About Lieva

I built Lieva so anyone can make pizza like the people who taught me.

I'm Daz Gordon. At Ooni I worked alongside incredibly talented pizza makers, and on the technology behind the scenes. I wanted to keep that passion going, and share what I learned with everyone making dough at home.

Daz Gordon laughing in front of a deck oven, holding a young child, beside a fellow pizza maker
Daz Gordon, founder of Lieva, at the deck oven.

One

It started young.

I've been passionate about pizza for as long as I can remember. Not just eating it. I wanted to know why one crust came out light and airy and another came out dense, and why the same recipe could work on Saturday and fail on Sunday.

That question has followed me ever since.

A margherita with basil and chilli flakes on a wooden peel
A salami and mushroom pizza on a white plate
Pizzas on Ooni peels, shared across a garden table

Two

Ooni changed everything.

My time at Ooni let me work with incredibly wonderful and talented pizza makers. It showed me the world of pizza making in a level of detail I'd never seen before.

I also got to work on the technology behind the scenes, the part most people never see. It taught me how much care sits behind every great pizza.

I also saw what held people back at home. It was rarely the oven. It was the dough.

Three

Then I ran a pizza shop.

A shop teaches you fast. Dough doesn't care that it's a warm day, that the fridge door has been open all evening, or that you've just had your busiest hour of the year.

You learn to read it by feel, by smell and by the clock. You learn what a plan is worth once the door opens and people are hungry.

I loved every part of it: the deck oven, the specials board, and the people who came back.

A steak frites pizza on the shop counter, in front of a chalkboard special
A Valentine's special. Steak frites, on a pizza. £14, today only.
A large pizza on a wooden peel with a spiral of green sauce
A pizza with orange sauce, a white spiral and chives in a takeaway box
A white pizza with a cream spiral in a takeaway box

Four

I'm still learning from the best.

Today I work closely with people who make dough and fantastic pizza all around the world. What strikes me most is how generous they are. Ask a great pizza maker about hydration and you'll get a story, a strong opinion and usually a better question.

Lieva is my way of putting that kind of help at your shoulder, whenever you've got a bowl of dough in front of you.

What all of that taught me.

  1. The maths is the easy part.

    It's also the part that puts people off. So Lieva does it. You say what you want, and the numbers come back.

  2. Dough is alive, so plans have to move.

    Kitchens warm up, fridges run cold and people run late. Lieva changes the plan when you tell it to, in plain words.

  3. A bad bake isn't a bad baker.

    Every pizza maker I respect has binned a tray of dough. Lieva never blames you. It learns from what happened, and the next one is better.

Five

The people I bake for now.

At home, the peel gets passed to smaller hands. There's flour on the floor, cheese in surprising places, and nobody asks about hydration.

That's the whole point. Lieva does the worrying, so you get to have this part.

Two children topping pizzas on wooden peels in a home kitchen
A young child eating a slice of pizza in the shop

Why it's called Lieva.

The name comes from the Italian lievitare, to rise. It's the quiet part of making pizza, when time does the work and all you have to do is trust it.

I hope Lieva helps you make the best pizza of your life.

Daz

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Lieva is an independent app. Ooni is a trademark of its owner, and Lieva is not endorsed by Ooni.