I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! According to gizmag.com finally someone has designed a wood-fired pizza oven compact enough to fit into any space and light enough to go anywhere! Is there any argument that the best pizzas are those which are wood-fired to perfection, as were the authentic pizzas of the old World? Wood-fired is simply the way pizzas are supposed to be. However, until now, only the most fortunate pizzerias and homes (those with a lot of room and lots of funds) were able to prepare perfect pies on a wood-fired oven.  Once London based inventor Kristian Tapaninaho realized there was no practical way for him to have a wood oven in his rented home he decided to create one himself; after a year of designs and prototypes, he is ready to unveil to the world the revolutionary wood-fired pizza oven, the Uuni.

In a press release issued on January 22 2013, Tapaninaho states “I wanted to develop my own pizza making and take it to the next level but I found I was hindered by my domestic oven’s capabilities. Traditional wood-fired pizza ovens are very large and costly. With this in mind I set out to design Uuni to help solve the problem.” Using his own technology, Tapaninaho was able to work the size down to a very portable weight of 5 kg (11 lbs) and the unit can actually fit into a travel suitcase at about 14”W x 18”D x 5”H!

This compact version of the typical wood fired oven keeps up with its big brothers; Uuni reaches temps up to 450 degrees C (840 degrees F) and after 15-20 minutes of pre-heating, the Uuni can fully cook a pizza in about 3 minutes with a great authentic taste difficult to achieve in other ovens.

Not yet available for retail, Uuni’s are available for pre-order for delivery from May 2013. According to Tapaninaho, “I want everyone to be able to have an Uuni and as such the final retail price will be about one fifth of currently available wood-fired ovens.” I am so eagerly awaiting these to hit the market.