We try before you buy: The Gozney Arc pizza oven

A pizza oven is more than just a great way to cook a meal, it's a party piece.

So when a Gozney Arc was delivered to my door, the first thing on my mind was who I should invite around to experience the theatre.

With guests chosen and a date locked in, I fire the oven for the first time to see how long it would take to heat up and to cure the stone. After turning the gas on and igniting the flame, I feel like a kid on Christmas day. This thing is slick!

The flame curls around the top of the oven in the shape of an arc (hence the name, I guess). It actually feels like a living artwork. Sitting atop a stand, which is easy to wheel into place and move around the courtyard, eyes are drawn to the stylish simplicity of the curves and the dancing flame. There's also a digital temperature gauge on the front, which makes it really easy to track the heat of the stone as it rises. And boy does the heat rise!

I do some research to try to figure out what kind of temperature I should be shooting for to cook the perfect pizza. I discover that it depends on what style of pizza I want to cook but 450 degrees Celcius seems about right. The stone, which the pizza rests on as it cooks, takes almost 30 minutes to get to that temperature so I know how long I need to have the oven fired before the fun really begins at my first pizza party.

Gozney Arc Pizza Oven

Buy it here for $1199

Making the dough

Perhaps the most striking thing about having your own pizza oven is the sudden burst of motivation to make pizzas from scratch. I'm a decent cook and have for many years enjoyed experimenting with different ingredients for homemade pizzas but I'd never bothered to make my own dough for the all-important base.

The sight of the Gozney Arc in my courtyard flicks a switch in my brain. All of a sudden I'm leafing through recipe books, researching online and asking friends for recommendations. I settle on a simple recipe combining flour, yeast, water and salt and go to work. There's something quite meditative about measuring out the ingredients and kneading the dough with your hands. My dough mix takes about 15 minutes to measure out and combine and, after giving it some time to rise, I'm left with six good-sized dough balls. I store the dough balls covered in the fridge overnight and when I check them the next day they've grown quite a bit thanks to the magic of yeast. They have a stretchy, satisfying consistency. I'm no dough expert but I'm felling pretty good about how my first homemade pizza bases are going to turn out. I can't wait to fire the Gozney when my guests arrive in a few hours.

The Pizza Party

As I touched on earlier, the most exciting thing about having a flash new pizza oven in the courtyard is its potential to transform a meal into an interactive, social dining experience. I'm having two couples over to give the Arc its debut, and there'll be two kids in tow – a 10-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy. From the moment the Gozney is fired it's a talking point. My friends watch on wide-eyed as the gas is ignited and comment on the temperature gauge as the numbers climb.

One of the guests is a pescetarian (a vegetarian who also eats fish), so we've settled on pizza toppings that will make a range of different kinds of pizzas. We've chopped up a spicy salami and prosciutto for the meat eaters, and we've prepared prawns, to go with homegrown basil and roquette from our garden. There's also chopped mushrooms, capsicum and cherry tomatoes, as well as a grated mozzarella and a grated Havarti for a second cheese option. We've got a basic tomato paste and some chilli oil for those with an adventurous spirit.

Here's where the fun really begins. Unlike the usual scene at a barbeque, where you've got one person manning the grill and everyone else chatting while they wait for their food to be served, at our pizza party it's time for everyone to muck in and make their own. We've brought out a couple of boards to put on the outdoor table, right by the Gozney, and encourage the guests to step up and create their own pizza. On one board is some flour where the dough can be rolled into a nice, thin base; we've got our tomato paste in an easy squeeze bottle to dollop out onto the base before spreading evenly.

The cooking process

I go for the spicy salami with mushroom and capsicum, with a generous sprinkle of mozzarella to top it off. With the Arc showing a temperature of 439 degrees, I slide the Gozney Pro Placement Peel under the base and whack the pizza in the oven. The guests rise from their chairs and gather around to watch the cooking process. And it's a 'don't blink or you'll miss it' kind of moment. Almost immediately after placing the pizza on the stone, the cheese starts to morph and the crust on the side closest to the flame takes 30 seconds before it's rising and bubbling. At this point it's time to use the Gozney Utility Turning Peel to reposition the pizza, turning it to expose the other side to the flame. I readjust it and turn it another couple of times and when I can see that the toppings are nicely cooked and the crust is golden and crispy I reach for the Pro Placement Peel and slide it under the base to bring it out to rest.

From the moment the pizza went into the Arc to the moment I took it out again less than three minutes have passed and every ingredient is beautifully cooked. I use the Gozney pizza cutter to slice the pizza into six slices to be shared, then the process starts again. This time it's prawns, cherry tomatoes, basil, chilli oil and mozzarella going in.

The 10-year-old wants a turn and the beauty about creating a pizza once the ingredients have been prepared is that anyone can do it. Using the Gozney tools – the Pro Placement Peel and the Utility Turning Peel – makes it really safe and easy to use, keeping hands and arms well away from the flame, and the heat is well contained within the oven, so it's not uncomfortable to stand by as the pizzas are cooking.

The heat control is also made easy by the digital temperature gauge. Once you've brought the Gozney Arc up to the heat you want, a simple turn of the knob to take it off high heat can maintain the temperature you desire for as long as you've got gas burning. In this case, the oven is in use for about 30 minutes, making six pizzas of varying sizes. The Arc is perfect for a 14-inch pizza, but particularly when you're catering for children it's handy to have the versatility to make smaller ones too. They love being able to make and eat one that is their own little creation.

The verdict

Just as I had hoped, a pizza party using the Gozney Arc was a seamless experience. More importantly, it was loads of fun! The interactive nature of the preparation and cooking process turned mealtime into a group activity that had adults and children of varying culinary skills captivated.

The Arc is very easy to use – you simply turn on the gas, ignite the flame with the turn of a dial and let the oven heat up. Once the temperature gauge shows you that the stone has gotten hot enough it's showtime, and the Pro Placement Peel and the Utility Turning Peel make it easy to nail the perfect pizza, so long as you're attentive and you turn it so it cooks evenly. With the festive season coming up, I know exactly what I'll be doing with the leftover Christmas ham this year!

Our writer was gifted the Gozney Arc for the purpose of this review.

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