Gozney are renounced for their cooking products and after having been introduced to their lineup with the Roccbox in 2023 (review here), I was excited to learn they had a new oven coming out – the second generation of their Dome pizza oven.
The Dome (Gen 2) is a very serious cooking appliance, offering enough space for 2 pizzas to be cooked at once, and your choice between fuel source (gas, wood or charcoal).
Gozney designers really rethought the Dome product with this generation and considered what customers really need. The second generation grows 40% larger, now targeting those entertainers who love to put on full meals for family and friends.
Due for release next week (October 15th), I’ve had the chance to try it out this weeks and it’s time to share my initial impressions.
Design
Typically review products fit in the mailbox, but not this one. Most people who purchase this will arrange home delivery, but my experience was a little different. After a failed delivery attempt, I made contact with the courier and arranged pickup.
With no shot of this fitting in my car, thankfully my mate has a Ford Ranger and helped with the pickup (thanks Ry). It was quite the sight, watching the oven (and stand) on a pallet, being loaded into the back of the ute by a forklift.
Having arrived home, the next challenge was unloading it. Combined, we’re talking 90-100kg in weight between the two large boxes and accessories.
Thankfully unboxing each meant we were able to lift it off safely and get it to the alfresco, ready for setup.
It’s pretty clear from the scale of this, that the oven is designed to be a permeant fixture in your back yard, but understanding the real estate that consumes, Gozney have created a great stand to compliment the oven. Not only does this stand place the oven at a great height for cooking it also features rolling casters which allow you to move the oven (and it’s weight) around easily.
Some may have a built-in barbeque-style bench that could house this, but for those that don’t the stand is basically essential. It took me a good couple of hours to assemble, although having done it once now, I could easily slice that in half if I was to do it again.
The stand is strong, thick metal and it needs to be, in order to safely hold the weight of the oven. The stand features two foldable sides, finished in beautiful wood surface, while your cooking accessories are easily stored in the thoughtful tray under the oven.
As the name suggests, the oven itself is a stunning dome shape, and you know it’s a serious piece of electronics thanks to the digital display on the front, providing a live readout of the temperature inside.
The lower tray on the stand offers space for up to 2 gas bottles, perfect for ensuring you have the redundancy of a reserve bottle. The latest thing you want to do is gather a large group of friends and family over for a pizza night and have the fuel source run out.
The main chassis of the oven is flanked by the flue, which features a cap, ensuring it stays clean while not in use, just remember to remove it each time. I did find that having a fixed, vertical only flue, meant that having the oven placed under my alfresco was not viable and I’ve moved it onto the grass every time I’ve used it. If this was able to rotate to a 45 degree angle, I could leave the oven on the concrete and have the heat vented away.
Your main interface to the oven is the large opening on the front, this black surround is accented by the silver ends, and well resolved by the black control surface below it.
In terms of design, I think this looks fantastic, but clearly the looks are just the entre’.
Performance
Having unboxed the pizza oven on Friday, I’ve now cooked with it 3 times this week, keen to understand it’s performance, but quickly learning about my own.
Creating great pizzas (and meals) using the Gozney Dome (Gen 2) pizza oven is a result of a combination of important factors – the oven, the chef, the food.
I’ve tried a range of pizza bases this week and a mix of toppings, and adding to the mix, I’ve also leveraged more accessories each time. It feels like every time I cook with the oven I’m learning something new.
The dream pizza for me is ultra-crispy crusts, well cooked toppings, without going too far and burning anything. To achieve this, you need great control over the heat.
To begin, I found that letting the stones inside the oven heat up a lot first, ensures the base of your pizza is cooked. The placement in the oven is also critical as is watching it closely. You can control the temperature with great precision, using the dial on the front of the oven.
I was stunned at just how rapidly the temperature climbs when you have the gas on full tilt, increasing from ambient temperature (i.e. 20 degrees) up to 400 degrees + in just a few minutes. What I found works best, is to cook at a modest temp for longer, rather than trying to go too hot too early.
With the right pizza base (you can always make your own), you’ll get that crispy crunchy crust and after a few times cooking on the oven, I’m pretty comfortable with it.
