Pizza ovens have surged in popularity in recent years. We learned why when we started testing them-a good pizza oven can cook a fantastic artisan pizza in less than two minutes. Plus you can make your pie any way you like, which is especially convenient if your family can't agree on toppings. In 10 minutes, you can crank out three 12-to 14-inch pies, and everybody is happy.
During one round of testing, we mused: How difficult would it be to make your own portable pizza oven? There's no shortage of plans for brick pizza ovens, but not many for smaller, portable ovens you can use anywhere. So we launched this DIY pizza oven project. The body is made from brushed stainless steel, found at our local salvage yard, and the pizza stone came from Amazon. Making the burner was the challenging part, and it took a couple attempts to get it working well enough to bring the pizza stone up to temperature.
We've listed materials and tools for it below. It helps to have a couple specialized tools, like a metal-bending brake and a band saw, but they aren't necessary. I've used a vise and metal bar stock to clamp and bend sheet metal for years having the brake for this job was a luxury. And while a band saw or sheet-metal shear makes cutting easier, there are plenty of other options for cutting sheet metal. Cutoff wheels on angle grinders and circular saw blades designed for metal are just two possibilities. One word of caution: Some cutting tools might heat up and discolor the stainless steel's finish.
GET STARTED
BUILD THE PIZZA OVEN FLOOR AND INTERIOR WALLS
Using the dimensions found in the plans online, lay out the oven base, or floor, on 20-gauge sheet metal. A finetip Sharpie works well for this-it will clean off easily with denatured alcohol when you're finished. Cut out the base and clean up the edges with a file to remove any burrs.
This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Popular Mechanics US.
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This story is from the May - June 2023 edition of Popular Mechanics US.
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