Nothing compares to the taste of food baked in an outdoor pizza grill or oven. The texture of the crust and the aroma of wood-fired baking can provide a truly unique culinary experience. The popularity of outdoor pizza ovens and grills is on the rise as owners find new and innovative ways of using their ovens to create mouth-watering recipes.

As with most outdoor grilling and cooking, the right equipment and accessories can make the job easier and safer. Outdoor pizza making requires some specialized tools that can help even the beginning griller produce great results.

Tending the Oven

Wood-fired outdoor ovens come in two basic configurations. On is a single chamber, or black oven, where the fuel is burned in the chamber as the food is baked. The other is a dual chamber, or white oven, where the fuel is burned in a separate space, transferring heat to the baking chamber. Whichever type of oven you chose, there are tools you will need to tend the fire and keep the oven clean.

You will need a metal poker, similar to a fireplace poker. The poker allows you turn the fuel, typically wood, and keep the fuel burning evenly. Fuel that has not burned evenly may keep the oven from reaching the desired temperature. Turning the fuel will reduce the amount of smoke and the build up of soot, creating a cleaner baking environment.

In a single chamber or black oven, repositioning the fuel prior to baking is essential. This is where a combination oven brush and ash pusher comes in handy. The pusher allows you to safely move the hot coals. The oven brush is used to scrub and clean the oven floor prior to baking. Oven brushes typically feature brass or copper bristles that will remove soot and debris without scouring the surface of the oven floor.

Ash pushers and oven brushes are relatively inexpensive and are a must for the owner of an outdoor pizza oven.

Pizza Peels and Turners

The pizza peel is a well-known tool is pizza making. Before the days of conveyor pizza ovens, the pizza peel was how the pizza was in and out of the oven. Traditional pizza ovens have a stone floor and the pizza was normally placed in the oven without being placed in a pan. The pizza would bake right on the floor of the oven, with a sprinkle of corn meal to keep the raw dough from sticking.

Resembling a square paddle on a long handle, pizza peels are made from wood, metal or even a combination of the two materials. The handle of your pizza peel should be long enough to reach the pizza, or other baked goods, without getting your hands too close to the oven. Remember that stone, brick and adobe ovens can reach temperatures approaching 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

A pizza turner looks like a long-handled spatula. The pizza turner is designed to let you move the pizza to various spots in the oven or turn it to even out the baking process. Just as with pizza peels, pizza turners can be found in wood, metal or a combination of the two.

Remember to never place your hands inside the hot oven. Always use the proper tool.

Pop Those Bubbles

Whether in a traditional pizza oven, outdoor grill pizza stone or outdoor pizza oven, bubbling cheese and air pockets in the dough can be a problem. This is where a bubble popper comes in handy. Normally made of metal or wood, the bubble popper is a long-handled tool designed to let you release the air that sometimes forms under the cheese or in the crust. Keeping bubbles to a minimum evens out the baking and keeps cheese from being splattered over the interior of the oven.

Pizza Cutters

There are two basic types of pizza cutter. The cutter that most of us are familiar with has a rotating circular blade. Another type of pizza cutter more closely resembles a long blade called a pizza knife. The pizza knife allows the pizza to be cut very quickly. A pizza knife can also be used for chopping vegetables and other foods.

Either type of pizza cutter works well though care should always be taken since these tools, when properly maintained, are very sharp and capable of causing serious injury.

Oven Mitts

A good pair of oven mitts can make working around your outdoor pizza grill a little safer. Pizza ovens can reach temperatures of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit so gloves are a must have for any backyard pizza chef.