Brilliant counter-top pizza oven
800 degrees F/ 420 C at an affordable price? That's a life-changer!
Happy Friday, fortunate cook!
If you love pizza, you will love this news.
It’s about pizza. My friend Carlo, who is Italian (from Abruzzo), raved to me about a counter-top pizza oven that has changed his life. His sister (back in Italy) recommended it. Now Carlo and his family make pizza at least once a week.
I had made pizza at home before — in our regular oven, using a pizza stone. It was good, but not amazing. Of course a regular oven doesn’t get hot enough to make outstanding pizza, one with crust that’s crisp and lightly charred on the outside, tender on the inside, and cooked all the way through. For that you need at least 700 degrees F / 370 C.
That’s the brilliance of this new gadget, Carlo told me — the thing heats to 800 degrees, and it’s easy to use. Well, then. I had to get one!
When New York Times / Wirecutter reviewed home pizza ovens earlier this year, it recommended only one countertop model — a Breville Smartoven Pizzaolo that costs about $1,000. (It also recommended two outdoors Ooni ovens — a $600-ish gas-powered one and a $250-$350 wood-pellet-fired model).
Carlos’ find is a bargain next to those: only about $125 to $140, depending on where you purchase it.
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