Put your hand up if you love a good homemade pizza. Kenwood has just launched My Pizzeria Indoor Pizza Oven, and it’s substantially cheaper than some of the other brands I have seen cross my desk.
The launch comes as new national research commissioned by Kenwood reveals almost one in three Australian households (32%) are ordering takeaway or delivery less often than they were 12 months ago, while another 11% do not order it at all. Among those asked about their last pizza order, 30% spent $50 or more, only to risk it arriving cold, soggy or later than expected.
It is not that Australians have lost their appetite for pizza; Australia ranks fourth globally for pizza consumption, behind only Norway, the United States and Canada. The pizza is still getting the green light; it is the price, wait and delivery roulette that are becoming harder to swallow.
My Pizzeria offers a considerably quicker, all-weather alternative. It preheats in around 10 minutes before cooking a pizza in just three, meaning Australians could be slicing into a hot, crispy pizza before a delivery app has even found its driver, without stepping outside or checking the forecast. It also directly addresses the biggest challenge Australians face when attempting a fakeaway at home, with almost one in four (24%) saying time is the main barrier to making great-quality pizza themselves.
It also provides an opportunity to turn pizza night into part dinner, part activity, allowing families and friends to make, top and share their own creations without leaving the kitchen. That could help keep the peace too, with research finding that 32% of Australians disagree over pizza toppings at least sometimes, while 70% would rather make individual pizzas or several different ones than share a single pizza.
“Pizza night should be fun, easy and, most importantly, hot,” said Abby Lord at Kenwood. “We created My Pizzeria so Australians can skip the delivery roulette and fees. For less than the cost of five takeaway orders, you can have a 400-degree pizza oven on your kitchen bench – no more paying for half/half or extra toppings!“
“It brings the high heat and ceramic stone of a specialist pizza oven into a compact appliance that anyone can use. Whether it is a quick midweek dinner, family pizza night or having friends over, everyone can create exactly the pizza they want without the fuss or unpredictability of ordering in.“
Reaching nearly twice the heat of a standard household oven, My Pizzeria uses dual-sided heating elements and a removable 30cm ceramic stone to create a crisp base, charred crust and bubbling cheese. It has just two controls, making it suitable for home cooks of every skill level, while the built-in ClearView window lets users monitor their pizza without opening the oven and losing heat.
At 18.5cm high and weighing 4.7kg, My Pizzeria is small enough to move, carry and store away when pizza night is over. Its compact design makes it particularly practical for apartment dwellers and renters who may not have the outdoor space, storage or set-up required for a traditional gas or wood-fired pizza oven.
While pizza may be the headline act, My Pizzeria can also be used to make flatbreads, quesadillas and s’mores, and works with homemade, chilled or frozen pizza. Its ceramic stone naturally seasons and darkens with every cook, helping it develop an even better pizzeria-style finish over time.
The My Pizzeria Oven forms part of the Kenwood Go Collection, a range of compact appliances that are small enough to fit in a standard drawer, but deliver powerful performance.
When I look at the numbers, the pizza place down the road makes amazing pizza, but to feed a family of five for dinner and have a little left over for school lunches, I am looking at an easy $120. That’s more than half the price of the My Pizzeria in a single night.
In comparison, I use Kenji’s Foolproof Pan Pizza dough recipe, and each base costs me around $0.80 to make before throwing on the toppings. I normally make four pizzas, and even loaded with mushrooms, spinach, cheese, olives, prosciutto and ham, short of throwing caviar on them, I’m going to come in around $30 for the lot.
The only thing that has been letting me down is my oven, which maxes out at 260°C. The My Pizzeria’s 400°C maximum temperature is exactly the sort of extra heat I’ve been missing.
Kenwood My Pizzeria is available from RRP $199 via all major retailers. At this price, I think I might need to put this one to the test.
Dining and Cooking