(Updated 8/18/2023 - The market has changed quite a bit in the two years since I originally posted this, so I've updated to reflect.)

I had planned on writing an article about pizza ovens for some time, but was waiting to get some feedback on the newer ovens that came out. Then COVID hit and while that greatly affected production and shipment of ovens, it had an even bigger impact on the consumer market. With so many of us stuck at home and not able to eat out, a whole new set of amateur pizzaiolos were born. 

Typically manufacturers had to work quite a bit more to market their ovens to a niche market. Their product was typically expensive and for the masonry options, quite expensive to ship. Suddenly, with people trapped at home, many with disposable income to spend on items to make the best of a bad situation, the pizza oven market suddenly became (wait for the inevitable bad pun....wait for it....) hot! Sorry.

China recognized the opportunity and for better or worse, started churning out cheap knock-off ovens. Whereas you would be hard pressed to find more than a few manufacturers and a couple dozen models five years ago, today the market is saturated with options. Search for pizza oven on Amazon and you will get hundreds of results. This in addition to a number of releases by both established and new manufacturers that have received positive qualified reviews.

So, before I get too far into this missive, I should explain that while I may dismiss some ovens as being cheaply made, poorly designed, or incapable of producing good pizza, these are just my opinions based on my journey to create Neapolitan pizza. The reality is that when I transitioned from my home oven to the 700° Pizzeria Pronto, I was ecstatic with the eventual results. After transitioning to the next level oven, the Pronto wasn't as appreciated. Whenever I can make better pizza, I appreciate what helped me do that. For somebody just starting out on their journey, it's no different. Their pizzas may miss the mark in many areas, but if it's still better than anything they made before, it's a win.

Hopefully, you will take my advice not as law, but more information as part of a bigger study. I don't trust reviews unless I respect those who are giving them and even then, take it all with a grain of salt. I get stuck on a certain way of thinking and so do others. Take for instance, Pizzamaking.com, which is a great resource for those trying to become better pizzaiolos. I frequent the forums to glean more information on ovens, recipes, and mods. There are many on the forum that I would classify as experts, but get too caught up in strict adherence to classifications and procedures. And there are many prolific posters that are blowhards that just tends to frustrate newbies and veterans alike. Fortunately the forum isn't so politically correct that it won't call out dickish behavior on occasion.

With all that out of the way, I have a short list of ovens that I've researched and/or owned that I feel fairly confident in providing if not a review, at least an opinion. The first batch are the modern style ovens, which are more portable, usually insulated steel and/or aluminum rather than the traditional masonry brick construction.  Because traditional masonry ovens create high dome heat combined with slightly lower floor temps, any modern oven atempting to compete in that space should strive to exhibit that environment. In no particular order:

Pizza Party - website

For several years, Pizza Party had stopped selling to the American market. Last year, they jumped back in and in doing so, reclaimed their position as one of the best oven manufacturers. I own one of their Passione 70x70 ovens and regularly cook with that oven. I've also converted that oven to run propane and love having the option to switch back and forth.

The Pizza Party is manufactured outside of Florence, Italy and is one of the leading modern style ovens. Capable of reaching temperatures in excess of 1000° and offered with an optional Saputo floor, it excels at achieving Neapolitan bakes with dome temperatures of 950 - 1100° and floor temps of 850°. In addition to the wood burning models, they have the Adore, which is a smaller gas oven, and its bigger brother, the Emozione. 

Gozney (ROCCBOX, Dome) - website

The ROCCBOX was initially a crowd funded project and has grown to be one of the more popular ovens. Available in both wood and gas fueled models, the oven reaches temperatures in excess of 950° and I've seen a lot of classic pizza Napoletana come out of it. It does seem to work best for Neapolitan as it was made to reach those temps. Very portable and offered for $500 for the gas model and $600 for the dual fuel, it would be a good consideration for an oven to bring to friend's for your own traveling pizza.

The Dome is a new product for Gozney and was highly anticipated by amateur pizzaiolos. Available in both wood and dual fuel, it provides a low dome, recreating the classic brick oven in a much more compact package. At a starting price of $1500, it is a costly entry, but is a really nice looking oven. I had briefly considered getting one myself, but at nearly 130ibs. it wasn't going to give me the portability I wanted. Also, it may have improved, but the initial launch was something of a debacle as shipping lead times stretched out to six months and beyond. As a result, not much information is out there on whether the oven lives up to the hype. 

