I am a big pizza fan! I mean, who isn’t?! Growing up on the east coast, pizza was a big part of life. After moving to the west coast, it’s been tough finding good pizza. My in-laws recently gifted us a Bertello pizza oven, and it’s been a wonderful experience. This post will focus on an in-depth Bertello pizza oven review, a step-by-step guide on how to use the pizza oven, followed by some yummy pizza recipes!
Bertello Pizza Oven Review
Why choose a pizza oven for your home?
You have a conventional oven; why do you need a wood-fired pizza oven?
Pizza ovens get significantly hotter than your conventional oven (upwards of 800 degrees). This leads to cooking pizzas so fast! Wood-fired ovens work by trapping heal within the walls of the oven. It is also a very traditional way of making pizza.
If you want NY-style pizza, you have to replicate how they cook their pizza. Granted, you won’t have the New York water to get the distinct flavor, but it will still be very delicious! Definitely better than anything you make in the regular oven.
The wood-fried aspect really gives the pizza a deeper flavor.
What is the Bertello Pizza Oven?
Featured on Shark Tank, this oven is a good budget option at the $300 range. We came across it when we were doing our Amazon wedding registry, and it had great reviews. You can get it on Amazon.
Created by entrepreneur brothers, Andy and Eric Bert, the mini outdoor oven is portable. It is also a hybrid model, meaning you can use wood as fuel or propane. The pizza oven can go past 900F and produces authentic Neopolitan pizzas in under 2 minutes.
If you use propane, you’ll need to purchase a propane tank and gas attachment. We did not go the propane route, and our pizzas still cook beautifully and taste amazing!
The oven itself is on the smaller side and works well if you don’t have a lot of space. We have a small balcony, and the oven fits perfectly there. It’s nice to have the pizza oven experience without having to spend a huge amount of money and need a giant backyard.
Getting Started with the Bertello Pizza Oven
There is definitely a learning curve to using this oven, so be sure to do your research before starting. My husband and I were too excited, and we did minimal research, which consisted of reading amazon reviews and watching some YouTube videos.
Unboxing the Oven:
The oven is very easy to put together. It is heavy, so I definitely appreciated that my husband put it together.
The instructions helped with getting the oven together. But it was not helpful in providing a step-by-step guide of how to use the Bertello pizza oven. Through trial and error, we have figured out a system that works for us now.
The Bartello oven comes with the following:
- Pizza stone
- Wood/Charcoal/Fuel Tray
- Tongs
- Pizza peel
- Scoop for wood chips/pellets
Detailed Bertello Oven Pizza Review
Attempt #1:
Our first attempt at the oven was late on a Friday evening. We were very excited to try it out. However, I don’t suggest doing this at night. It’s easier to see what you are doing during the daytime. When you get better at using the oven, you can use it at night if you like.
For fuel, we bought the following from Home Depot:
We loaded 6-7 charcoal briquettes into the back slot and lit them in the fire with tumbleweed as a starter. We saw in a YouTube video that you should light the coal and leave it for about an hour until it turns white. After this, you add wood and pellets to get the fire going.
Our first attempt was disastrous. Our fire was nowhere near what it should have been, and the pizza stone was not heating up properly. We stupidly put the pizza in, and it stuck to the bottom. It was a disaster!
We also had a lot of trouble trying to get the pizza off of the peel and into the oven. It would stick and clump together.
We ended up with 1 pizza that was semi-edible. But overall, this was a FAIL!
Attempt #2
We played around with the fire to get it roaring. We were able to build it up but ran into similar issues of the oven not heating towards the front end. This would lead to the pizza sticking and being impossible to turn. We ended up with a couple of “calzones.”
We watched the video from the creator, who did help a bit with arranging the pizza. We were loading our pizza with too much sauce and cheese. You really have to go minimalistic with toppings.
Attempt #3
My husband was ready to call it quits at this point. We didn’t understand how it was so easy for others, but we were having so much trouble. O
Was it not using propane? Or should we get a temperature gun? Our Bertello oven review wasn’t looking so great thus far. But, we didn’t want to give up either. Other people had such great photos and enjoyed their oven.
We had to figure out what we were doing wrong.
Finally, after an hour of scouring the internet, we happened upon this gem of a video.
We saw that for the oven to really work, the flames have to hit the roof of the oven and almost come out the front. Watch the video, and you’ll see epic flames.
We had a baby fire going and thought that would be enough. A lightbulb went off, and we decided to try again, this time armed with knowledge.
Here is the exact process we used. Follow this, and you’ll have amazing wood-fired pizzas in no time!
How to Use the Bertello Pizza Oven (With Pictures)
1.) Situate the oven onto a stable table. We use two end tables and it works great. Add 4-5 charcoal briquettes to the fuel tray. Place tumbleweed in the center to create a pyramid. Light on fire and close the door cover. Let it do its thing for 30 min to an hour until the coals turn white.
2.) In the meantime, prep your pizza dough and toppings. I used this recipe from Bobby Flay, which turned out beautifully. Due to the size of the oven, we stuck to smaller personal sizes. You can make 6 pizzas with the Bobby Flay recipe. 8-10 inches is a good size for this oven.
