<figure><figcaption>Serious Eats / Grace Kelly</figcaption></figure>

Gozney recently launched a much-anticipated portable pizza oven: the Tread. In the months leading up to its release, chatter on Reddit reached a crescendo, with speculation running rampant; there were even supposed “leaked” images, adding to the anticipation. 

And now, it’s finally here. A few months before it launched, I got my hands on a press sample of the Tread to test it out. I braved frigid New England winter days and nights and slung loads of pizza (and also roasted some chicken leg quarters) to see if this petite, portable oven was worth it.

The Tests

<figure><figcaption>I made Neapolitan pizza and roasted chicken leg quarters to test the oven's versatility.Serious Eats / Grace Kelly</figcaption></figure>

• Heating Speed Test: I timed how long it took the Gozney tread to hit 900°F using an infrared thermometer to take the temperature in the left, right, and center of the oven. 
• Portability Test: To test its portability, I packed up the pizza oven and stand, put them in my small car, and took them to my in-law's house 35 minutes away. 
• Neapolitan Pizza Test: I set up the pizza oven on the quadruped stand and made pepperoni and fig-ricotta Neapolitan pies. 
• Chicken Test: Since Gozney promises the Tread makes “more than pizza” I decided to roast chicken leg quarters in the oven, loosely following this recipe. 

What We Learned

The Gozney Tread Pizza Oven Gets Hot, Hot, Hot

<figure><figcaption>The Gozney Tread got blisteringly hot fast, likely due to its compact size.Serious Eats / Grace Kelly</figcaption></figure>

When I baked the pizzas, the stone reached an incredible 980°F on average after about 30 minutes of preheating. Even after lowering the heat, I had to use the turning peel to deflect some of the heat from the arced flame, lest the pepperoni and puffy crusts char beyond recognition. The same thing happened during my heat speed test: The stone hit 962°F after a mere 25 minutes of preheating. 

The reason the oven gets super hot is likely its size: It’s compact (more on this below), so it takes way less time to come to temperature than, say, a 24-inch pizza oven. While this is a boon for making Neapolitan pizzas, which require intense heat to cook quickly, it does mean that if you want to branch out you’ll have to make adjustments and keep an eye on your food. When I roasted the chicken leg quarters, I had to cover them with aluminum foil and only do a quick broil at the end to prevent the skin from burning. However, the resulting chicken was perfectly cooked with crispy skin and tender meat, swimming in a puddle of golden schmaltz (which begged to be used to roast some potatoes). 

Let’s Talk Portability 

<figure><figcaption>The Gozney Tread comes with a bag and portable stand, which fit nicely into my small hatchback.Serious Eats / Grace Kelly</figcaption></figure>

If you follow Gozney, you might notice that the Tread looks quite similar to two of its other ovens: the Arc and the Dome. It even has the same arc-shaped flame as the former. But the Tread, being portable, is significantly smaller and lighter. While the Arc has an internal diameter of around 15 inches, the Tread’s is closer to 12 inches. Since cooking space is tight, you’ll need to shape smaller pizzas. The Arc’s external dimensions are 19 by 22 by 13.5 inches, while the Tread’s are 16.5 by 19.1 by 12.6 inches—a lot smaller. Finally, the Tread is much lighter than the Arc: 29.7 pounds versus 47.5 pounds—nearly 18 pounds less. Its reduced dimensions and weight add to the Tread’s portability, as do the “racks” on top, which make it easy to grab and move. That being said, when packed in the Tread Venture bag, it was bulky and awkward to carry. While the case was great for protecting the oven during travel or in storage, it was much easier to lift the oven on its own. 

The Quadruped Stand Was an Interesting Design Choice 

<figure><figcaption>The four-footed stand was an interesting design choice, but it did sit flat on my slanted driveway.Serious Eats / Grace Kelly</figcaption></figure>

My father-in-law is a carpenter, and one of his creations is a set of small stacking tables. The tables are tripods—that is, they have three legs. According to him, only having three points of contact ensures the tabletop sits evenly, even if it’s set somewhere uneven. So he was surprised that Gozney’s Venture stand (which you have to purchase separately) wasn’t a tripod and instead had four legs. I thought this was an interesting insight, though I didn’t have any issues with the oven wobbling when set on a deck or my sloping concrete driveway. The stand has a built-in level, and the legs are adjustable, so it was easy to tweak it so that it stood evenly.   

The Verdict

The Gozney Tread is a great portable pizza oven. It has a 12.4-inch wide opening and a 12.2-inch internal width, so it’s best for making smaller pizzas. The compact form was great for portability, and I particularly liked the racks on the top of the oven, which made it easy to lift and move.

While it shone making Neapolitan pizzas, it’s also versatile enough to cook up other dishes, like roasted chicken thighs or seared steak. The Gozney Tread does get ripping hot, so keep an eye on your pies (or other foods if you’re getting creative) and adjust the heat as needed. 

Is it worth it? Well, it depends on how much you think you’ll actually use it. Do you go camping often and like the idea of camp-side pizzas? Or maybe you want to show off your new pizza topping combos to friends and family—the Tread lets you bring the oven to them.

I’d be remiss not to mention that while the Tread is novel, other pizza ovens are just as good and just as portable: Take the Ooni Koda 12, for instance. It weighs 29 pounds—a little less than the Tread—and is a similar size. It’s also $100 less and heated up in a mere 15 minutes in our tests. While it’s not explicitly called a portable oven, for all intents and purposes, it is. That said, if you’re looking for a compact oven that’s easy to use and lug around, the Tread will likely make you happy. 

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