Ooni - website

Ooni offers a range of portable ovens in the $299 to $799 range for their gas ovens and their electric model for $999. In general, most of the ovens are pretty capable although the learning curve can frustrate many. That said, I have seen some good results from experienced pizzaiolos from the least expensive to their top of the line.

One of the more popular models is the Koda gas oven and when Pizza Party departed the U.S. market, became one of the best replacements for the Ardore. With either a 12" or 16" floor, the oven can reach temperatures of 950° in 20 minutes. Inevitably people try to bake other styles in their ovens and some have been able to produce decent NY style pizzas in the Koda.

Carbon - website

Carbon is a new California manufacturer with a novel idea for creating the wood oven environment. While most modern ovens mimic the rolling flame effect by positioning their burner above the stone relying on the flame to heat the stone, the Carbon uses two different burners: one below and one above the stone. It's a pretty clever approach. The floor is 15" which is ample. You might even have enough room to spin the pizza on smaller pies.

Some owners have complained about the placement of the gas control of the top burner, which is at the back of the oven. There's also no adjustment for the bottom burner. However, you can order a Saputo stone from Italy that will provide uniform saturated heat. Thus far, I have seen a lot of great looking pies coming out of the Carbon and some have even had great success cooking NY style. I own one and it performs admirably for one or two pizzas but then suffers from temperature control issues beyond that. Nonetheless, worth your consideration.

Bertello - website

Bertello was seen on the U.S. program Shark Tank and was initially funded through Kickstarter. It goes beyond dual fuel with pellet, wood, charcoal and gas fuel sources and is designed to produce temperatures of up to 950°. I like the range of fuels you can use, as well as its small size, but clearly results can vary. While their current photo gallery of pizzas by Bertello owners fall short of the classic Napoletana - most seem to never reach the full temperature needed - it seems to be merely a matter of experience. Vito Iacopelli did an unboxing review video and nailed a near perfect Neapolitan on the first try.

The Bertello can use four different fuels, but you have to buy the Everything bundle to get all burners and accessories to do so. However, at $499 it's not a bad deal. The oven is small with only a 12.5" wide floor, so there's no room to spin the pizza. Midway through the bake you will need to take the pizza out to rotate and drop it back in for the remainder. 

Edil Planet - website

Manufactured just outside of Palermo, Sicily, Edil Planet offers a line of wood and gas fired modern pizza ovens. Edil Planet uses a natural volcanic stone on their ovens which has very good conductivity characteristics, but some owners have complained the surface is rough and difficult to work a peel.

I own their Surriento gas oven and after a lot of futzing with it, quite happy with it. While I didn't have any trouble in ordering the oven, FedEx lived up to its reputation by hanging the shipment up for over a month before delivering it damaged. They claimed U.S. Customs was holding it up - which was a lie since FedEx' own people said Customs only had it for a couple days before releasing. Long story short, the oven finally arrived with a smashed floor stone and crushed gas valve bracket. With an ignored damage claim, I did my best to fix the oven and ultimately with the purchase of a Saputo stone from Biscotto Stones International and trial and error, I can say this a great oven.

I catered a small party and cranked out 18 pizzas, one right after another, without the need to adjust the gas at all. It maintained 1100° dome and 850° floor temps over a couple hours.

Maximus - website

The Maximus is a product of Portugal and is quite similar - at least in appearance - to the Pizza Party Passione. I've seen a number of companies offer the Portuguese products over the last few years, but it seems Authentic Pizza Ovens is now the established North American marketer. They also offer some decent brick ovens also made in Portugal that will be mentioned in Part two of this post.

While the Maximum looks very similar to its competitor, it's not quite an equal. First is the absence of a Saputo floor. While that has always been an optional item for the Pizza Party ovens, there's no such option for the Maximus and the stock floor leaves a lot to be desired. Some owners have upgraded the floor with fire bricks, as well as adding floor insulation. While they don't offer a gas model, one can build pipe style gas burner for it to make life easier. This used to be quite the bargain, but their price has gradually rose in the last couple years. 

