Last year, I tested out an Ooni Fyra, a portable, wood-fired pizza oven. That was a pretty cool experience. Earlier this year, Gozney reached out to see if I’d be interested in testing out its new Roccbox. This is a propane-fired (multi-fuel compatible), portable pizza oven that’s advertised as being “restaurant grade.” It also addresses some of the shortcomings of my initial foray into portable, back-yard pizza making, including a built-in thermometer. With the grilling season about to kick off for 2021, here’s how I made out with the Gozney Roccbox portable pizza oven.
Setup
The Roccbox arrived nicely and very efficiently packaged in a cardboard box. It was large, but there was absolutely no wasted space. The unboxing experience actually reminded me of many of the high-tech items I review — there was considerable attention to detail and extensive use of recyclable materials.
Inside, there is also a free bottle opener. Not that you’ll need a beverage to set it up. The process is fast and frustration-free.
The Roccbox itself comes as a single unit that requires no assembly. A carry strap (fastened with Velcro) makes it easy to lift the 44 pound oven out of its box. From there, unfold the legs and the unit is ready for the burner. A propane burner is supplied, and it connects to the bottom of the oven with a twist. You then need to connect to a 20 pound propane tank and check the connection for leaks. Standard procedure for any time you connect a new tank to a gas grill...
Setup is easy, requires no tools, and takes just a few minutes. The Roccbox isn’t “ultra-light,” but it’s easy enough to pick up and lug around the yard to find the perfect position. I ended up setting the pizza oven up on the work surface of my charcoal grill. The Roccbox has a small footprint, the legs elevate it enough that you don’t need to worry about heat blistering the surface below, and that got the oven opening at a nice height so there was no bending involved to cook a pizza.
The Roccbox is an impressively made piece of equipment, all gleaming metal with a silicone shell. That silicone is there to protect you from accidental burns, but it does have a habit of attracting dust. Fortunately, it washes off easily enough. My review unit came in gray, which makes it look purposeful, but you can also order it with an olive-colored silicon cover if you prefer a brighter look. The pizza oven feels very sturdily made and is reassuringly solid, even on its retractable legs.
It’s worth knowing that the Roccbox is multi-fuel compatible. The company ships it with a propane burner. However, you can order an optional wood burner that connects in exactly the same way. So if you prefer wood-fired pizza, you can go that route.
Hands-On and Making Pizza
I followed the instructions and ran the oven for half an hour to burn off any residue, then cranked up the heat. It wasn’t very warm here (around 60ºF), but I found the oven warms up quite quickly. About 20 minutes got it up to well over 700ºF. With a few more minutes of burning I got this oven past 900ºF. It’s easy to tell exactly what the temperature is thanks to the built-in thermometer.
When I was at the target temperature, the insulation helped to maintain it, despite the relatively cool conditions. The silicone cover still gets very hot — I wouldn’t recommend touching it — but it did alleviate my fear of being accidentally seared by red-hot metal.
Once the oven is pre-heated, it’s pizza time. Gozney offers lots of recipes, but I stuck with a pizza dough recipe that I’m fond of. Gozney supplied a peel in the box. As always, getting your pizza to slide cleanly off the peel into the oven takes practice and dough that’s not sticky. I’ve been doing this with different pizza ovens here and there for a year and have yet to perfect my technique to the point where I have a perfectly round pie. However, a pizza doesn’t need to be symmetrical to taste good...
The oven works with a “rolling flame” design. That means the flame from the burner at the back stretches up and across the top of the dome interior, stretching toward the open door. The aim is to provide even heat distribution across the entire cooking surface, but I found the pizza edge closest to the back still gets the most heat and cooks/chars more quickly. So moving the cooking pizza around is critical. That’s where the optional Roccbox Turning Peel comes in very handy.
The end results are very impressive. And fast. I was able to pull out a pizza with bubbled cheese and a nice char in a minute and a half. The maximum pizza size is around 11-inches (the door width is just over 12-inches), so you may be churning out a few of these. I have three teenagers in the house, so that means at least six pizzas in a session. Fortunately, the Roccbox stays hot, so there’s no warmup time required between pizzas.
My only complaint with the Roccbox is that its open oven approach meant the metal on the front face gets sooty. That can be washed off, but I had to be careful not to accidentally brush it with a sleeve.
Gozney Roccbox Key Specs:
- Maximum cooking temperature 932ºF
- Cordierite stone cooking surface (13.4 x 12.4-inches)
- Insulated oven body
- Built-in thermometer
- Safe-touch, commercial grade silicone cover (gray or olive)
- Retractable legs
- Oven weight 44 lbs
- 16.3 x 20.9 x 18.6 inches
- Multi-fuel compatible
- Includes detachable gas burner, pizza peel, bottle opener, carry strap
- MSRP $499
- 5-year warranty
Full Range of Accessories Available
Purchasing a pizza oven opens the gateway to an investment in accessories. Gozney includes a nice pizza peel in the box (although slotted isn’t for everyone), but I’ve found that when cooking for multiple people, the process goes a lot more smoothly and quickly with extra pizza peels. There is an optional turning peel, which I highly recommend for being able to rotate the pizza in the oven quickly to keep char even. Gozney also sells a protective cover, and of course there is the Wood Burner 2.0, which converts the Roccbox into a wood-fired pizza oven.
All of these are optional, though. Everything you need to cook your first pizza is included in the box.
Recommendation
While its portability requires a somewhat generous definition (44 pounds isn’t exactly light even with a handy carry strap, and then there’s the 20 pound propane tank), technically the Roccbox can be moved from location to location. Even transported to a friend’s house, camping, or to the beach.
A more realistic application is in the back yard or on a deck. This heavy duty pizza oven is compact enough to take up minimal space, and can be easily stored in a shed or basement when not in use. The Roccbox’s silicone cover helps to reduce contact burns, while its retractable legs are extremely sturdy and give it decent height. A built-in thermometer takes the guesswork out of warming up. Propane makes operation easy and inexpensive. Plus you do have the wood-fired option if that’s a must-have.
No pizza oven can make you an expert pizza maker (perfect pie symmetry still eludes me), but with the Gozney Roccbox, the equipment is there to quickly turn out restaurant-quality pizzas.
Disclosure: Gozney provided a Roccbox for evaluation but had no input into this review.
