an update, thank you! Hells bells that's a lot of views tho. Nice!! Happy NY by the way.

[salsolo]

omg i didnt realise how quickly they cooked thanks :)

[chetr]

I know that pearlite pizza ovens do not retain heat for long( I intend to use it for cooking other foods besides pizzas). Can you add something to the pearlite/cement mixture so that it retains more heat?