Alfa - website

Manufactured in Italy, Alfa ovens set the modern pizza oven bar a bit higher. Available in both gas and wood models, their models range from 20" to 40" floors with special attention spent on design and quality. While the Alfa's are pricier, they look it and they perform well on pizza Napoletana bakes. Alfa uses a network of dealers, which can be a little spotty depending on the area, but you can typically find a few models on eBay.

Generally, the feedback and reviews I have seen on the Alfa ovens have all been positive albeit scarce. I think price and availability may factor into overall ownership numbers although I have absolutely nothing to back that up ;)

Forno Bravo - website

While Forno Bravo will be covered in part two with the masonry ovens, they have joined the modern oven fray with their Bella portable oven line. Although Forno Bravo has been a leader in the wood oven industry, I was unable to find much in the way of owner feedback or reviews on this line. While their current line does offer four dfferent sizes accomodating most needs, prices currently start at $2795 plus freight up to $5790. 

Fontana - website

Fontana is an Italian manufacturer of ovens offering wood or gas models. Owners report a high build quality and the U.S. distributor is highly regarded. Fontana has been making ovens for over forty years and is one of the few that offers optional Saputo floors. While they are considered pricier, those that have pulled the trigger have been pretty happy with their purchase. 

They have a nice design on their gas models in that they have their burners along the back wall, which allows for easier placement when cooking multiple pies. When I was experimenting with burner designs on my Pizza Party oven, I located a round burner along the back wall that made the whole oven feel much bigger as I could rotate two pizzas easily. The downside to their gas ovens is they are limited to just gas - no dual fuel capabilities here.

Everything Else

As stated earlier, this really hasn't been either an exhaustive review or roundup of  all modern pizza ovens. These were merely a compilation of all the ovens I have investigated or had personal experience with during my research. So, there are many more not listed here. Those may be good or bad. As I research or discover more, I will add to this post. I may even buy one of the cheap Amazon Chinese knock-offs just for comparison sake. And of course, if people have any experience or feedback they would like to share, please add a comment below.

My last post dealt with a portable oven roundup and enough time has passed where I have some new information on a couple of those ovens as well as some big news with regards to one of those manufacturers. But first, I want to mention a new vendor I discovered that not only offers a great service to pizza enthusiasts, but does so with the highest level of customer service.

As I discussed in a previous post, FedEx did a pretty good job in attempting to destroy an Edil Planet oven I ordered last year. Not only did it take five weeks to arrive, but the box had been opened and the oven had been dropped, resulting in a damaged gas valve bracket and stone floor reduced to rubble. I could not source an Italian saputo stone as no manufacturer would ship to the U.S. and thus had to settle for a domestic refractory stone that proved to be horribly inadequate for handling Neapolitan temperatures. The oven was unusable for my needs until I discovered Biscotto International early this year.

Biscotto International is based in Norway and sources Saputo Biscotto oven stones from Italian manufacturers and ships all over the world. While they normally stock popular stones for Ooni, RoccBox, Pizza Party, and others, I found they went over and above sourcing for custom requirements. I had found their website and after looking through the stones they either had, or had on order, I didn't find the size I needed. However, I did find one that would be a bit small or a larger one that I could likely cut down to size. I inquired about the two sizes and Tom Fiksdalstrand asked what oven I had and more specifically the exact size I wanted. I told him a 40cm x 40cm would be ideal and Tom found me exactly what I wanted within a day. Within a week, I had the stone. Not only was it packed well, but they ship via DHL so there wasn't any of the FedEx drama.

This sounds like an advertisement, but I'm just a happy customer. Without them my Surriento would be still sitting unused in my garage. Instead it made all the difference in transforming the oven into a perfect mobile oven (more on that shortly). I'm now looking at getting replacement stones for my Pizza Party as well. It will always be cheaper to order the saputo stone as an option when you order your oven, but if you are looking for a replacement, Biscotto International is a great service.

So, backing up a bit, I had the Surriento oven but FedEx tried their best to make it unusable for my mobile oven needs. I was without a good stone and so I grudgingly accepted that I would still be without a mobile oven unless I began shopping for another. I had just written my post on small ovens, mentioning the Carbon, and after another round of research and reading some posts from owners, decided to order it and at last solve my mobile oven needs. I'm going to do a separate post on my Carbon experience after I've vetted it out even more, but my few experiences with it were underwhelming. After burn-in, the first bake of just a few pizzas went well. However, the next bake of ten pizzas revealed some aggravating temperature fluctuations which ultimately made me lose faith in relying on the Carbon as my go-to for mobile pizza nights. More work was needed in working out the issues with the Carbon, so I went back to the Edil Planet Surriento.

