Who needs to order in when you can make a much nicer pizza at home and have fun whilst doing it?

With summer just around the corner and most of us either staying at home or going on a staycation, it is probably fair to say that many of us (weather permitting) will be spending a lot of time in the garden.

Since 2020 we have seen people work on their gardens to have a nicer place to sit and have fun in! We have seen people make their own decking from pallets and make their own garden bars and more, all preparing for these summers at home.

As country music fans we love to sit in the garden with the best of country music blaring loudly and have a few drink and some good food cooking. We love to do all this as a family but also with friends and seeing as garden visits are ok at the moment then this is the perfect time to treat yourselves this summer.

We love a good BBQ but what we have found to be really fun this year is our most recent purchase – A wood-fired Pizza Oven!!

I never knew I could actually get one of these myself without breaking the bank. I also assumed that it would be a difficult task to make my own wood-fired pizzas look and taste as good as the ones made by pubs or restaurants but I was wrong, ours were just as good, if not better!

The fun thing about having this is having each family member make their own pizza. Whether you make your own dough, buy it or buy a pizza base, it is fun to make your own toppings – after all, the choice of toppings are endless as it is totally up to you what you put on them. When you have kids, well, they like to experiment don’t they? My son put together toppings I wouldn’t even think would work as a combo such as pepperoni and avocado but he did and it was delicious!

Next get a nominated member of the family to cook it or take turns to cook it. I don’t recommend kids doing the cooking (age depending) without supervision though or without help.

The oven we have at home is from Char Outdoors. We purchased the No.1 which retails at £219 on sale or £235 bundle (recommended)

The bundle comes with

– One  10kg Bag of Wood Pellets

– One box of firelighters

This was very easy to put together and to use and can be placed anywhere outside really as doesn’t take up much room at all. Obviously be conscious of the smoke so don’t put close to washing on the line or too close to anything or anyone who may not like it.

All you need to do is follow the simple instructions to assemble it. You need to pour in 350g of pellets at the top ( instructions have images) which is about half the starter pack but if you go for the bundle (£235 and non bundle £219) you then get an extra bag of pellets (10kg) and a box of firelighters which will last a long time so you won’t need to replace anytime soon.

Pellets and hopper (tray) to be placed in oven

After following the rest of the instructions you have to let the oven heat up for about fifteen minutes at 400 C before starting to cook your pizzas. Once you have heated the oven, each pizza cooks for about 60-90 seconds, then you take it out, rotate it and put back in for another 60-90 seconds, remove, slice and eat!

As done so quickly you then don’t have anyone waiting ages for their pizza as can all be done within minutes of each other.

Before being cooked. Pizza made by five year old son who covered his toppings with cheese and tomato. An interesting way to do it but worked!

We also made a delicious garlic bread.

As I said, it can go anywhere. We put it on a table and it was fine and we also put it on a concrete floor and it was fine. It is small enough to pack up too so you can take with you on your staycations – We did! We took it to Grandma’s and it was a real treat.

Basil, Mozzarella, Tomato, Parma Ham

We as a family give this our collective thumbs up! We are so pleased we bought this and it has made those boring days of lockdown and beyond so much more bare able.

Cooked version of our sons pizza he made, yum!

Be the envy of your neighbours and then spread the word.

We can’t wait to check out the rest of Char’s range!

Check the website out here

Oven information

A lightweight design, hard wearing exterior and rapid cooking time means it is the perfect oven for your home wood-fired pizza making. Unique to Char Outdoors, our steel pizza plate ensures a perfectly crisp base for an authentic Italian ‘thin-and-crispy’ pizza.

Fuelled by real wood pellets, the oven reaches temperatures up to 500°C in just 15 minutes, you can keep an eye on this with the built in thermometer sat on top of the oven in front of the chimney. The No.1 is made of the highest quality materials ensuring you can have perfect pizzas for years to come.

Check out the website for more info on the oven and more products here