The Pizza Oven You Really Wish You Had
August 26, 2015
Serious Eats
Serious Eats is the go to place for delicious recipes, food guides and techniques of all kinds. Their Managing Culinary Director J. Kenji López-Alt took the Kalamazoo Artisan Fire Pizza Oven for a four-week test drive to see what it was all about. López-Alt was thoroughly impressed, but the feature that made the biggest impression on this pizza expert was the convenience and consistency of the oven.
After a short 20-minute preheat session, the oven reached over 800 degrees. Even better, he achieved those temperatures easily without the having to carefully coddle a fire for hours. He loved the flexibility this afforded him. The oven allowed him to quickly and easily cook just one pizza, or it could handle an entire pizza party.
The $7,000 Pizza Oven You Don't Need (But Really Wish You Had)
“After assembling, I kicked on both the bottom and the top burners for the first time and let the grill start to preheat. There's a metal door that covers the front of the oven when you're preheating; a grate in the door allows some ventilation, while limiting the escape of heat. Within 20 minutes at maximum power, I had the thing burying the needle on my infrared thermometer, peaking at well over 800°F in the roof and on the floor. At those temperatures, a pizza cooks in about two and a half minutes. On that first day, I baked a half dozen Neapolitan pies in quick succession using my standard Neapolitan dough recipe. The oven really delivers on power and consistency.”