12.8.2013

This is a wonderful - and fun - kitchen accessory.It's wonderful because, with a little bit of trial and error, it really does produce excellent pizzas which come pretty close to wood fired pizza oven quality. It's fun because, especially if you have young children, the whole process from flour sieving, dough kneading, topping and waiting is a delight and a ready made activity in itself.The operating instructions are available, in the enclosed booklet, in clearly written English with a few essential hints and tips (how to heat the oven and how to clean the stone). The impressively thick recipe booklet alas is only available in Italian. That said most of the recipes according to an Italian speaking friend are generic and standard.They do however cover an impressive wide range of recipes including not just pizzas (variety of pizza breads and Italian dough styles) but also other breads such asThe machine requires a two phase heating process: heat it up with the lid closed until the thermostat light turns off; then lift lid until the thermostat turns on again i.e. until the machine starts to heat again through the just activated heating elements. Now place the topped pizza on the stone. Close the lid and allow for five to six minutes for the pizza to cook. It's quite an intuitive process whose rationale is described very clearly in the instruction manual. The trick is to place the pizza on the stone when the oven is working its way back to its hottest temperature. The timer is a simple mechanical countdown timer. The timer makes a "ding" sound at the end of the timing period - it does not automatically shut of the oven and merely serves as a signal to the chef (!) that the pizza should be checked for readiness.I should state and stress that, as the instruction booklet emphasises, it is really important not to over top the pizza or top the pizza too close to the edge. If you do over top the pizza the result will be that topping will fall on to the stone. The stone is very difficult to clean. It is possible, using a damp microfibre cloth and lots of time, to clean most of the debris off the cooled stone. However the oil stains cannot be removed. Basically, the stone is made of a refractory brick like material which has excellent thermal and porous qualities - absorbing moisture from the dough to provide a near restaurant perfect crispy base. The down side of this is that spilled toppings will deposit their oil in to the stone. I was very careful during the first two days of use not to spill a drop on to the stone. However, when I ran out of pre sliced mozzarella and had to use soft ball mozzarella I was caught unawares. My stone now looks quite dirty and is no longer the smooth white colour it was during unpacking and the first two days of use. Still, having removed the debris (which took a bit of elbow grease) I can say very clearly that this is not a problem - the stone still cooks perfectly and without smoke. Be aware though that the instruction booklet does emphasise the point that the stone risks being damaged if it is subjected to spillage. If you use supermarket bought pizzas you may find that overtopping or edge topping is a problem. That said the bread does not rise much if at all when using a supermarket bought pizza when compared to homemade dough. The rising of the homemade dough during the cooking process can cause the topping to spill out on to the stone. This isn't such a problem with supermarket bought pizzas.I've found that Jamie Oliver's freely available "pizza dough" recipe provides great results. I assume this is because of the olive oil addition to the recipe.You do however have to roll the dough very thinly if you want to avoid a doughy crust and base. This may be more to do with the dough than the pizza cooker itself. I've found, after just a few days of use, that the dough rising/resting time has a significant impact on the end result. Too much rising will lead to a soft and doughy crust whereas too little rising will lead to a lifeless and leathery crust. A nicely rolled thin dough results in an amazing pizza.The machine uses a top heating coil rather like an electric oven hotplate. I've found that rotating the pizza at half way point during the cooking process avoids burned hot spots forming on the pizza. The oven will brown/blacken some spots on the top crust and this is more or less unavoidable. However it is very subtle if you turn the pizza. Some people like pizza browned or slightly charred but, if you prefer pizza to be white or light brown, then turning the pizza half way through cooking is the best thing to do. You can do it by hand because even though the oven is very hot there is sufficient clearance between the lid and the pizza to avoid coming in to contact with the lid. The pizza should, if appropriately floured before being placed on the stone, slide very easily around the stone when rotated.This is a great kitchen accessory and I am very glad that I bought it. If you want near restaurant quality/wood fired pizzas for just the time and money investment of homemade dough and toppings then this is a must buy - it is worth every penny of the current price and represents a solidly built and well designed device. I cannot actually think of many negative points.Positives:- Near restaurant quality pizza which cannot be even remotely replicated in a domestic oven- Cooks supermarket bought pizzas as well as homemade dough- Great way to occupy an afternoon if you have young children (making dough and so on)!- Clearly written English language instructions and a clearly written and impressively sized recipe book (which is however written only in Italian)- Solidly built device which speaks of quality construction- Comes with UK plug adaptor (white travel style adapter) which accepts the continental style plug moulded on to the pizza cooker's leadNegatives:- The stone is difficult to clean if you have a spillage. You will be able to remove hard debris with a wet microfibre cloth but you will not be able to remove oil stains- The oven needs to cool once it has been used before it can be moved/stored. It is not a cool wall oven. Cooling can take twenty to forty minutes.- Time consuming to make homemade dough - however a bulk creation can be stored in the fridge or freezer and, also, the pizza cooker is able to cook ready made supermarket pizzas too!

