Basic info

[iluvpizza]

I have to decide how big should I build my oven.
I have a big family (8 children) and often people for dinner so I was thinking of an oven that can cook 4 pizze at the time.

How large should be my dome?

Grazie

[jeeppiper]

Re: Basic info

Can only offer you my experience... I have a family of 5 with several friends/neighbors that pop in on pizza-night. We have a 42 inch oven and can fit four pizzas at a time without too much trouble. Typically however, we usually have only one at a time...maybe two at time. The pizzas cook so fast (about 1 minute) it doesn't pay to crowd the oven. It is better to find the best spot in the oven, and use that. Too close to the fire, and you risk burning your crust. too close to the edge, you run into a lot of ash.

[iluvpizza]

Re: Basic info

are you talking about 12 inches pizza?

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Basic info

I'm with jeeppiper. Find your oven's sweetspot and refine your process.

If you can develop a system where two or three people build, load, cook and serve the pizzas, it can go quickly.

[boerwarrior]

Re: Basic info

I have a 32 inch oven and I can only cook one pizza at a time.

Last year we had a pizza party for 80 people and I cooked at least 50 pizza's, one at a time. I often have parties for 10 or more (like I did this last Saturday). I have not yet wished that I had a bigger oven.

[kanoer54]

Re: Basic info

There is so much more to a WFO than just pizza. Check out the forum and some of the threads before you build just for pizza.We cook for days on the oven , many times not even starting with pizza.
jon

[Tscarborough]

Re: Basic info

You won't be cooking 4 pizzas at a time no matter how big your party. Restaurants can do it, but they have one or more persons making the pizzas and one guy doing nothing but working the oven. It only takes 45 seconds to 2 minutes to cook a pizza, so you can keep up easily with one pizza in the oven.

42" seems to be the most common for commercial use.

[jeeppiper]

Re: Basic info

Adding to what Boerwarrior said, he has a 32" oven and has yet to desire a larger oven. I have a 42 inch and I think it is the perfect size for me. I think that if I had build a 32", I would have thought that was the perfect size.

My point is that no matter what you size oven build (within a reasonable range), you will think it is the perfect size for you and you will learn to adapt and hone your skills based on your oven size.

Make sure your opening can accommodate everything that your might want to cook in the future. I actually went to the grocery store with a tape measure to measure the largest turkey and sized my opening based on that.