New Breville Pizzaiolo electric pizza oven looks kinda amazing

Has anyone heard about the new Breville Pizzaiolo electric pizza oven yet? Apparently it’s been out about 2 months (website says there is only a limited supply; also sold by Williams Sonoma).

Unfortunately, this video review with a Neapolitan pizza chef posted on Eater.com yesterday is not viewable today for some reason. But the pizzas he made looked shockingly good and he said he would actually buy one himself. $800, but for a gizmo that hits 750F on your countertop and produces such good looking 12" pizzas in as fast as 2 minutes (they tested NY style and Neapolitan based on the included dough recipes, and then his own recipe which he says is a cross between the two), this is something I want to keep my eye on. I currently use a Baking Steel in a 480F oven.

However, I did notice that the 3 latest reviews of 10 total on Williams Sonoma said that the pizza stone in the oven cracked when they tried to season it according to the instructions.

I watched this video and the amount of smoke the Breville produces would not be fun in my kitchen. Also, for $799, I could buy a real ooni wood fired pizza oven for $400 and spend the rest on good pizza wine.

I have owned and Uuni or ooni for 3 yrs and since we are empty nesters, I use it for much more than just pizza. MY stone hasn’t cracked and it has weathered 3 New england winters outdoors.

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So glad to hear of the longevity of the Uuni/Ooni. Bought the Uuni Pro and have used it twice. It seems to work like a charm so far.

Well there is a 40 page thread on PizzaMaking.com that starts off with “Yeah, right” and ends with “OMG, this thing is amazing.”

I watched half a dozen videos and it doesn’t seem to produce much smoke at all, certainly not more than would be easily handled by a kitchen hood. Comments seem to support this.

It’s Pizzaiolo, btw.

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Watch the eater video and see the smoke !

Here are quotes from three of the posters on that thread I mentioned:

“Very little smoke especially with Caputo 00 pizzeria flour. There does seem to be more than a little steam released. And here is the thing about baking these pizzas indoors. Unless you have really good ventilation, your entire house may have the most amazing smell that you will enjoy for hours after making these pizzas…When I used the recommended bread flour/semolina mix, I got lots of smoke. Likewise when I roasted vegetables tossed in olive oil.”

“Very little smoke as well - so no problem in a condo with a very sensitive smoke detector!”

“There was quite a lot of steam and some smoke due to the bench flour so it’s best to place this directly under the vent hood. Just an incredible first experience and very impressed with the machine. It proved that it can do the job. Next to see is reliability.”

Hopefully a good kitchen hood can handle it, just like when searing a sous vide steak on a hot cast iron skillet.

I’m generally not into buying just released technologies. If I were to take the plunge, I’d wait a year and see how people are liking it and how reliable it is.

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I’ve had this oven for 2 months and baked close to 100 pizzas in it. I started out extremely skeptical at Breville’s brash claim that a countertop oven could produce authentic Neapolitan-style pizza. I now doubt whether I will ever use my WFO again for Neapolitan pizza. This is a not a glorified toaster oven, but rather an ingeniously designed chamber that exceeds the claims and shatters much of the conventional wisdom I have accepted over 18 years of running a WFO.

When baking pizza, there is very little smoke if you use the right bench flour. It is also great for roasting vegetables and that does produce more than a little smoke. Also great for NY-style, although 11" diameter is about as large as this oven can handle. I’ve also tried lots of off-label dishes with great success. Lots of great info on pizzamaking.com

That is really cool to hear. Post some pics!

I already have the ooni pro otherwise I would definitely consider. Also, I am building a modular brick oven out back.

We live in amazing times for pizza - there are so many great options these days for pizza ovens.

Here is one of my early tests:

Thread drift, but another plug for the uuni. I’ve had mine for 2+ years and it always delivers. Have used it a bunch and love it.

Interesting that Brevillle could get two such famous chefs as Marc Vetri and Chris Bianco to be their spokesmodels for this oven.

Bill, do you have any updates on pros/cons from using it?

Part of me misses the cachet of firing up my massive WFO and the years of experience it took to master that beast. But after cooking all kinds of pizzas, breads, and vegetables in the Breville over the past 8 months, there is no denying that it produces superior results. I fired up the old WFO a few weeks ago to compare Neapolitan-style pizzas side-by-side to recalibrate: no question that the best pizzas of the day came from the Breville.

The Breville especially excels in these areas:

Neapolitan-style pizza (11" diameter)
There is something about the rapid heat transfer from the highly conductive deck that gives the bottom of the pizza an amazing flavor.

New York Style
Of course, the small chamber of the Breville can’t make big 18" NY-style pizzas. Talking NYC slices is the third rail of pizza making. I am not a purist so I’ll only say that I really like the small ones I make in the Breville. They are better than the ones I make in my kitchen oven on a steel plate. Not going to say more.

Pan Pizzas
I’ve only recently started exploring pan pizzas, primarily guided by Peter Reinhart’s new book, Perfect Pan Pizza. The heavy steel pan (12" round) that comes with the oven is perfect for this style. Yeah, the pizzas are round, which may not be traditional, but the focaccia and Detroit and Grandma and Sicilian pan pizzas have been the best I’ve ever had. Being able to dial in separate deck and top temps is the key - 700F deck, 450 top for example for a crispy, golden bottom and perfectly cooked toppings.

Roasted Vegetables
750F wide open throttle: mushrooms, eggplant, asparagus, salsa verde.

Cons:
Some people have reported cracked stones. Although mine has a small cosmetic crack, it has seen a lot of abuse and remained intact. I think some of the cracking may from immersing the stone in water.
One reviewer dinged the oven for being difficult to clean. Every 2 weeks or so, I hit any dirty spots with Easy-off. Good as new.

Bottom line: Lacks the drama of the WFO. Easy to use. The brilliant design of this oven bakes superior pizzas. Solid dough building and baking skills still essential. I’d be happy to elaborate on any of this.

Wow, thanks Bill, that is very helpful. A couple of questions:

  1. Is it only available through Williams-Sonoma?

  2. Have you had any issues with it producing smoke?

  3. How do you recommend cleaning the stone?

  1. As far as I know, WS still has the exclusive in the US.

  2. Smoke is not a problem when baking pizzas unless you mess-up loading the pizza onto the stone. But even when there is no smoke, the intoxicating smell of the pizza will permeate your house. You got a problem with that? :slight_smile: On the other hand, roasting vegetables tossed in olive oil can produce a lot of smoke. I use clarified butter instead.

  1. I use this to clean any carbonized gunk off the stone.

https://amzn.to/2QwIlQv

And wipe with a barely-damp cloth

Thanks Bill.

They use this oven in the Bon Appetit pizza YouTube series. They don’t specifically talk about/review the oven, but you can at least see it in action. null - YouTube

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The guy who made the best pizza I’ve ever had, Joe Beddia of Pizzeria Beddia in Philly, apparently produced this pizza with the Breville:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn615KtBId3/?taken-by=pizzacamp

Here is a little timelapse of one of my pizzas in the Breville: