This new pizza oven accessory fixes the one thing every beginner gets wrong

Anyone who has spent time cooking on pizza ovens will know that making the dough is only half the challenge. The real skill comes once your pizza is in the oven, where a few seconds can be the difference between perfectly puffed-up crust and one that's burnt on one side and raw on the other.

Anyone who has bought a pizza oven for their garden will tell you that turning your pizza in the oven takes skill and practice. If you go too early, you'll tear a hole through the base. Leave it too late and one edge will blacken before the rest has cooked. Even an uneven turn can leave you with a pizza that's charred on one side and pale on the other. It's a technique that gets easier with practice, but it still catches plenty of home cooks out and not perfecting it is one of the most common mistakes people make with their pizza ovens.

The good news is that Ooni has the answer. The pizza oven specialist has unveiled a new rotating stone that automatically turns your pizza as it cooks, promising evenly baked crusts without the need to keep reaching into the oven with a peel.

Ooni Rotating Stone Launch

The idea behind Ooni's new accessory is super simple and straightforward. Place your rotating stone inside theoven, slide the pizza onto the stone, and the surface rotates automatically as it cooks. Because the stone is made from the same cordierite material used across Ooni's pizza ovens, it retains heat exceptionally well, helping to deliver an evenly cooked base without creating noticeable hot or cold spots.

What makes the rotating stone different from similar accessories is its design. Rather than relying on a central pivot, Ooni has moved the rotating mechanism to the perimeter of the stone. According to the brand, this "perimeter-balanced stability" eliminates the wobbling and stalling that can happen with centre-mounted turntables. This means that your pizza stone will stay just as stable roasting a whole chicken or with a heavy cast iron pan as it is will for cooking pizza.

"The rotating stone showcases our commitment to meaningful innovation," said Kristian Tapaninaho, Founder of Ooni. "Being a trailblazing company means more than improving a product; it means redefining the experience. We identified a market crowded with products that fall short on reliability and engineered a solution that is as elegant as it is durable. The Koda 2 Rotating Stone Range makes cooking simpler, more intuitive and more enjoyable."

One feature that caught my attention is the built-in LIDAR sensor. Rather than reaching inside the oven to press a button, you can start or stop the stone with a simple wave of your hand or pizza peel. It's a small touch, but one that should help keep floury hands away from controls while you're cooking.

You can also choose between continuous rotation for hands-free cooking or a 90-degree turn setting if you'd rather keep more control over how your pizza cooks.

Pizza Oven Accessories That Make Life Easier

It's not just a rotating stone that makes life easy, there are plenty of other accessories that I think are essentially to getting the perfect pizza:

Having tested a wide range of pizza ovens over the years, and coming from a family that runs a pizza business, I know that learning when to turn a pizza is one of the biggest hurdles for beginners.

While experienced pizza makers probably won't mind doing it by hand, this feels like an accessory that could flatten the learning curve. It's worth noting that these stones are only compatible with Ooni ovens, as they are made to fit, but they promise to make homemade pizza nights much more relaxed, especially for anyone buying their first outdoor oven.