Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven Black (Full Review)

Although not necessary, a pizza oven is undoubtedly enjoyable to use. The perfect pie can be baked in scorching temperatures, which your home oven cannot achieve. Following his Shark Tank appearance in 2020, Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven Black was an immediate success. Since then, he has also been impacted by the expansion of the outdoor oven market.

For those who enjoy smoky flavors, the firm manufactures the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven with a charcoal and wood insert. In our evaluation of the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven, we discovered that it is also one of the best pizza outdoor ovens we tested and is more portable, making it a fantastic choice for bringing on camping vacations and similar outings.

However, charcoal, as opposed to gas, is less precise scientifically, making sustaining a high temperature more challenging. Though it feels like a more traditional manner of cooking than the gas ovens, if you’re open to trying new things, this oven might be the one for you. Try using various kinds of wood to give your pies special flavor notes, and be ready to restock the charcoal chamber while you cook several pies continuously.

The Ooni Koda 16 Gas Powered Pizza Oven is a great portable pizza oven that may assist you in achieving your aim of producing the best possible pizza at home. We liked the Ooni Koda 16 the best after baking 70 pizzas in four outdoor pizza ovens and one interior countertop oven because it offers the largest baking area out of all the models we tested, in addition to having better heat dispersion.

Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven Black

Setup

Setting up the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven is simple: The pizza stone is placed inside the oven and supported by four metal pins once the four legs of the barrel-shaped appliance’s matte stainless steel body have been removed. The charcoal/wood tray is easily inserted into the oven through the front hole and secured in the oven’s back. Bertello’s pizza peel needs to be opened up last. It took less than five minutes to complete the transaction.

We only needed to set the oven on an outdoor table to get it starting before adding the charcoal tray because we tested the oven with a mixture of charcoal and wood chips. We followed the guidelines in the manual and let a pile of charcoal and wood burn for 40 minutes before we started cooking.

The literature advises letting the oven heat up at maximum heat for at least 30 minutes before using it for the first time. (Note: You must allow the wood we added for taste to soak for at least 30 minutes before adding it to the oven. Please consider this.)

Design And Functionality

Due to the build of the oven, the rolling flame of the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven is forced forward and heats the cordierite pizza stone underneath as well as the stainless steel roof of the oven.

The oven is rather simplistic, with fewer bells and whistles than other models we evaluated. For instance, since there is no thermometer readout, you must estimate when the oven is hot enough to cook pizzas unless you use an infrared thermometer gun.

The hole in the back charcoal and wood chip chamber makes loading and igniting matches simple. However, replacing the oven door can be challenging because the charcoal flames often shoot out the back. With the included tongs, shifting charcoal is a breeze. Lastly, the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven is one of the lightest ovens we examined, making it ideal for outdoor activities like camping. It weighs around 35 pounds.

Cooking Performance

The most crucial element is now coming up: how does Bertello perform? In a nutshell, it functions flawlessly. A pizza may be cooked in the Bertello pizza oven for 60 to 90 seconds at temperatures as high as 950 degrees Fahrenheit (only when using the gas option).

You won’t have to worry about hot spots because the oven’s double-wall structure and ceramic-fiber insulation ensure that the heat is dispersed evenly. Some Bertello pizza oven models also include an infrared thermometer to monitor the temperature within the oven.

Too much heat on your pie is a severe risk due to the stone’s excellent heat retention and the raging flames that scorch the top of the oven. To avoid burning, you would need to quickly rotate the pie every 12 to 15 seconds while it was cooking. One of the difficulties in utilizing the Bertello pizza oven is this.

As we already indicated, another thing to keep in mind is to exercise caution around the flames emanating from the top of the oven. Open the opening in your direction to accomplish this. Not away from you, but toward you, should your wrist move. The flames could be dangerous if they are not handled correctly.

With so many dos and don’ts, it is clear that there is a high learning curve for the Bertello pizza oven. Even while the technical and assembly portions are simple for beginners to pick up, cooking might be more difficult.

Controlling the temperature of the pizza (particularly the crust), the time of the sessions and rotations, and other factors may be challenging at first. In general, getting acclimated to the oven could take some time, but once you do, you’ll be a Bertello pro in no time.

