Homemade Pizza Night with Our New Outdoor Pizza Oven

We got a new artisan pizza oven and have been dying to try it out. It’s the Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven and it did not disappoint our first homemade pizza night.

I’ll start by saying—I’m not a bread maker. It’s just not my thing, and I haven’t ever really done it. I found a dough recipe that was supposed to sit overnight in the fridge, and the idea was to have it all ready to go the next day. Well… it did not work.

So I called in reinforcements!

My sister Alyse came to the rescue. She always makes the rolls for holiday dinners and is much more skilled in the dough-making department. She used the artisan pizza dough recipe that came with our oven, and we were finally ready to rock n’ roll.

One of the cool things I learned: the rising part of the dough goes pretty quickly because you can proof it right in the oven. If you don’t know what proofing is—because I didn’t—it’s basically the process of letting the dough rest and rise so the yeast can ferment. That creates gas bubbles that make the dough light, airy, and stretchy—aka perfect for pizza. And here’s another fun fact: pizza dough doesn’t need to be kneaded very much. In fact, the less you mess with it, the better.

This dough needed to proof for 40 minutes, so while that was happening, I prepped all my toppings and laid everything out for easy grabbing. Once that first proof was done, we divided the dough into three even sections, about 8 oz each, and let them proof again for another 20 minutes.

Then it was time to stretch and build our pizzas. I’ve got a ways to go when it comes to stretching dough—I’m definitely still learning. One came out kind of like a triangle, another sort of heart-shaped, and the last one was almost round. So hey, progress!

Now for the good part: toppings! We made three pizzas, and each one had its own vibe:

1. Traditional Pepperoni – Because you just can’t go wrong.
2. Lemon + Prosciutto – One of my all-time favorites! I brushed the crust with olive oil and sprinkled a little garlic powder (you could also use roasted garlic, but I didn’t have any). Then I added fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, basil, and super thin lemon slices. Topped it off with a little shredded Parmesan, and honestly… I might’ve liked it more than the restaurant version.
3. Pesto + Prosciutto + Mozzarella – We did a pesto base, then added prosciutto, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, basil, and more Parmesan. So, so good.

I thought three pizzas wouldn’t be enough for the whole family, but we were all pretty content. I’m officially calling it—we’re making pizza night a weekly summer tradition.

I can’t wait to try more topping combos and explore everything this oven can do. It has five pizza presets—Neapolitan, thin crust, New York, pan, and custom—and you can also use it to bake and broil. It’s going to get a lot of use this summer!

If you’re thinking about starting your own homemade pizza nights, I put together a Pizza Night Idea List with the flour we used and some fun accessories that made things easier and more fun.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for toppings or recipes for pizza dough in the comments!

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