Gozney’s commercial live-fire pizza ovens deliver the quintessential high heat needed to turn out Neapolitan-style pizzas all day long. But, the brand is perhaps best known for shrinking their restaurant oven designs into something the size of a futuristic mailbox — dubbed the Roccbox — for people to craft high-quality pizzas at home.
While the Roccbox does deliver a rolling flame akin to wood-fire ovens, it is rather limited in its size, and is only able to accommodate pizzas up to 10 inches in diameter. (And there’s not a lot of room to maneuver the pizza once it’s inside.)
Read More
To bridge the gap between portability and professional, Gozney makes the Dome, a home pizza oven that is essentially a scale model of a larger restaurant oven. Though it doesn’t have the full-size floorspace of a commercial oven, it offers all the same features and is far and away more versatile than the Roccbox (or any other portable pizza oven on the market today).
At $1,999, the Dome is over double the cost of competitors’ ovens that claim to offer similar interior space (enough for a 16-inch pizza) — but the Dome is a different beast altogether. It’s not a portable setup. It’s designed to be the centerpiece of an outdoor patio, not something you hide away after using. Having spent time reviewing the Gozney Roccbox, I was intrigued by the possibility of more floorspace in the oven, along with the additional features and versatility promised in this bigger model.
So I set out to explore what sets the Dome apart from the competition.
To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.
CourtesyGozney Dome
What’s Good About the Gozney Dome
This oven lets you make incredible pizza.
The Dome is made of ceramic-coated steel and has a 22-inch-wide thick stone floor that’s 18 inches deep. That means you can easily fit a 16-inch pizza in it, or have more room to work with smaller ones if you prefer.
The UFO-shaped design is built to the same ratios as Gozney’s restaurant ovens and delivers a strong rolling flame — either wood-fired or gas — and can reach internal temperatures of 950°F with an open door. The rolling side flame arches over the inside of the body driving heat down into the floor and can cook a pizza in 60 to 90 seconds. And though the inside is ripping hot, the sides of the Dome are still cool to the touch, thanks to the thick insulation (which also contributes to heat retention, distribution and the need to use less fuel).
Photo by John Zientek for Gear Patrol
John ZientekMounted on its stand, the Dome’s mouth sits at four feet high, making it easy to launch pizzas into the oven and rotate them once inside. The Dome allows for both wood and gas fire, both of which are easily controllable: a front-mounted knob controls both the intensity of the gas fire and the air intake if you’re opting to use wood or charcoal.
Once the oven came up to temperature, I experimented with different cook times for the pizzas between 60 and 90 seconds. The differences were notable — from just cooked to sun-kissed — and the results were enviable. Each pizza had leoparding on the crust, perfectly melted cheese and flame-grilled meat. When making Neapolitan pizza at home, the texture of the crust is the hardest thing to nail, but with the Dome, you’re able to get consistently amazing results every time.
The Dome doesn’t cut corners.
The Dome is substantial — and that’s what makes it such a force to be reckoned with. The ceramic coating is durable, water-resistant and UV-stable. The Dome has a 30mm double-layer stone floor and dense body insulation ensuring it can get blisteringly hot and stay hot. It also includes a built-in digital thermometer so you can get an accurate read on the internal temperature as it heats up and throughout the cooking process. Gozney is confident in the build and offers a five-year warranty on the dome, along with a number of well-built accessories including a stand, weather-proof cover, turning peel, placement peel, steam injector and rope-sealed door.
John Zientek
John ZientekThis Gozney is actually really versatile.
Most people would pause when reading ‘steam injector’ in a pizza oven review — and that’s fair. But the Dome is so much more than just a pizza oven. Because it’s substantially insulated, you can use it for roasting, smoking, steaming and baking. With the steam injector (a water reservoir that inserts into the top of the dome) and rope-sealed door, you can create the perfect environment for baking bread — more moisture is needed when baking bread to ensure longer rising and ideal crust thickness. With a lower flame and a partially opened door, you can roast low and slow. If you’re cooking steak over high heat or roasting other meats, the built-in digital thermometer has two temperature probes so you can nail the ideal internal temperature.
John ZientekThe dual-fuel Dome model allows you to switch between using a built-in gas burner or building your own wood fire. A stone floor puck will cover the side you decide not to use to open up more cooking space (either the air intake for the wood side or the gas burner on the opposite side).
Read More
What’s Not Ideal About the Gozney Dome
This pizza oven is heavy.
John ZientekSo if it hasn’t been clear already, I’ll say it again: This oven is not a portable cooking tool. It weighs 128 pounds and is 26 x 24.8 x 28.8 inches in size.
That size is a good thing — it allows you to do so much more with the oven. The weight is necessary for the performance, too — couldn’t get that heat retention any other way. But, just be aware that it will take two people to set up the Dome — either mounting it on the stand or on an outdoor countertop. I needed to enlist the help of a neighbor when positioning it on the stand because the dimensions and weight make it nearly impossible to do it alone.
If you set it on a countertop, it can live there indefinitely (or can be moved to a garage during the winter months if you live in cooler climates). If you opt for the stand, you can wheel the oven to wherever you’d like as long as the ground is smooth (the stand features four locking castor wheels). So, if you’re looking for something that’s easily movable and stowable, you’re better off considering less-substantial builds.
It’s not a passive cooking tool.
As with the Roccbox, the Dome is not a passive cooking tool. There are plenty of pizza ovens on the market that claim to do the majority of the work for you, so if you’re not into an engaging cooking process, this is not for you.
But those other hands-off ovens? They won’t deliver a pizza nearly as good as what you can craft with the Dome. For those who enjoy the process of live-fire cooking and the technique needed to rotate a pizza quickly in a hot oven, the Dome is hard to beat.
Photo by John Zientek for Gear PatrolAlternatives to the Gozney Dome
If you’re looking for another multi-fuel oven that can cook pizzas up to 16-inches in diameter, Ooni makes a version of its portable Karu oven that costs $799. That’s less than half the price of the Dome, but the Karu is still operating in the portable pizza oven space and doesn’t offer the versatility of the Dome. If you need something you can stow away, the Karu is worth considering, but if you want a centerpiece for your patio and value versatility, the Dome is worth the spend. If you want something even bigger and you have a permanent location to house or build an oven, you could look at the WPPO Karma or the Forno Bravo Casa80 — both of which cost over $2,500.
The Gozney Dome: The Verdict
The Gozney Dome bridges the gap between commercial and portable ovens, packing the most value and versatility into one good-looking package. That said, it’s not cheap. But if you want an oven that gives you more floorspace to cook larger pizzas and the options to explore roasting, baking and smoking, this is the oven for you. Additional features and accessories give the Dome a premium finish that’s hard to fault.
Courtesy