Which is the real Pizza Express? Asks TOM RAWSTORNE

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When it comes to fast food, it’s hard to think beyond a takeaway. But this year it’s all about homemade pizzas: retailers are reporting sales of high-tech pizza ovens up 300 per cent.

Promising the taste of Italy in your back garden, the new generation of portable pizza ovens not only mimic the shape of traditional brick-built ovens but are also capable of hitting temperatures of 500c.

With a stone base that absorbs and then radiates the heat, the idea is that the pizza is simultaneously cooked from below and above. The end result? A crisp crust layered with bubbling, gooey toppings that’s cooked quicker than the time it takes to boil a kettle.

Indeed, some manufacturers boast that their ovens — powered by wood fires or by gas — can turn dough into dinner in just 60 seconds.

So is it really possible to home-cook a pizza from scratch in less time than it takes to order a delivery from your local takeaway?

To find out, I equipped myself with a stopwatch and an infrared thermometer gun and lit a range of leading pizza ovens, measuring how long it took the centre of the oven to reach between 350c and 400c (a perfect cooking temperature). 

Finally, I timed how long it took to cook one of my own home-made pizzas to reveal which ovens provided a real pizza express… and which were not-so-pronto.

Big blaze for a big oven

Igneus Bambino, £624, (thepizzaovenshop.com)

The boast: ‘Can cook a large 12in pizza in less than 90 seconds’.

The reality: 20 minutes to heat; 2 minutes to cook.

Rating:

Topped with an impressive-looking chimney, it’s the biggest and quickest to light (using kiln-dried kindling and logs) and its large opening means it’s easy to get pizzas in and out. But I also find that it’s harder than some of the others to get to a high enough temperature and keep there.

When its in-built thermometer reads 500c, the cooking stone shows 350c on my infrared thermometer gun. It means that it takes a touch longer for the base to properly cook and for the mozzarella to melt. 

Like many of the ovens, with the door in place it can also be used for roasting meat and vegetables — something its size would certainly lend itself to.

Verdict: A big oven for big pizzas — requiring a big blaze. 

Cooking on gas  

Gozney Roccbox, £399 (gozney.com)

The Boast: ‘Cook Neapolitan pizza in 60 seconds’.

The Reality: 25 minutes to heat; 1 minute to cook.

Rating:

Designed to replicate Gozney’s professional ovens, used by restaurants all over the world, the version I try is powered by a gas burner. Twist a knob and it immediately fires in to action.

Given the roaring flame I imagined it would be the fastest of the lot to heat up, but it takes 25 minutes for the internal base to hit 400c. 

Once there, it delivers on its promise of pizza in just 60 seconds. Because the gas burner emits a steady heat, pizza after pizza can be cooked with the same results. 

Its silicone outer coating means it is cool (ish) to the touch, while its metal legs give it a futuristic look.

Verdict: Once hot it’s fast — but lacks the artisan feel and smoky flavour of a wood fire. 

Pizza like mamma made  

DeliVita, from £1,295 (delivita.com)

The boast: ‘Perfect pizza in 90 seconds’.

The reality: 22 minutes to heat, 90 seconds to cook.

Rating:

For the same price you could get a medium-sized cheese and tomato Domino’s pizza delivered every day for the next 129 days. But they wouldn’t taste anything like as good — and would also almost certainly take longer to arrive. 

Finished in polished fibreglass, the oven is super-insulated, while the absence of a chimney also helps it retain heat. To get it going, I light a fire in the mouth of the oven using kiln-dried hardwood kindling.

Once burning well, I push the fire to the back of the oven and add a couple more small logs. It takes 22 minutes for the oven to hit 400c, but once it gets there it holds its heat long enough to cook perfect pizza after perfect pizza — crispy crusts and bubbling toppings.

Verdict: Big ticket gadget for serious pizza lovers.

You’ll need a bit of patience  

Kadai Wood Fired Pizza Oven, £249.99 (notcutts.co.uk)

The Boast: ‘Pizza in a couple of minutes’.

The Reality: 60 minutes to heat; 5 minutes to cook.

Rating:

This clay oven sits on a raised metal frame on top of a wood fire. It is designed to be used inside a large cast iron fire bowl of the kind you sit around with friends.

It’s a nice idea, but in practice takes a lot of heat to get going — indeed after an hour on top of a blazing fire the inside is still only at 220c. 

A few more logs and it finally hits 300c so I slide in a pizza and wait. And wait some more. After five minutes I remove it and, while the base is done, the top still needs more cooking.

Verdict: For patient chefs only.

As fast as a Ferrari  

G3 Ferrari Delizia Electric Pizza Oven, £139.99 (eBay.co.uk)

The boast: ‘The real Italian pizza, ready in 5 minutes’

The reality: 10 minutes to heat; 5 minutes to cook.

Rating:

Trust the Italians to combine pizza with fast cars. Well, sort of. The G3 Ferrari Delizia is powered not by a petrol engine but by electricity. 

I plug it in and turn it on for ten minutes, by which time the stone is at the recommended 300c. In goes my pizza and five minutes later the timer pings to tell me it is ready.

I’m amazed by how good the result is. The base is well cooked, if possibly a touch overdone, and the top beautifully melted. 

While it works well with a basic margherita, the tight-fitting lid makes me think you might struggle with lots of toppings or a chunky crust.

Verdict: It does what it says on the box.

Lightweight pellet power  

Ooni Fyra Wood-Fired Pizza Oven, from £249 (cuckooland.com)

The boast: Stone-baked pizzas in as little as 60 seconds.

The reality: 20 minutes to heat, 90 seconds to cook.

Rating:

Having myself purchased an Ooni earlier this year, I’m already familiar with the workings of this oven. 

It’s lighter than the others and heated by hardwood pellets that are fed in at the rear and which light almost instantly with a natural firelighter (to avoid tainting the food).

The company claims it can hit 500c in 15 minutes, but it takes me 20 to hit 400c. At that temperature the pizza takes just a minute and a half to cook, with a bit of turning to ensure no burnt crusts. 

Cooking multiple pizzas can be harder — the oven seems to lose more heat while cooking than some of the better-insulated ovens.

Verdict: Easy to use and portable, but be careful when cooking multiple pizzas.