Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this oven as part of a package on Groupon, but not until I'd read all the reviews here and on several forums on the web. After all, one doesn't buy a $400 outdoor oven on a whim. At least I don't. And yes, I had some concerns after reading that some buyers had received either defective ovens or parts damaged in shipment. I was encouraged to know that Blackstone responded immediately to everyone who had trouble. When I was unpacking I had my heart in my throat expecting a broken or bent piece. Everything was perfect. I was incredibly lucky. But you'll be in heaven once you get it up and running. Mine is just 10 days old. A few suggestions based on my very recent experience: You will need a AA battery for the igniter (insert bottom end first - which the directions don't tell you), and you will need two D batteries for the motor. My suggestion is to take advantage of the opportunity and insert the D batteries in the motor before you connect it to the oven. Of course, you'll have to eventually replace the batteries while the motor is on the oven, but at least you'll have a chance to see what's what without getting way down and looking up into the battery compartment later on! If you've not bought a thrust bearing to help with the rotation of the tray, please consider it. I read about it here in the reviews of the oven here on Amazon. It apparently makes a huge difference and it costs under $12. Look at 51205 Thrust Bearing 25x47x15 Thrust Bearings. 51205 Thrust Bearing 25x47x15 Thrust Bearings You place it on the horizontal cross member that the stem of the rotating tray goes through (obviously around the hole for the stem) and just thread the stem through the thrust bearing and the cross member, and it rotates so smoothly on those bearings! After buying one thermometer that only went up to 715'F, I exchanged it for this model-the least expensive model that measures over 1,000'F (to give some latitude) this is the one I got from Amazon and am using: TopG® TG8550 -58 to 1022°F Instant-read IR Infrared Thermometer Non-contact Temperature Gun with Laser Sight Targeting Pointing range -50 to 550°C Celsius or Fahrenheit; Built in infrared (IR) sensor and LCD screen with backlight; Battery included There are several models on the same page. I got the royal blue one. It was the one that met my criteria. The pizza took three minutes and ten seconds to bake. The laser temperature of the stone was about 700' and the air temp shown on the built in oven thermometer was about 400'. The pizza had only been in the oven for under 10 seconds when I got the filming going. Here is a link to the 3 min You Tube video showing my pizza bianca baking. It had only been in the oven for fewer than 10 seconds when I got the camera rolling: http://youtu.be/AGqah_VS60g I've made a couple of different pizza doughs from Peter Reinhart's book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza pizza book last night for the next baking trial. I can't wait to try more! This is an excellent book, highly recommended. BTW, it was suggested to me to have both a wooden peel and a metal one. Assemble unbaked pizzas on the wooden one, remove them from the oven with the metal one. There are a lot of wooden peels out there. I did splurge on the J.K. Adams handmade alder wood one, made in the US. It was about $37, but it is beautiful and has a lifetime warranty. I've read posts in various places of wooden or bamboo peels cracking or splitting. This may be a case of you get what you pay for. I find using semolina flour on the peel to be a wonderful way to keep them from sticking and to have them slide nicely onto the baking stone as it is more granular than regular flour. I buy just about everything I can from Amazon, mostly because they have excellent prices and better service and it saves me a whole lot of time. Sure, I do live in San Francisco and I can get just about anything I want here, but shopping isn't my favorite thing to do. The peel is the J.K. Adams 23-3/4-Inch-by-14-Inch Alder Wood Pizza Peel. $37. I do try to support US manufacturers when I can (just bought a US-made kitchen range too) and this is a family owned company in your neck of the woods, Dorset, VT. 2nd generation. There's a lot of information about the company here on Amazon's website. I also used John Boos Mystery Butcher Block Oil on the peel. John Boos Mystery Butcher Block Oil, 16 ounces One of the reasons I chose this oven over the Pizzeria Pronto or the Uuni wood pellet oven was to be able to cook other things in addition to pizzas. To that end I looked for a pan that could handle high heat and would fit in the oven, and that cost as little as possible. So I chose the Lodge L9OG3 Pre-Seasoned Round Griddle, 10.5-inch, (Amazon item ASIN: Lodge L9OG3 Pre-Seasoned Round Griddle, 10.5-inch) $13.79. It is on its way and will be here today. I plan on cooking salmon, steaks, shrimp, chicken. I think this is relatively new territory here, and we all will learn. I think you'll find that making your own dough is NOT difficult, especially if you have a sturdy stand mixer or food processor. I do bake a lot (but have less yeast dough experience) and highly recommend King Arthur flour. You may know they sell a gluten free flour ($7.95 for 24 oz, unfortunately) that gets fry positive reviews. I don't know what your frozen pizza dough is like, but I encourage you to give making your own dough a try. It is very satisfactory and highly rewarding. Amazon carries Caputo Double 00 flour, and if you get a pack of 10 one kilo bags the shipping is free. The price is what I pay locally for mine, and you can get it just about anywhere. Antimo Caputo Chef's Flour, 2.2 Pound (Pack of 10) There are lots of ways to make dough, and I also use King Arthur's bread flour, available in many grocery stores as well as from their website. Prices here on Amazon are pretty high. San Francisco backyards (if you have one at all!) are not generally known for being spacious, and mine is no exception. Devoting some of it to my small Weber grill and now to this oven is huge. I have no space to assemble my pizzas outside. I do what you seem to do outside and have everything laid out in my (also small) kitchen and move them to the oven on the wooden peel, and bring them back to the kitchen on the metal peel that came with the Groupon offer. That allows me to assemble the next pizza on the wooden peel while someone else keeps an eye on the one in the oven. It is a learning process. Yum, yum, yum!