I had worked on the Surriento and had fixed the gas valve bracket, but knew it would only be the oven I hoped if I got a better stone. I'm a big fan of the Saputo/Biscotto stones, so decided to make another attempt to find a stone for my Surriento and suddenly I found Biscotto International. Within a week, I had my new biscotto stone and a few days after that started a new job that threw my whole world into disarray.

After a couple months, I became accustomed to my limited spare time and finally got back to serious business: pizza. I ran the oven a few times for burn-in, one hour at half temp and then again at full temps for another hour. Even though I had this oven for almost a year, I had not been able to really determine how good the oven was because I couldn't do a serious bake the entire time I owned it.

The thing is, I knew this could be a great oven. The design was similar to others in this space with a side burner that rolls a flame across the top (dome). The Surriento is well insulated and clad in sturdy stainless steel. It's fairly light and easy to carry, which makes it easier making my way through unfamiliar venues. The insulation and stone results in good heat retention but not so much that you can't handle it after an event. I was able to handle it and carry it back to the car after a couple hours.

The volcanic stone that normally comes with the oven is supposed to have the same properties of the saputo, but of course I never had the opportunity to find out for myself. I did notice that the stone pieces that I did get were fairly rough and other owners have commented that it can be tough to launch and turn a pizza. There's no such issue with the biscotto stone so I would recommend going with this upgrade if you struggle with the original stone Edil Planet provides.

After burn-in, my first couple bakes were, well, okay. The first attempt was done on a very windy day and I struggled with getting the flame adjusted properly and reaching optimum temperatures. The second attempt had similar results, but since I was baking seven pizzas that night, I realized that I had neither preheated enough, nor ran it hot enough. It was only the last couple pizzas where the oven was both hot and fully saturated, that I got the kind of pizzas I strive for.

I had an upcoming event with a planned bake of 18 pizzas, so I thought about these past bakes and how they could help me in the next. When I set up at the event, I fired up the oven and made sure the burner was cranked up enough where it was rolling flame across at least half the dome. I started the oven an hour before I began cooking to make sure the stone got fully saturated with heat. 

I never touched the gas valve for the entire bake and the oven was consistently in the 1000° dome/800° floor (ish) range the whole time. I guess. The reality is that once I began cooking, every pizza was cooking like the one before it so I never had to use my thermometer or adjust anything. 

The nice thing about the Surriento is that the cooking area isn't huge, but working a 12" pizza is pretty easy. There's enough room to move the pizza around to adjust for the overall bake. I will launch right in the middle of the floor, then when that left side is starting to get the leoparding, I turn the pizza. Unlike the Carbon, there's never a need to take the pizza out of the oven to turn. You can spin it, move it to the left or right to brown it more or less. Even dome it the last couple seconds to get that last sizzle.

What a great oven.

Aside from the possible difficult to work stone, the only other flaw was the oven door, which fortunately they figured out and replaced the metal handle that got unbelievably hot. They also added some decorative cutouts which cools it even more. Finally, some forum members cited issues trying to order or get information from the manufacturer. I didn't have a problem at all and found them to be very nice and efficient. I think those negative comments stemmed from people acting like entitled Americans, which usually doesn't open a whole lot of doors. 

So, I am pretty happy with the Surriento, but to be honest, it wasn't my first choice for a portable gas oven. I had already made up my mind to purchase the Pizza Party Ardore, when the company decided to pull out of the American market. I already have one PP oven and have been so impressed by the oven that it was an easy choice to go with them again. Therefore I was pretty devastated that they pulled from the market just weeks before I decided to buy. Honestly, I was forced to go the Surriento route, but ultimately am pretty happy with the outcome.

With that said, I'm still excited that Pizza Party announced they are returning to the American market. While I won't be interested in purchasing an Ardore (although many will), I will be looking at perhaps upgrading to their larger Pizzone oven.

The pizza oven market has exploded in recent years and while not all players are producing quality products, it's great to see there are so many choices for pizzaiolos, amateur and professional alike. I'm an admitted fanatic about all things Italian and proud to have a couple excellent ovens sourced directly from Italy. Fortunately I have the means to indulge in that, but the proliferation of so many new and inexpensive ovens have opened up the pursuit to so many.  

