W hether you like yours thin-crust, deep-dish, simply margherita or loaded with extras, for pizza-lovers everywhere, there’s nothing more satisfying than making your own. And while a compact or mid-size pizza oven will more than suffice for a weekly family pizza night or casual entertaining, if you’re serious about pizza – and I mean super-serious about pizza – you’ll need a big oven, such as the Gozney Dome Gen 2.
Spacious inside, back-strainingly heavy, and complete with an all-singing, all-dancing display and control panel, the Gozney Dome will cook two 10in pizzas at once (or a single 16in one). Its size allows it to handle full meals, too: an included pair of meat probes means you can roast anything from a whole chicken or fish to lamb chops or a joint. More versatile than its first-gen gas-only predecessor, the Gozney Dome Gen 2 can cook with hybrid fuel. Add the optional wood-fire control kit (£174.99), as I did in my testing, and even smoky, authentic flavours are at your fingertips.
Not surprisingly, a big oven comes with a price tag to match – and at £1,999.99, the Gozney Dome Gen 2 is a till-death-do-us-part commitment to alfresco cooking. However, it’s not as costly as its bigger sibling, the Gozney Dome XL – at £2,499.99, that makes the Dome Gen 2 look affordable in comparison.
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How I tested
Melting point … our writer cooked pizzas with different toppings at different temperatures to test the oven’s performance. Photograph: Rachel Ogden/The Guardian
I tested the Gozney Dome Gen 2 in the same way I test other pizza ovens for the Filter. I assessed the quality of the cook using different toppings – cheese and tomato at about 430C; a veggie pizza topped with onion, pepper and tomato at a slower 350C to caramelise and soften the ingredients; and a salami-topped pizza at about 400C. I also rated the pizza oven for ease of assembly and overall use, lighting, temperature control, and how easily it can be stored.
In addition, I recorded heat-up times for both gas and wood fuels (note that the Gozney Dome Gen 2 was tested in cooler months, so these will be quicker when cooking in the summer).
What you need to know
Hot stuff … the integrated display tracks stone and air temperatures. Photograph: Rachel Ogden/The Guardian
View at GozneyView at John Lewis If more cooking space is the reason you’re considering a bigger pizza oven, the Dome Gen 2 certainly delivers. Gozney boasts that it offers 40% more than the original Dome, making room for roasting pans and multiple side dishes alongside pizza. It also monitors both stone and air temperatures, largely doing away with the need for an infrared thermometer. During testing, I enjoyed being able to focus on cooking, rather than having to constantly check temperatures.
What I didn’t enjoy so much is its heft. At 62kg, it’s a four-person lift to transport it to its for ever home. Alternatively, you could pick up the stand with castors, which took me about 20 minutes to put together – but this adds £499.99 to your initial outlay.
Gozney Dome Gen 2 specifications
Dimensions: 82.6 x 65.2 x 98.6cm (WDH); mouth, 41.9 x 13.3cm (WH)
**Maximum capacity:**60.4 x 49.8cm (WD) (working capacity 16in or 2 x 10in pizzas)
**Features:**2 x meat probes, count-up timer, air and stone temperature measured
**Fuel:**gas, charcoal or wood (we advise the optional Wood Control kit for best results with the latter fuels)
**Spare parts:**replacement stones, flue parts, meat probes, display, hose, paint touch-up kit
Weight: 62kg
What we love
The large mouth makes launching and retrieving pizzas easy. Photograph: Rachel Ogden/The Guardian
Cooking with wood in a pizza oven is a challenge – even once the fire is lit, keeping the flame going and managing the heat output requires skill. However, the compatible kit for the Dome goes a long way towards making the process easier for beginners – and anyone who’d rather socialise while cooking than have to keep an eye on the fire. The kit consists of a grate for the wood and a fan module that slots into the side of the oven to get the fire going and helps regulate the temperature thereafter.
The module uses the same rechargeable batteries as the display, and the wood kit’s battery life is about 3.5 hours at full power, although be aware that the one-minute boost function will drain it faster.
Other than being slightly nervous about the smoke wafting out of the chimney towards my neighbours’ gardens (a well-ventilated area away from other homes is best), I found the kit worked well for infusing delicious smoky flavours. There’s more ash to deal with than if using gas, so be prepared for a sooty clean-up job, but aside from that, it made cooking with wood simple.
The precise digital display and controls are equally well designed for pizza-making success. While I constantly forgot to set the timer – when cooking at high heats, the difference between browned and burned is just a matter of seconds – I liked that I could read the temperature inside and on the stone at a glance. Also great for beginners is the oven’s large mouth, which makes it easy to launch and retrieve pizza. However, being large in general means the oven was slower to heat up: cooking with gas, it took 35 minutes to reach 430C, while wood took 28 minutes (although I was very generous with the fuel and firelighters initially).
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Both gas and wood cooking provided excellent results. The cheese and tomato pizza emerged well-risen across the entire base, while the veggie pizza saw all veggies softened and the onion caramelised. There was the odd bit of scorching along the crusts – and when cooking with fatty meat – but otherwise, the pizzas could easily have passed as those made in a pizzeria.
What we don’t love
‘I would have welcomed a bit more guidance when using the wood kit.’ Photograph: Rachel Ogden/The Guardian
If you’re looking for a pizza oven you can whisk off on a camping trip, or to a friend’s garden for a pizza night, the Dome isn’t it. Bulky, heavy and more difficult to store than a smaller oven, once you find a suitable spot for it in your garden, there it will probably stay – permanently. You’ll need a cover, too – either one just for the oven (£69.99), or one that fits the stand as well (£89.99).
There’s also no getting around the Dome’s basic cost: at just under £2,000, it’s a serious investment. Add the stand, full cover and wood-fire cooking kit, and that’s a further £764.97.
As far as my cooking experience with the Dome Gen 2 goes, it was pretty fuss-free. However, I would have welcomed a bit more guidance when using the wood kit – you’re pretty much on your own when it comes to making and maintaining a fire – and a simpler timer function with alerts and a countdown option (rather than count-up), as well as better placement. As mentioned, I tended to forget the timer, hidden away as it is to the side of the display, especially when I had the optional shelf in place.
Warranty, repairability and longevity
Gozney offers a five-year extended warranty for the Dome Gen 2 if you register it, or one year as standard. Most of the removable parts – flue, cordierite stones, grate – are replaceable if they become damaged, plus there’s also a touch-up kit for the paint should the exterior get scratched. Gozney states that more than 25 components are replaceable or serviceable without the oven needing to go back for repair or replacement.
Gozney Dome Gen 2: should I buy it?
‘A whole outdoor cooking solution.’ Photograph: Rachel Ogden/The Guardian
For most people, a small or mid-size oven will happily accommodate those Friday night pizza cravings. The Gozney Dome Gen 2 is neither compact nor cheap – and even if you ate pizza every day for a year, you won’t have made a dent in the initial costs. However, what it delivers in return is brilliant performance, overall ease of use and fuel flexibility. Look at it as a whole outdoor cooking solution, rather than just a pizza oven, and it becomes a better value proposition.
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Rachel Ogden has worked as a consumer journalist for decades, becoming an expert unboxer before it was a thing, although she is less successful at assembling and repacking. Her home has hosted hundreds of appliances while her garden has seen a succession of pizza ovens, barbecues and heaters put through their paces. It takes a lot to impress her – many appliances have tried and failed
For more, read the best pizza ovens in the UK, the best BBQs and grills and the best (and worst) chefs’ knives