Blackstone Pizza Oven

Bottom Line: I love the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00CELFJ4A” locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″ localize=”y” popups=”y”]Blackstone Pizza Oven[/easyazon_link].  Let me repeat…I love the Blackstone Pizza Oven.

If you can afford it, you have the space, and you like pizza…stop thinking about it, buy the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00CELFJ4A” locale=”US” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″]Blackstone Pizza Oven[/easyazon_link].

There is a brewery in Woodland Park, CO that I used to frequent.  The brewery didn’t serve food, but there was a trailer mounted wood fired pizza oven outside that made pies that you could take into the bar.  Seeing this setup helped me realize that pizza ovens didn’t have to be electrical or wood fired monsters that just occupied the back of restaurants.  Pizza ovens could be portable dream machines, that allow you to create restaurant quality pie at home.

Not long afterward, I had a prolonged work trip to the Middle East and while eating in the community I was fascinated watching restaurant employees mass produce flatbreads in the traditional way, using wood fired ovens.  This is about the time the obsession kicked in.  Far from home, I had a lot of time to research different pizza ovens, ranging from DIY masonry setups to grill top contraptions and everything in between.  With the frequency that my family moves, a fixed oven was not a viable option, so I needed a portable solution.

Letstalkbbq.com has a great pizza sub forum that taught me a lot.  The consensus seemed to be split between the Blackstone which uses propane and the more portable Uuni, which was fueled by wood pellets.  We knew we were moving to Hawaii and space would be a premium, plus I wanted something that we could take camping, so I bought the smaller option.  This was a first generation Uuni from a user on the forum who was selling it because he was disappointed with it.  I should have leaned from him, but I didn’t and I too was disappointed.  The Uuni cooked inconsistently, got soot everywhere, and scattered ash everywhere.  Shortly after I bought it, they did a massive redesign that fixed many of these problems.

Upon getting settled in Hawaii, realizing that the Uuni was a bust and that we did have the space for another gadget, I got the go ahead to buy the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00DYN0438″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″ localize=”y” popups=”y”]Blackstone[/easyazon_link]….which is what I should have done all along.

This thing is awesome and it is probably my wife’s favorite of all my cooking gadgets.  While it lacks the romance of the wood fired oven, the propane offers a lot of benefits.  We don’t have to store wood, we can heat the grill up much faster, we don’t have to clean ash out of it, if we overshoot our temperatures we can quickly bring the temps back down to the desired range and we don’t have to store wood!

Finally, I have discovered that I can make some world class pizzas for a fraction of what I would pay in a restaurant.

I will go so far as to say I can make 3-4 personal sized pizzas for the price of one large pizza from a pizzeria.  So you could say this oven practically pays for itself!

Assembly: The oven portion arrives largely pre-assembled in the box, but you need to put together the base yourself.  This is a relatively simple process and anyone can figure it out.  You will have to install the rotating plate and baking stones in the oven portion of the grill.

TIP:  This is a good time to install a [easyazon_link identifier=”B002BBGW3K” locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″ localize=”y” popups=”y”]ball bearing collar[/easyazon_link] if you choose to do so, this helps alleviate some of the strain on the motor.  Even with the ball bearing collar our oven tends to squeak as the baking stone rotates.

The stickers on the front of the grill are difficult to remove and in spite of using a number of different solutions, I was never able to fully remove the adhesive.

TIP: I chose to install the shelves included with the oven in order to reduce the footprint.

Quality of Construction:  The quality of the oven is decent, it isn’t built to last a lifetime, but it isn’t junk.  We live in a salty, humid environment and have seen minimal corrosion on the grill.  I have had a few failures launching the pizza which has resulted in baked on cheese and sauce, this has stained the stainless steel on the front, which is of a cheap quality.  There is also a wire shelf on the front of the oven that is prone to popping out.  The oven itself though is stable, doesn’t shake or rattle, and I am pleased with its durability after owning it and using it regularly for the past two years.  We do keep it in the garage when not in use, it has not been exposed to a lot of the elements.

Operation:  The operation is fairly simple.

• There is a rotisserie motor underneath the grill that can be operated on battery power or plugged in. You turn on the motor to rotate the bottom plate and to ensure that the baking stone is evenly heated.
• The main nozzle on the front turns on and controls the flow of the gas and there is an electric starter button that ignites the flame. Turn on gas, then ignite the gas and turn up to the desired level.
• There is also a knob on the propane adapter that helps you further refine the flow of the propane if you so choose, I rarely use this knob.
• Once the grill is on, allow it to preheat to your desired temperature, the grill will heat up in excess of 800 degrees, which allows you to make pizza styles that you could never achieve in your home oven. The oven is so hot that even if you get stray cheese on the stone, it is quickly incinerated and easy to clean.
• Turn down gas/reduce the size of flame.
• Launch Pizza. (I like to put parchment on my peel vs corn meal to help the pizza slide off)
• Monitor Pizza, check the bottom of crust and turn up the flame if you need to brown toppings quicker.
• 2-6 minutes later, retrieve pizza and eat!

It is just that simple.  Other than learning how long to let the stones preheat, I would say there is a minimal learning curve for this oven, not much different from using your home oven.   The giant flame helps add a little more showman ship.

TIP: I marked the main gas knob with my preferred setting for preheating.

TIP: Use an [easyazon_link identifier=”B00DMI632G” locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″ localize=”y” popups=”y”]IR thermometer[/easyazon_link] to measure the temperature of the baking stones vs. relying on the dome thermometer.  

Other Cooks:  I like to use the preheating phase to cook chicken wings.  I put aluminum foil on top of the baking stone, then put cooking spray on it.  I like to use the precooked frozen chicken wings, the Blackstone crisps them up quickly and much better than our home oven.  Right about the time the wings are done, the oven is usually ready for the pizzas.

I have also done Naan Bread, but have never tried steaks or vegetables even though the manufacturer advertises it.

Pros:

Portable, easy to move around

Nice Looking

Rotating Baking Stone

Propane powered

Affordable

Gets very Hot

Speed with which you can cook pizzas

Makes great Chicken Wings.

 

Cons:

Noisy Motor

Adhesive Sticks to it

Takes up the room of a small grill

 

[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B00CELFJ4A” locale=”US” tag=”blackstoneoven-20″]

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