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[Free Mr. Tony]

I've heard good things about the Pizza Party ovens. Mine is a members mark from Sam's but is made by I believe NXR. They rebrand alot of similar ovens. I believe I read that they are no longer selling pizza party ovens in the US.

I've thrown around the idea of building a "real" pizza oven for years. Just haven't made it happen yet. Would probably go the four grand mere route if I did. 

Edit: I just happened across your other thread. Looks like you picked the same oven, or similar, that I would.

Does look similar.
Correct, they do not export PizzaParty to US anymore. Europe sales only.
A shame, is a nice oven for price.
Yes I do have the Four Grand Mere 800B.
Wanted 900B, but couldn't justify price difference.
Tough enough convincing SWMBO to spend what we did on the 800B. 

Did you get the raised option?  I think I would probably go that route for the extra headroom. I'm not strictly Neapolitan (obviously based on this thread) so I could live with the tradeoffs.

Let me know what you think of it. I will probably eventually get the same one or possibly the 900. Same dilemma as you on cost.

[02ebz06]

Did you get the raised option?  I think I would probably go that route for the extra headroom. I'm not strictly Neapolitan (obviously based on this thread) so I could live with the tradeoffs.

Let me know what you think of it. I will probably eventually get the same one or possibly the 900. Same dilemma as you on cost.

No I didn't, wish I had so I could stack wood higher for larger fire.
There is so much mass, it's tough to get it all heated.
Saturday is 2nd pizza in it, so need to try for bigger fire.
Will start 4 hrs before cook time. Tried 3 hours last time, and pizza took 4-5 minutes.
With Pizza Party, I was doing 90-120 sec. cooks with one hour of fire time.
Going to go through a lot more wood, that's for sure...

[Bar-B-Lew]

This is not going to come across good and I know that as I am typing it.  Do you realize how many pizzas you can buy at a local pizza shop for the price of those pizza ovens?

I ask that knowing at least two things.  I may have much better pizza options than either of you being in the Northeast and specifically in the greater tri-state area of Eastern PA, NJ, and NY.  I also have spent way more money on pellet grills than any rational person would have.

If I didn't live where I live and my wife would have originally been from where we live now, I probably would have bought one too.  She enjoys Tony's frozen pizza and most of the chain pizzas so she wouldn't appreciate anything made in one of those pizza ovens.

I hope you guys enjoy them as I am sure they are fun and produce great food.

[02ebz06]

FYI - I'm a big boy, not offended...

It will be used to make bread as well, but you are correct on cost vs product, however it was obviously not purchased to save money.
Same can be said about smokers, how many racks of ribs could you buy at a restaurant to match the cost of the grill.

Same as the grill, both purchased for the the simple "because I want to" reason, and we enjoy using them.

Why buy a Ferrari when you can buy a Hyundai for a lot less?
If it fits your budget/lifestyle, why not ?
Everyone has different budgets/tastes...

Do you prefer your smoked foods over restaurants ? I would venture to say yes.
I think if you start making your own, you may be surprised to find you enjoy it.

What can I say, it's America, we buy what we want...   

[Bar-B-Lew]

I hear what you are saying and agree for the most part.  I can get great pizza here so I have no interest in an outdoor pizza oven.  I know I can make better BBQ than anywhere in the country I can buy it so I have spent my money on those toys instead.  And, I think BBQ is more forgiving than making pizza.

I do want to see more picks of the food you make on that Memphis and in that outdoor pizza oven though so keep on contributing here.

[Free Mr. Tony]

This is not going to come across good and I know that as I am typing it.  Do you realize how many pizzas you can buy at a local pizza shop for the price of those pizza ovens?

I ask that knowing at least two things.  I may have much better pizza options than either of you being in the Northeast and specifically in the greater tri-state area of Eastern PA, NJ, and NY.  I also have spent way more money on pellet grills than any rational person would have.

If I didn't live where I live and my wife would have originally been from where we live now, I probably would have bought one too.  She enjoys Tony's frozen pizza and most of the chain pizzas so she wouldn't appreciate anything made in one of those pizza ovens.

I hope you guys enjoy them as I am sure they are fun and produce great food.

It's a valid point, but I've just never really looked at purchases that way. There are plenty of good pizza options here. Probably not nearly as many as you, but possibly more varied. I can get a good Detroit, Tavern, neo, and sort of NY here.