15.5.2013

Edited 29/8/2016 about 30 months after first purchase of 10006 model.I had totally mixed feelings about this device. In many ways at £130 I felt it was a bit overpriced but it has now lasted over two years of fairly heavy use. I understand it now comes with better recipes in English. It also is good for making Nan bread.The device is simple enough. A basic clam shell design with an exposed upper element in the lid, a bit like what you would get in your oven but of course the base element is under a stone. So the pizza is put on tbe stone and cooked from above and below. There is no lip or depression around the pizza stone so it is easy to slide a finished pizza off the stone with the aid of a fish slice.Set the thermostat to position 2.5 or highest and probably forget about it forever.Preheat for 5 minutes and provided the light is on, indicating the top element is on, you are ready to start cooking. If the top light is not on at any time when you wish to start cooking then open the device till it comes on for maximum heat.The clockwork 5 minute timer on the unit is more useful than I thought it would be. It is only a simple timer and has no effect on the heating controls.My first attempt was pretty poor although the pizza tasted good. There was lots of mess on the stone because I used to much tomato based sauce and it flowed over the crust. Don't worry if you mark the stone that's normal.The most important thing is to develop a technique for getting the pizza onto the stone without tearing it or allowing any spillage particularly on the stone. Spillage to the stone will result in caramelisation and will stick the pizza base to the stone at that point.I find the best way to get things to work is to have a good elastic dough that is well floured underneath.This can be made by hand or in a bread maker:-Panasonic SD2501 has a dough program but the dough is not elastic enough so use program 22 with this recipe for 3 pizza bases:-1 teaspoon tinned active yeast.400 grams bread flour.2 tablespoons of olive oil1.5 teaspoons of salt1 tespoon of sugar280 ml of waterFlour hands, a large board and the paddles that came with the pizza maker.Put the dough in a Lidl freezer bag (these are strong and wont split) then let it float in warm water for at least 20 minutes till the dough gets bigger.Remove about one third of the dough with floured hands and shape it into a disc. Put it on a floured board and roll it out to about the same diameter as the wooden paddels.Sprinkle a fine layer of flour onto the paddles each time then place the base on the paddles before adding the topping. The dough may be of uneven thickness but should be unbroken and no thicker than about 0.7 cm.Smear a little olive oil on top of the base then about 2 to 3 tablespoons of passata (tomato based sauce) in the middle of the base and spread it to about 1" from the edge of the base.Add other toppings.Lift the base with the paddles and lower onto the pizza stone being careful to position it so that as you withdraw the paddles the pizza will be in the centre of the stone.Passata can be as simple as what comes out of a carton of crushed sieved tomatoes or you can take 300ml of passatta and add 3 crushed garlic cloves, 6 black pepper corns ground, half a teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of olive oil and herbs. That should be enough for the 3 basses the dough recipie will make.The pizza should be cooked in about 5 to 7 minutes if not increase the heat slightly.Enjoy!Edited 29/8/2015. I see there is now a plus model but this review was for the original version.The oven is still working well and gets used regulary. The stone is quite blackened but everything has held up well after about two years enthusiastic use. Still very happy with it.

20.1.2013

Wow, what can I say, having tried other makes of pizza oven, this definitely is the daddy, I've done 3 pizzas now and i'm very impressed with the oven. It's well made and heavy and the clay platter, unlike some other makes, is fixed which means it is made with extra insulation under the platter meaning that the top of the food never gets burned by the time the crust is cooked.I use a little polenta (corn meal) on the platter to stop sticking, you can buy it in bulk for not much from amazon, it's the stuff they use in Domino's.Pizzas cook very evenly and the large head room on the top element means that even if you pile up your toppings or want to use it to bake bread rolls or a calzone or even just like a high-rise crust,it'll never come in contact with the element.The stone is easy to clean with a damp cloth, no detergent needed, and the casing inside and out just needs the same and a quick polish with a tea-towel.So far i've tried it with seafood, goat's cheese and chicken and they all work well, although make sure you defrost seafood as it can release a lot of liquid which can make the dough soggy and stick to the clay. If this does happen, the clay is hard wearing enough to take a pallet knife to, to remove the residual bread. The clay will stain and darken with use, don't worry about this, it's part of the thing with pizza clays and like any cookware, once they get used and broken in a bit they become even better to cook on.There are two dials at the rear, the left one is the temp control, I set it to 2.5 when warming the oven and 3 when cooking, and the right dial is a 5 minute timer. This may not seem like a long time but due to this being the hottest pizza oven available, i find mine cooks in about 4 minutes if you leave the lid down, 5 if you keep lifting it.I've also tried putting chopped olives in the pizza dough as it's made and this works well and, providing you use either polenta or lots of flour, doesn't stick either, It's a good idea to just turn the edges of the pizza over to stop any liquids running off onto the stone, this can make the edges soggy and is where you might encounter sticking problems, you live and you learn. A good pizza pick will help you easily remove and indeed place the pizza on the stone. Cover the pick in polenta, apply the dough and then add your toppings and slide it on.The dough recipe i use, if anyone wants it, is as follows. This makes 1 x 12 inch pizza, just double or triple for more and the dough freezes well in bags. I just mix it in a bread machine on the dough or pizza dough setting. (1/2 means half)1/2 cup of warm water1 cup of bread flour1/2 tbsp olive oil1/2 tsp sugar1/2 tsp salt1/2 tsp quick acting yeast (for bread machines)Optional extras, honey, olives, herbs, sun-dried tomatoes etc.Add a drop of olive oil to the dough before rolling out onto a well floured wooden board before placing onto the pizza pick covered in polenta and voila!So the oven is well make and looks like it will last a long time. The flex is long which can be a blessing in many kitchens. It comes fitted with an Italian plug but it's a right angle one and there is a UK adapter in the box and the whole plug arrangement together takes up little more room than just having a British plug on it.Very pleased with this purchase that has great results, heats up very quickly and uses less energy than heating an entire oven. Hope this has been helpful.

