Gear Heads | Indoor Pizza Ovens for Restaurant-Quality Pizzas



We were intrigued by indoor pizza ovens, midsize countertop appliances that minimize the preheating time and can reach higher temperatures than conventional home ovens.

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32 Comments

  1. There's nothing a Presto Pizzazz can't cook unless it won't fit under the edge. Given that you can control top, bottom, or both (Dual), complaining about how done the crust or topping is sounds silly. This seems to be a common theme on this channel, cheaper kitchen appliances getting a bad rating due to not reading the instructions. I've been using a Pizzazz for almost a decade, and recently just didn't bother buying a new toaster when my toaster finally died. I got the previous Pizzazz from a work safety award catalog, and it lasted 7 years until it blew an internal fuse or something. Not bad for free, paid $49 for my current one, on sale for $54 now.
    I've never owned a toaster oven, so pre-buttering toast, and having it done perfectly, and shutting off on it's own, and residually warmed after, is a nice new thing since I've owned this.

  2. These two fatties didn't follow the instructions on the Presto machine then bitched about the pizza being too dry. Check out James White's review on Freakin' Reviews for a more accurate and balanced test of this fine machine with pizza and other foods. Once again, this Laurel & Hardy pair on ATK aren't up to Jack's standards…

  3. Yeah, the only one worth buying is a thousand bucks and is barely better than an oven and stone. None of these looked better than the pizzas I make in a cast iron. I start on the stove top with just the dough, begin to add ingredients when it starts to firm up a bit, and then move to the oven to finish. The crust and toppings come out perfect. I got that recipe from a Gordon Ramsay book, but I think ATK has a similar recipe.

  4. I did buy the Breville winter 2020 for $800. I also own a pizza stone and pizza steel. I feel I can get a quality pizza from my oven on pizza steel and from my Breville. Each has a downside.

    The pizza steel pros:
    1. It was $75 and if you use a stone instead it can be as low $25-$30. It will produce a great pizza with the right technique

    The Pizza steel cons:
    1. needs a full hour in a 550-degree oven to preheat. This amount of time uses a lot of energy (gas in my case)
    2. It really throws a ton of heat into the house. This is ok in the winter but really bad in the summer when you are already paying to cool the house.

    Breville Pros:
    1. The Breville preheats in 20 minutes and uses much less energy as you are heating a much smaller oven.
    2. It can easily be moved outside in the summer to keep even less heat from fighting your home's cooling system.
    3. IMO the higher temps you can reach in the Breville do offer a better option for Neapolitan style Pizza that a standard home oven just can't quite replicate.

    Breville cons:
    1. The downside is it's at least an $800 upfront cost.

    In conclusion, I think the Breville is worthwhile if you plan to use it quite often or if you want a more authentic Neapolitan style Pizza. You will pay a lot up front but you can recoup some money through energy savings.

  5. I get pizza from pizza places and the entire top of the cheese is white and stringy which I hate. I have to ask them to cook well done and then I can get a burned Pizza. I like the Browning little dots all over the cheese.

  6. I am definitely a thin and crispy girl! I have the Betty crocker one and I like it very much and I can also do pancakes and sandwiches and eggs and hamburgers on it as well which makes it a huge multitasker. I am hoping next summer to build a real Italian pizza oven outdoors.

  7. if you use a pizza stone in an oven, remember to preheat it for at least 30 minutes. Also, my sone bought a steel pizza ‘stone’ which takes forever to preheat, maybe an hour. He left it in his over and was making other baked goods but his over was never at the right temp. He thought is over was broken until he realized this monster was still inside on another shelf. Don't do this lol

  8. I saw the winner was used in Bon Appetit's test kitchen. I was seriously considering it. I went to Williams-Sonoma to check pricing and reviews. 4 of the 8 reviews said that the stones broke and Breville would not replace them for free. 2 of those 4 reviews were posted 7 days prior and 24 hours prior to my search. For $1000 I would think the stones would hold up better than that and if they did break I would hope Breville would be sending a free replacement overnight.

  9. I couldn't disagree more, you didn't even attempt to use the Pizazz properly, and I am beginning to become more suspicious of your content, the pizazz has controls to give you flexibility in cooking your pizza it has an upper setting, a lower setting for the crust, mind you with a burner up top and a burner on the bottom and a pizza pan which cooks pretty evenly, and a dual setting for the operation of both the lower and upper burners, I have had mine for years and have been very pleased with how my pizza turns out, I don't need to spend a 1000$ for a pizza oven, don't let these ladies mislead you.

  10. some of those things are like pizza murder. they should call the cops. the breville is a nice option, probably only thing on the market in its category with good results. for a regular home pizza maker, get a baking steel for a 5 minute "NY Style"….or get a Ooni for an outdoor 90 second neopolitan. These are the best options for restaurant quality pizza.

  11. For our cigar lounge, I bought a Wisco pizza oven the kind they have behind the bar for frozen pizzas (new $100+, used $50). WOW, what a great machine, first pizza perfection (slightly brown on top) in 20 mins then every 10-15 mins. Unfortunately limited to just standard 13" pizzas (no rising crust, deep dish), Breville smart oven nice, not as good as for pizza but can make frozen bread and cookies.

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