Recipes

Don't just think pizzas when buying at thePizzaOvenStore.com, you can cook just about anything in the ovens we supply. To give you some ideas we have included some guides and recipes below.

 

• Creating the perfect wood fired pizza
• Smoking meat & fish
• Use your oven as a BBQ

Creating the perfect wood fired pizza

To help you out with your new Pizza Oven from thePizzaOvenStore.com, we have some suggested recipes for the perfect pizza.

• Basic Pizza Dough
• Leave-in-the-fridge Pizza Dough
• Basic Pizza Sauce
• Making Pizzas

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 2 cups baker's flour
• 2 teaspoons or 1 sachet dry yeast

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and add oil and water.
2. Mix to a soft dough
3. Knead on a floured surface until soft and pliable
4. Return to the mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes.  The dough should double in size.
5. When it has risen, 'punch' the dough once to remove air bubbles.
6. Remove from bowl and knead gently for 1 minute
7. Roll or push the dough out to desired size, prick randomly with a fork and add favourite toppings.

More Information

• You can use your bread maker to make this dough.  To use your bread maker, simply add all ingredients to the pan in the exact order as listed above and select DOUGH setting.
• We make 3 thin pizza bases out of this recipe, however, depending on how thick you like your bases, you may use it to make 1or 2 pizzas.
• When spreading your pizza sauce, do not spread right to the edge of the base - leave a rim of about 1-2 cm.

Leave-in-the-fridge Pizza Dough

This pizza can be made and left in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.  A great recipe for those who want to get organised in advance!  Our favourite!

 Ingredients

• 300ml cold water
• 1 teaspoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2-3 cups bakers flour (over 11% protein)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Put water, sugar, salt, baking powder and yeast into mixer with dough hook attachment. 
2. Add flour a little at a time and mix until a well formed but sticky dough is reached.
3. Turn out dough and massage oil into the mix, ensuring the dough is covered with a thin layer or oil to prevent it from 'skinning'.
4. Leave to rest in fridge in a covered container for at least 24 hours.

 Working the dough

1. Remove from fridge about 30 minutes before balling.
2. Work oil into dough so that any residue oil in the container is 'soaked up'.
3. Cut off required quantity (about 180g per pizza).
4. Dough should be a moist, sticky mix so will need to be worked with a good deal of flour.  Dust dough portion with flour and work into a ball by taking corners of the piece and folding under.  Gently roll dough on floured bench to create a smooth ball.  Do not overwork.
5. Leave to rest for about 30 minutes before use.
6. When 'flattening' ball, do not roll with a rolling pin - push out gently on a floured bench and then either 'throw' the dough or 'stretch' it our with the knuckles of both hands.
7. If dough is too 'tight' and is shrinking back, reball and allow it to rest for a few minutes before trying to work it into a base again.

 More information

• This recipe will make about 4 dinner-plate sized pizza bases.

Basic Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
• Handful of fresh basil, chopped
• 30ml extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh garlic according to taste, crushed
• Pinch of salt

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in blender and spread evenly over prepared pizza base.

More Information

Try blending sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil with basil, garlic and seasonings for a richer, fuller flavour.

 

Making Pizzas

Method

1. Prepare pizza bases as outlined in the recipes above.
2. Spread evenly with the basic sauce, leaving a 1-2cm border.
3. Sprinkle a small amount of mozzarella cheese and add toppings of your choice (see our recommendations).

More Information

Remember, the best pizzas are often those that are the most simple, so keep the number of toppings and the amount that you use to a minimum (we usually recommend 2 or 3 different toppings). Have fun experimenting!

Recommended Toppings

We have included below a list of toppings you might like to keep handy in your fridge and pantry:

Fresh Herbs

• Basil
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Oregano

Meats

• Proscuito
• Parma ham
• Bacon
• Salami
• Roasted chicken

Seafoods

• Scallops (sear these before adding them to the pizza)
• Prawns
• Anchovies

Vegetables

• Onions
• Tomatoes (fresh and sundried in olive oil)
• Olives
• Mushrooms
• Capsicum
• Artichokes
• Capers
• Corn
• Asparagus

Additional cheeses

Try adding other cheeses like those below as toppings.

• Fetta
• Parmesan
• Bocconcini

Smoking Meat & Fish

Many use our wood fired pizza ovens for smoking meats, fish, etc. The oven temperature is kept at below 200°C and, as a slow cook or bake as required.

Let your oven go to a downward temperature and then place water soaked hickory, marri or other scented woods, sawdust or shavings. A 2kg chicken can take up to 2 hours, but the flavour is to die for. This meat is especially tasty when left a day to cool and eaten cold.

The heat does the job of cooking and the smoke imparts flavour.

Some close the door off after their main cooking and let their meats cook and smoke overnight.

A variation of smoking is as follows:

Fish smoked in paper

Fish cooked this way is moist and has a mild smoky flavour.; if you have any left over, it's delicious served cold. This is a good way to prepare and carry fish to a picnic site, as the paper will keep the fish cold for several hours.