I really loved having the freedom of space to cook two pizzas at once and that really helps the hungry mouths at the other end. Having cooked a pizza at a time before, the night often ends with one person finishing before the other even starts. Cooking two at once is a great luxury and something I really appreciated.
I did notice that the pizza on the left, closest to the flame, did get more heat that the one on the right, not by much, but you do have to watch it closely when playing in the higher temperature ranges. Literally seconds can be the difference between a great looking pizza, or scorched earth. Another important aspect is rotating the pizza to ensure consistency, if you nail this, on both sides, you’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment and your pizza-loving friends and family will sing your praises for weeks to come.
Features
Before I turned on the digital display, I noticed the segments in the plastic around it, which suggested this may come apart – it did. The display can be removed to access the smartly routed internal working of the oven.
The display itself features a USB-C port to enable recharging when the internal battery depletes. I was glad to see the modern connection type which will serve us well into the future.
The flame control knob requires a single AAA battery to be inserted to power the igniter, once in, the oven is incredibly easy to fire up, even easier than my cooktop.
If you want to switch it up, there is an option extra to leverage wood or charcoal as fuel sources, helping provide an authentic smokey flavour to the food cooked inside. I don’t have this, so can only speak to the gas-powered cooking.
I love the simplicity of modern gas connections, connecting the regulator and hose to the oven was as easy as connecting a garden hose, so the hardest part of using this oven is the cooking skill (as it should be), not the setup.
I really loved the space available from the 2x side tables, this makes it easy to store you uncooked and then cooked pizzas before slicing and serving. The fact that they fold, helps shrink the footprint of the oven, making it easy to stow when not in use.
Accessories
The amount of accessories that were included from Gozney was quite literally jaw dropping, I couldn’t believe it when I unboxed this.
Not only did I get the Dome Gen 2 Series Stand (valued at $849.00), I also got: – Acacia Wood Pizza peel & Server XL – Pizza Cutter – Dome Neapolitan Arch – Pro Placement Peel – Dough Cutter – Dough Scraper – Dome Mantel – Dome Cover Having used a number of these I have couple of learnings.
The Dome Mantel is a clip-in accessory that really adds to the utility of the oven. This creates a shelf at the entrance of the oven, allowing you to retrieve items from the oven, review their cooking progress, without risking it falling to the ground.
The Dome Arch is a clip-in surround that reduces the diameter of the oven opening, allowing the heat to coalesce inside the oven better, allowing even crispier crusts! Yum!
When it comes to serving, a fresh pizza on the Acacia Wood Pizza Peel looks amazing, just don’t make the mistake I did and cut your pizza on it, as the blad can and will penetrate the surface of the wood.
The Pizza Cutter is crazy sharp and glides through the pizza, creating slices for you or for you to share. It makes the process feel like your working in a commercial kitchen and is a joy to use.
You can watch the timelapse below of the assembly process.
Price and Availability
The Dome (Gen2) comes in two colour options – Bone (white) and Off Black (reviewed). It is listed as coming soon on the website, but as we know, orders go live on October 15th.
Once they do, the shipping duration is listed as 28-30 days, so realistically, this could be with you before Christmas.
The price is reflective of the quality of product here, priced at A$2,999.00 it really is for serious home / semi-profession chefs.
At that price, you’d want to be hosting others regularly to make the investment worth it. Given the quality I’ve seen from this, it’s likely this product could be with you for the next decade, so it’s probably amortizing the cost over the life of the product probably helps stomach it a little easier.
I haven’t done a total cost of everything that was provided for the review, but we’re talking easily in excess of $4k for what you see in the photos.
Overall
Having now cooked 6+ pizzas using the Gozney Dome (Gen 2), I’m a massive fan. I’ve always enjoyed pizzas, but making cooking this easy has really enticed me into the outdoor kitchen to cook more often.
Gozney offer plenty of cooking suggestions on their website of meals other than pizza that can also be cooked using the oven and I’ll be keen to explore many of those going forward.
Overall I’m very impressed with the design of the oven, the base, the accessories, all very high quality, but that is shown in the price tag which I fear will make many consider cheaper ways to get their pizza cravings serviced.
If you can stomach the price, the Gozney Dome (Gen 2) is a massive win, your stomach will love you, even if your wallet doesn’t.