As mentioned in a prior post, I always loved pizza but that was from a gastronomical perspective. I loved all kinds of pizza from thin to thick crust and everything in between. I recall making pizza with my grandmother when I was pretty young. She used an ingredients kit - I believe it was called Appian Way - that included dough, sauce, cheese. It was dreadful. Even at a young age, my far from discerning palate recognized this was the low bar in pizza. However, because it was time spent with my grandmother, it was a special event that I always appreciated and looked forward to.

When I was well into adulthood, I ventured into making pizza, first with a California style thin crust and then once I got into sourdough, deep dish. All "good" attempts, but nothing to really propel me into the art of pizza-making. That would change in the fall of 2011.

This lovely piece of masonry sat on a lower terrace at a house in Torca, Italy. As the property manager showed us around the house on our arrival, I asked about the oven and if we could use. "Oh no," he said. "You could ruin it." 

He did offer us the services of a pizza chef for a night. Fortunately, my family was all in and a few nights later, the chef arrived with prepared dough and the freshest of ingredients. I watched him set the fire in the oven and he explained an oven like this would take hours to get hot enough to cook in.

He got the fire going well and he and our property manager took off for the bar while we stayed at the house and drank wine. A couple hours later he returned and checking the oven, pointed out it was almost ready. The red bricks of the oven were almost white hot. The heat was significant.

I had the opportunity to make and cook the first pizza and surprisingly I handled the peel and process of turning the pizza pretty well. I would learn this was strictly beginners luck as there would be many pizza fails in the years to come. However, there was a visceral excitement to working a few feet from 1000° heat while delicately turning and moving a pizza. I didn't know it at the time, but I was hooked. I needed to develop my inner pizzaiolo.

Once home, I began making pizzas in my oven, but the 500° residential range failed on so many levels. I would move up to a small outdoor gas oven called the Pronto that at 700° inched me closer to my goal - which admittedly at the time was unknown. I knew hotter was better and the ultimate oven was that brick oven in Southern Italy. I was on a journey.

I will cover the different ovens I had and are available in a future post, but over the next few years I would work with the Pronto and then modify it to push its temp to the 800° range. That led to a Blackstone that got me up to a 900° range, but with a floor temp that was far below. Still not good enough.

Torca was just south of Naples, the home of Neapolitan pizza, and the key to this style of pizza is well hydrated dough (00 flour, water, yeast, salt) and a very hot oven. The dome temperature should be in the 1000° range with a floor temp in the 800° range. The pizza should cook in 60-90 seconds (some say no more than 60 and I would agree). Just for comparison sake, a pizza chain is cooking in a gas oven turning pies out in 8-10 minutes. 

I would learn about the Neapolitan (or Napoletana) style through forums and websites. The oven above was in Pompei in 79 AD. The pizza Napoletana has always been about fire. As my own skills advanced, I found the limitations of the gas ovens I was using. I wanted a brick oven like the one in Italy, but it was cost and location prohibitive. 

So, eventually I "settled" on a Pizza Party oven, a modern alternative to the brick oven that is much smaller and lighter while still capable of reaching temperatures in excess of 1100°. The oven would be a significant enough investment at nearly $1600 delivered, but still less expensive than a brick oven investment. As I opted for thicker firebricks on the floor, the floor temps are capable of temperatures in the mid 800's. 

I've had the oven cranked up to turn out 60 second pizzas on a number of occasions, but because it lacks the thermal mass of a brick oven, the fire is key to successful - and consistent - bakes. So, there's a lot more fire-tending going on to keep temperatures up. Fortunately, when you are cooking 6-8 pizzas, the total cooking time isn't that long so just being diligent on maintaining the fire isn't that big of a deal.

While I don't have the full brick oven experience, I do feel that I come pretty close. The blast of heat as I remove the oven door, the quick 60 second bakes, the rapid peel work to turn the pies. Ultimately though, while I always strive to perfect my pizzaiolo skills, it would all be for nought if I wasn't serving pizza to friends, family. Pizza night is not a sedentary event. It is interactive and engages everyone, the flames and heat providing entertainment and comfort that only fire can bring.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to rediscover is what I felt that warm evening in Italy and although some of it was the fire and the food, it was more about company. So, the quest now is to create the first part to let the rest follow...