Editors Rating

4.1 out of 5 Stars

Testing

Wood alone produces a delicious, natural flavour but is sooty and temperature-sensitive, necessitating attention to keep the temperature up and the wood-burning tray stocked. The combination of pellets and your preferred smoking wood (I like pecan), with additional fuel added after each pizza or two, has worked well for me.

It was much simpler to light it up with a little kitchen blow torch refillable with butane. A digital thermometer is necessary to establish when the stone is at least 500-ish degrees. Adding pizzas impatiently when the stone was colder resulted in several messes (the top gets burned while the dough remains uncooked).

This is a satisfying experience and has the most authentic flavor, but it takes some expertise to maintain the fire and ensure the stone reheats after each pizza. A propane burner makes cooking simple, hot, and quick. We use this arrangement because it’s quick, simple, and delicious.

The ability to control the temperature with the flip of a knob is fantastic, and the burn is clean (there is no soot on the oven ceiling). The temperature will reach about 1000 degrees at the maximum burn, which makes the pizzas cook incredibly quickly (seriously, like a minute or two). The simplicity of use often compensates for the slight flavor loss.

Burner + wood tray = authentic flavor and heat insurance, but not the best of both worlds. This configuration is not as hot as using propane alone since the wood tray confines the burner’s flame, but it is simple to start, and there is no risk of a cooling stone if you forget to add additional wood to the tray.

The wood tray also gives off a delicious smoky flavor. The amount of pizzas we’ve been able to cook in this configuration is limited because the ash pile and burner share the same space underneath the tray, which quickly fills up.

Comparison

The Bertello oven may be the most adaptable of all the ovens we tested. While it blurs the distinction between gas and wood-fired ovens, we decided it would be better to consider each fuel type separately for an objective comparison. The wood-fired oven included with this model is more forgiving but more difficult to light.

Slower cooking times, such as those in the five to seven-minute range, offer you more time to prepare between firings and learn how to cook pizzas properly. However, given that the average stone temperature is only 552, it is better to prepare low- to medium-fired pizza.

The gas conversion unlocks the Bertello oven’s potential power if you feel you have the requisite abilities in place. This specific change reduces average cook times to 90 seconds, while average pizza stone temperatures increase to an astounding 774°F.

When it comes to gas ovens with the highest possible pizza stone temperatures, the Bertello is at the top of the list. Only a select few ovens can compare to it, including the Gozney Roccbox. One of the few materials capable of withstanding temperatures above 800°F is cordierite, which is used to make the pizza stone and is also used to make kiln shelves.

The Bertello Outdoor is an award-winning kitchen equipment that has the potential to achieve true greatness while being a relative newbie to the pizza oven industry. Control and usability might be improved for the chef’s benefit with a few design changes. The model’s few shortcomings could confuse you, though. If so, the Gozney Roccbox is a practical choice to consider. One of our favorite models, it can operate on several fuel types and produces the perfect pizza with a bit of tinkering.

Helpful Tips for Using the Bertello Pizza Oven

After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the Bertello pizza oven, the following advice will help you make the most of your oven:

• -Begin by turning on the oven at least 30 minutes before you plan to cook. By doing this, you can make sure the oven is heated evenly.
• -To prevent burning, rotate the pizza every 12 to 15 seconds while baking.
• -Be sure to wipe the pizza stone after any spills during baking before launching the subsequent pizza.
• -Use the infrared thermometer to monitor the oven’s temperature. By doing this, you may prevent undercooking or overcooking your pizza.
• -Start cooking the pizza with gas if you want a wood-fired flavor but don’t want to wait for the oven to heat up. Turn the gas flame down after reaching the desired temperature, then start cooking with wood. You will achieve the best of both worlds by doing this.

To Sum Up

Given that using charcoal can be challenging for beginners, we would only suggest the Bertello Outdoor Pizza Oven to those who enjoy and have experience with this cooking method. Given that Bertello sells a gas attachment, it could be worthwhile to buy both to choose between the uncertainty of cooking with gas and charcoal.

However, the Ooni Fyra 12, which heats up rapidly and is very light, is the best option if you want a portable outdoor pizza oven. Given their open flames and propane connection, we found that the Ooni Koda 16 and Gozney Roccbox ovens performed better, were easier to use, and were less mobile.

Frequently Asked Questions