3.) When rolling out your pizza dough, use a generous amount of flour, so it doesn’t stick. I like to use this silicone mat as it has convenient templates for pizzas by inch so you can roll to the correct size. Sprinkle flour onto your pizza peel, and transfer rolled dough to it. I used all-purpose flour. You want enough so the dough doesn’t stick.
4.) Add a 1-2 spoonfuls of sauce. It doesn’t sound like much, but that’s really all you need. Add your toppings, don’t overdo it. Keep it light.
5.) Check the oven to see if it’s ready. When the coals are white, add your wood chunks and/or pellets. We use half a cup to a cup of hickory pellets. Wait until the fire is roaring. This will take a couple of minutes. You can use a fan blowing towards the back tray door to help it along. You can also use a temperature gun to check the temp, but we don’t. If you do use a temp gun, you’ll want the back to be around 800F and the front higher than 500F.
6.) When it’s ready, and the flames are hitting the top roof, slide your pizza in. You want to aim for the middle of the oven. We have had success when it’s been more towards the front, but this is volatile as it’ll depend on how hot the front of the stone is. If your fire is really roaring, you’ll be able to do this.
7.) At this point, you’ll need to watch to check when to turn your pizza. Sometimes we’ve turned it in every 20 seconds, and other times every 5 seconds. You’ll know to turn when cheese is bubbling. Turn 4 times, so it cooks evenly. Be patient, as this process can take some time to maneuver. Depending on how hot the oven is, sometimes burns will happen. It’s trial and error and with repeated use, you will become a pro.
8.) Your pizza should be done in a minute or two! We try to have a backup pizza ready to go so we can put it in just as the first is finishing. The fire should last 1-3 pizzas before you need to refuel.
9.) Refueling is easy. Just add more wood or pellets.
Notes:
There are certain tools that can help you with the process of making pizzas in the oven—a temperature gun and turning peel.
Using this oven is definitely a two-person job. You probably could do it with one person, but it might be stressful. More helpers speed up the process.
Making your own pizza at home can be a process, but we really enjoy it now that we know what we’re doing. Our final Bertello oven review is that it is a fun thing to have. Our oven gets a lot of use in our home, and we do weekly lunch dates with friends to use it. Everyone loves it! It’s a great activity to do with the company.
Plus the pizza tastes amazing!
Here are some of our favorite recipes:
White Four-Cheese Garlic Pizza Recipe
Ingredients:
Homemade or store-bought pizza dough
1 tbsp Olive oil
Mozzarella cheese sliced
Ricotta cheese
Shaved Parmesan
Grated Romano
1 clove Garlic sliced
Directions:
1.) Roll pizza dough to 8-10 inches
2.) Spread 1 tbsp olive oil to coat the top.
3.) Add garlic slices and top with cheese
4.) Bake in the wood fried oven for 1-2 minutes
Classic Margherita Pizza Recipe
Ingredients:
Homemade or store-bought pizza dough
1-2 tbsp Pizza sauce
Mozzarella sliced
Chopped basil
Directions:
1.) Roll pizza dough to 8-10 inches
2.) Spread 1-2 tbsp pizza sauce
3.) Top with Mozzarella slices and basil
4.) Cook for 1-2 min in the pizza oven
Spicy Wood Fried Pizza Recipe:
Homemade or store-bought pizza dough
1-2 tbsp Pizza sauce
1 tbsp hot oil
Mozzarella sliced
Romano Grated
Jalapeños slices
Directions:
1.) Roll pizza dough to 8-10 inches
2.) Spread 1 tbsp hot oil
3.) Add 1-2 tbsp pizza sauce
4.) Top with Mozzarella slices and grated Romano. Add Jalapeños.
5.) Cook 1-2 minutes in the pizza oven.
How to Care for Your Pizza Oven
Now that you’ve made all the yummy pizza in your belly, you’ll need to clean your pizza oven. This is pretty low maintenance. After your oven has completely, remove the fuel tray and discard the ashes. You can use an old towel or paper towels to wipe the inside clean.
Next, you’ll want to clean your pizza stone. Pizza stones are porous items and you want to refrain from using soap on your stone. This is because the stone will absorb the soap and you’ll pizza will taste like suds. Pizza stones don’t need soap anyway as the heat from the fire will kill bacteria. 800+ degrees is really hot!
To clean your pizza oven:
- Scrub off any food particles. Use either a sponge or a wooden spatula. Don’t use metal as you will damage the surface.
- Using just water, gently scrub the surface.
- If your surface is burnt, mix 50:50 part water with baking soda. Spread the paste and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Wash away with water and repeat as needed.
- If your pizza oven is severely caked, you can put it in a conventional oven at 500F. Place the stone on the top rack right when you turn the oven on. Do not put the stone into a hot oven, it needs to rise in temperature slowly. Leave in for about an hour. After the oven and stone have cooled, remove and scrub off burnt bits.
- After you’ve cleaned the pizza stone, return it back to the oven. We store our oven outside on our balcony.
I hope you enjoyed this Bertello Pizza Oven Review. Did you try any of these recipes? Comment below!
Subscribe to the newsletter to keep updated on blog posts. Follow me on Instagram @by.bindi.
Did you eat too much pizza? Check out 11 Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off.