I really don't look at it financially at all. I like to make things from scratch, and I like high end equipment that makes it easier and possibly better. Some things I end up making better than what I can buy, and some things I don't quite ever get there. It's more the chase of striving for something, and the challenge/joy of using the items you've purchased to get you there.

It's a xxxx of a lot easier to buy sausage than make it, but it's one of my favorite things to make. The funny part is, I don't even really eat sausage more than a few times a year.

If I looked at all the cooking equipment I have from a financial perspective, I'd probably be in the top 5% of stupid people on the planet, but it's alot more fun to just buy it and enjoy it.

[Free Mr. Tony]

Did you get the raised option?  I think I would probably go that route for the extra headroom. I'm not strictly Neapolitan (obviously based on this thread) so I could live with the tradeoffs.

Let me know what you think of it. I will probably eventually get the same one or possibly the 900. Same dilemma as you on cost.

No I didn't, wish I had so I could stack wood higher for larger fire.
There is so much mass, it's tough to get it all heated.
Saturday is 2nd pizza in it, so need to try for bigger fire.
Will start 4 hrs before cook time. Tried 3 hours last time, and pizza took 4-5 minutes.
With Pizza Party, I was doing 90-120 sec. cooks with one hour of fire time.
Going to go through a lot more wood, that's for sure...

That's something I've gone back and forth for years on. About 7 or 8 years ago I was within days of having a guy build me one. He knew what he was doing and started to tell me about the lead up to having a pizza party in one that he builds. Basically start the fire when you get up in the morning, keep it going all day, and by dinner time you will be all set.

I took a step back at that point to figure out what I really was looking for. There is that scenario, the hour or less scenario, and everything in between.

I really love the idea of the oven still being at 400 a day after I use it for pizza. In reality though, I wonder how often that retained heat would go to waste for various reasons. To make it even more wasteful, I typically make 4 pizzas max. Maybe I would do more parties if I had the oven for it, but something tells me I wouldn't. I'm not a real social butterfly.

What I've really been holding out for (which is fairly unrealistic but not out of the question) is building one indoors. I would use it exponentially more if that was an option. I would use it as an oven far more often if it was within a few steps of everything else in my kitchen. Even though I love bbq and pizza cooking outdoors, overall I much prefer cooking with a true kitchen setup in a temperature controlled environment indoors. Our family are builders and we both work there, so it's not THAT far fetched.

The last house we built, I had to choose between the indoor pizza oven or 48 inch rangetop. I picked the rangetop because I would use it everyday.

[Bentley]

This is certainly a wet dough, although, I can form it with my hands and make it look like some of the pie dough's on youtube.  I currently have it in the fridge on a metal pizza serving tray (that was a bad idea).  It will be staying on it as i cant even imagine trying to move this thing.  Half a Wal-mart is on right now.  I have started using the Memphis Pro much more in the last 10 days because of the heat.  I forgotten how good it makes things.


I am really looking forward to see if this dough does what I hope it does.  Sausage & Onion Lovers...

[Bentley]

The cheese only looks like half, right?

[Free Mr. Tony]

The cheese only looks like half, right?

50/50 for sure. Looks good.

[Bar-B-Lew]

If I looked at all the cooking equipment I have from a financial perspective, I'd probably be in the top 5% of stupid people on the planet, but it's alot more fun to just buy it and enjoy it.

I would be standing right next to you as I have a ton of stuff too.  More than I should and certainly more than I use frequently.

[Bentley]

Was a fail.  But I believe that was cause by cooking temperatures.  Will try again in a few days.

[Free Mr. Tony]

Was a fail.  But I believe that was cause by cooking temperatures.  Will try again in a few days.

What was the fail?  With all that raw sausage and raw onion in addition to a decent amount of cheese alot of moisture is being added to the pizza. You would need a substantial crust to hold up to that.

[Bentley]

I think I cooked it at to low a temperature.  I thought I could treat it more like bread and I do not believe that is possible.  Will try it at about 500° next time and see if we can get there!  I was afraid if I left it out while I was doing the Wl-mart pizza and other rings it would dry out.  I believe putting it in the fridge for 25 minutes was a big mistake also!

[Free Mr. Tony]

Try bread flour. AP is nice and light but all on it's own doesn't make great flour for most dough types. It's definitely not strong enough to hold up the type of pizza you like. You may be able to get away with it for a light cheese and sparse topping pizza, but I get the feeling that is not what you enjoy.