Breville Pizzaiolo review: A pricey pizza oven with lots of options

A couple of months in the past, it appeared like each cooking account I adopted on Instagram was utilizing a Pizzaiolo. I stumbled upon Breville’s devoted pizza oven some time in the past on the suggestion of a colleague, however it was a bit exterior of our protection space to evaluate. Now that we have now an annual week of kitchen-focused critiques, purchaser’s guides and how-tos, it was time to lastly put a Pizzaiolo by its paces for this web site.

Breville’s Pizzaiolo might look a bit like its toaster ovens, however the bigger unit is designed for one factor: pizza. From useful presets to a full guide mode for superior customers, this oven provides absolutely anything you’d need – as long as your pizzas are spherical and 12-inches or smaller. However even with all of its cooking chops, is the Pizzaiolo well worth the practically $1,000 price ticket? Or maybe the higher query is: Do you really want a devoted pizza oven inside your own home?

Design

The Pizzaiolo appears to be like like many different Breville countertop home equipment. Obtainable in stainless-steel and black finishes, the pizza oven has a design akin to the corporate’s multi-function toaster ovens and air fryers – specifically the Smart Oven line. At 18.1 x 18.5 inches although, the Pizzaiolo is way larger than all of these compact kitchen equipment. Like Breville’s Good Oven lineup, this pizza-focused mannequin has a silver door deal with up prime, although the one right here is extra sturdy than what’s on the smaller ovens. There’s additionally a large viewing window that means that you can observe the cooking space from edge to edge.

The entire controls are on the entrance, located on the backside proper. Two giant foremost dials management the timer and elegance presets whereas a tiny third selector allows you to regulate the “Darkness” or energy of the highest heating ingredient. There are additionally two lights: one to point you’re in guide mode and one which glows when the oven has reached your required temperature and blinks slowly whereas it’s preheating. Guide mode allows you to management the temperature of each the highest and backside heating components independently, slightly than counting on Breville’s type presets. The corporate features a magnet that lays over the time numbers and preset labels so you already know what temps you’ve chosen for guide mode.

Inside, the 12-inch cooking space is a spherical stone that doesn’t fairly go all the way in which to the edges of the cooking space. The Pizzaiolo has reflectors across the baking stone that ship warmth from the highest heating ingredient to the crust. This implies you may solely use the oven for pizza or issues baked in smaller spherical pans since there isn’t any further room to work with. There additionally isn’t an inside mild that will help you see how issues are progressing. Nevertheless, Breville says the radiant warmth is managed by the oven so that you don’t want to fret about rotating pizzas for even cooking. Lastly, the deck that holds the stone is related to the door, so once you open it, the cooking floor strikes nearer to you. This makes launching and eradicating pizzas barely simpler.

Setup and use

Earlier than you utilize the Pizzaiolo for the primary time, you’ll must wipe down the within and the highest of the stone with a humid fabric or sponge. As soon as every thing is dry, you must run the oven vast open at 750 levels Fahrenheit for 20 minutes to season it. When the time is up, the Pizzaiolo is able to prepare dinner your first pie. By default, the type selector picks the entire oven settings for you, so that you make the selection there first and the beneficial time will present on the opposite dial mechanically. In fact, you may regulate this as wanted.

Relying on the type and temperature, Breville says the preheating course of can take as much as 20 minutes. I solely timed this on the most well liked potential choice – 750 levels – since it might take the longest. The Pizzaiolo took 17 minutes to achieve that quantity. Whenever you flip the oven off, the fan will run for one more quarter-hour to chill the “delicate electronics.”

One factor that’s good in regards to the Pizzaiolo is that the surface stays comparatively cool in the course of the cooking course of. Breville says that is because of the double-pane entrance window and “multi-material insulation” that retains as a lot of the warmth inside as potential. Certainly, the highest stays cool to the contact when in use, however the backside of the edges the place the vents are situated and the door (not the deal with) get sizzling.

The one problem I had was a small fireplace from extra semolina on the underside of 1 pie. It wasn’t a giant deal because it went out rapidly and wasn’t all that massive, however it left a multitude on the stone I didn’t need to put one other pizza on prime of. With outside ovens from Ooni, for instance, this may simply burn off and also you’d use a brush to push the additional burned bits to the aspect or rake them to the entrance.

On the Pizzaiolo, there’s nowhere to brush any particles because the opening across the stone goes beneath it the place the heating ingredient resides. The truth that the cooking deck is hooked up to the door additionally makes sweeping out any bits troublesome. Even when the oven is off the within is awkward to scrub for the reason that inside isn’t very tall. In a number of spots, it’s onerous to see the grime you would possibly’ve missed.

Making the pizza

Picture by Billy Steele/Engadget

Breville’s presets come in useful once you simply need to make good pizza and never fear in regards to the precise numbers for time and temp. As promised, the full-heat and “Wooden Fired” choices produce the leoparding that’s desired for Neapolitan-style pizza. The previous choice additionally adjusts the highest heating ingredient in order that simply the outer crust is getting direct warmth throughout baking (pictured within the gallery beneath). I used to be additionally impressed by the even cooking on the New York setting, the place the crust and toppings had been evenly cooked however there was nonetheless a nice chewiness to the chunk.

Maybe the largest shock was the Frozen choice, which places the stone at 425-475 levels and the highest at 350-400 with even warmth for the Darkness. In full disclosure, I splurged on Newman’s Personal stone-fired pizzas that are supposedly imported from Italy, however the outcomes had been severely spectacular. The Pizzaiolo additionally did nicely on skinny cauliflower crust pies from Milton’s – a Steele household favourite.

The competitors

An alternative choice to the Pizzaiolo is the Ooni Volt 12. It’s a lot bigger than the Breville pizza oven, however it does have a sq. stone that provides you a bit extra versatility. There’s additionally an inside mild that stays on the entire time so you may see clearly what’s occurring inside. The Volt 12 appears to be like lots like Ooni’s latest outside ovens with utterly guide controls that provide the capacity to pick out a precise temperature and handle the stability between the highest and backside heating components. What’s extra, Ooni features a increase function that may get the stone again to your required temp in about 45 seconds. Just like the Pizzaiolo, although, the large draw back is price because the Volt 12 is $999.

Wrap-up

You don’t want a devoted pizza oven to make nice pizza at dwelling. With some inexpensive equipment like a baking stone or metal, you may prepare dinner wonderful pies inside the principle oven in your kitchen. There are additionally tons of extra inexpensive wood- and gas-burning outside choices. Breville’s Pizzaiolo does provide a whole lot of instruments for cooking pizza, from the handy presets to the complete guide mode for endlessly adjusting the variables. That Frozen setting alone is not any joke. Because it’s barely smaller than Ooni’s Volt 12, and appears extra like a kitchen equipment, I might see the Pizzaiolo completely sitting on somebody’s counter. You’d have to essentially love making pizza at dwelling although, and even then, the worth will probably be prohibitive for many.