You can use salmon, flounder, or rockfish, allowing about 1 pound per person. For 8 to 10 people, plan on 3 fish or about 3 pounds each, or 2 fish of 4 to .5 pounds each.

Clean the fish, removing heads and tails; rub with salt (about 1 tea spoon per pound of fish) and sprinkle with pepper. Stuff the cavity of each fish with equal parts of chopped parsley and finely chopped onion. Wrap each fish well in buttered waxed paper so there is a 1 inch thickness of paper (you'll need about 8 double sheets of newspaper for a 3 pound fish). To make the packet easier to handle, tie with string.

Dip the packets in water to moisten the outer layer of paper and place in the oven away from the fire. Let the newspaper smoulder but not flame (quench flames with water). The fish only has to be turned once at 25 minutes then another 20 minutes. When packets have smouldered down to the waxed paper layer (it takes about 3/4 of an hour for a fish of about 3 pounds to cook). Remove the charred newspaper and waxed paper from one side of each fish and turn over onto serving platter; then remove the paper from the other side of each fish. Serve with melted butter and lemon slices. 

 

Use Your Oven as a BBQ

Steaks

Good chefs will tell you the only way to cook steak is to heat up a pan with a thick base. Place the steak in the pan and sear both sides. Place the pan and meat in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes and then pull the pan out and let it sit for 5 minutes. You won't taste better steaks.

Sausages

When cooking sausages there is no need to turn them when cooking. The Alfresco oven is designed so that it heats equally at the top and bottom. We lay fresh asparagus out to cover the bottom of a pan and place spiced sausages on top. All is cooked within 6 to 8 minutes.

Cooking on Skewers

Place your metal skewers with food over a pan to support each skewer end and to catch fats and juices. Simply slide the tray into the oven. The skewers will only have to be rotated once because of the ovens equal heat.

BBQ Recipes

Below are some great BBQ recipes to try with your Alfresco oven:

• Pakistani Kebabs
• Skewered Veal Barbecue
• Skewer Combinations

Pakistani Kebabs

The spice mixture in the marinade for these kebabs is similar to a Pakistani curry. Use beef, lamb or chicken - or some of each. If you plan to serve a combination of meats, put each kind on an individual skewer.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cups yoghurt
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger (or 0.25 teaspoon ground ginger)
• 1 small dried hot chilli pepper, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 pounds of boneless lean beef sirloin or lamb (shoulder or leg), cut in 1 1/4 inch cubes, or 5 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and cut in bite-size pieces

 

Method

To make the marinade, combine the yoghurt, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli pepper, cumin, nutmeg, cardamom, salt, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Stir meat into marinade (keep meats separate if you use several so you can skewer and cook them separately). Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove meat from marinade and string on skewers. Cook until browned and just tender - about 6 - 7 minutes for lamb and beef, 5 to 6 minutes for chicken. Makes about 6 servings.

Skewered Veal Barbecue

When making these kebabs, if you have any pineapple left over, drain it well; sauté the pieces in a small amount of butter until lightly browned and serve as an accompaniment.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons salad or olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 or 3 veal steaks, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
• Dry red wine
• 1 can (1lb., 13oz.) sliced pineapple

Method

Mix together soy sauce, onion, oil, and oregano. Cut the veal steaks into 1 to 1 1/2 inch squares, depending on the thickness of your skewers. Put the veal squares in a bowl, pour in the marinade, then add enough wine to cover the meat. Let the meat marinate all day and turn it in the marinade from time to time. Cut the pineapple slices into quarters.

About 2 hours before time to cook, string the meat on the skewers with a piece of of pineapple between every two pieces of meat. You'll have to work carefully as the pineapple might split if the skewers are too large. Arrange the skewers on a shallow pan (pizza trays are ideal), pour over the sauce and marinate, turning once. Baste with the marinade when you turn skewers. This fills 6 good sized skewers.

Skewer Combinations

If you are wondering what foods complement each other on skewers, here are some tried and true combinations:

• Pork cubes, pineapple chunks, green pepper squares, sweet potato squares.
• Steak cubes, brown-and-serve bread chunks, mushroom caps, tomatoes.
• Prunes, brown-and-serve sausage, small onions, spiced crab apples.
• Ham cubes, thick sliced banana, sweet potatoes.
• Figs stuffed with anchovies, ripe olives, salami cubes, brown-and-serve rolls.
• Polish sausage, cherry tomatoes, eggplant cubes, stuffed green olives.
• Cheese cubes and luncheon meat, cut in quarters, and threaded alternately with mushrooms or ripe olives.
• Meatballs, onions, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms.
• Knackwurst, small onions, potato or zucchini slices.
• Turkey cubes, pineapple chunks, ripe olives, sweet potatoes.
• Ham cubes, corn on the cob, cheese wrapped in refrigerated biscuits, stuffed olives.