30.11.2016

I've had this for a little over a year now, and it's gone well beyond being my favourite kitchen gadget.I'm always in search of better pizza - pizza stone in a hot oven, wood-fired Weber with Pizza stone, Neapolitan in a cast-iron pan; but the G3 Ferrari is the best. It's second only to a proper wood-fired pizza oven, but that's a different proposition entirely - you wouldn't be using that on a rainy winter evening.To get the best out of it, you need to follow certain steps:1. Dough. You need to use 00 flour. I can't put my finger on what's better about it, but you can really tell the difference.The recipe I follow is: (Oh dear,I know this recipe off by heart!)10 g instant yeast450 g 00 flour10g salt25 ml olive oil300 ml waterThis will make 5 thin bases.This works really well as soon as it's ready, but to make it even better I recommend leaving it to rest in the fridge for a couple of days. This seems to help with the gluten development, making it extra stretchy, and helps the flavour too.2. Roll it out. You're not a pro, and there's no shame in using a rolling pin. If you want a thin base, this is the way to do it.3. Replace the supplied paddles. The split design is great, and they work well, but they're just a bit too small. Make some new ones from a piece of 2-3 mm plywood with a jigsaw, and you can have a bigger pizza! Make a couple of extras whilst you're at it, so you can get more pizzas ready to go.4. Fine semolina on the paddles. You don't want your pizza sticking to the paddles, it's the quickest way to ruin it. A good dusting of semolina solves this problem, and gives a lovely texture to the base too. Just make sure you wipe off the burnt semolina from the stone with a piece of dry kitchen roll between pizzas.5. Buffalo mozzarella. It's so much better. And now it's available cheaply from your favourite German discount supermarket.6. Set the temperature dial to 2.5, and give it 5-10 minutes to fully warm up. Once you're ready to put the pizza in, open the lid for 30 seconds or so, and blow on the thermostat inside the lid. It's the little square patch. The top element should come on, listen for a click. Put your pizza on and close the lid, make sure the red light is on. Set the timer for 5 minutes.7. Enjoy the ticking sound from the timer as you wait excitedly. When that bell dings, jump up and run to the pizza oven.8. It's not done yet, sorry. Take your cake lifter (you have a cake lifter, right? It's the best way to get the pizza out https://www.amazon.co.uk/MisterChef%C2%AE-Mister-Chef-Cake-Lifter/dp/B01M27LQ2B/ref=sr_1_8?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1480512865&sr=1-8&keywords=cake+lifter) and turn the pizza by 180 degrees.Close the lid, set the timer for 2 minutes.9. When the timer dings this time, the wait is over. You can celebrate.The best way to celebrate is with pizza - take it out with the cake lifter, cut it up whilst it's hot. Don't forget to wipe the semolina off the stone before you close the oven, you don't want the smoke alarm interrupting your eating.10. Burn the roof of your mouth with the topping. Kick yourself for not learning.11. Cool your burned mouth with a nice cold Peroni.12. Repeat. Every day. Or twice a day.

11.9.2019

We've had a Ferrari Pizza Oven for more than a decade now. The first was bought in Italy and was the model two before the current version. It wasn't awful, but the following two revisions have become even better. Each was used at least once a week, and I didn't buy new to replace a broken oven; I was just tempted to buy the latest version.Something that has to be borne in mind is that this is NOT intended to be used with chilled or frozen pizzas. You can heat those with this oven, but my experience is that the base tends to become rather like cardboard, since the pizza manufacturers intend them to be heated in a domestic oven which doesn't reach the temperature of this oven.Sticking a chilled or frozen pizza in this oven is not going to transform it into something resembling what you get in a pizza restaurant; it's still going to be a factory-produced pizza.What this oven is meant to be used for is pizzas made with fresh dough, and for that it works amazingly well. Making your own pizza dough may sound like a lot of faffing about, but I combine this oven with a Panasonic bread maker to produce the dough. A lot of practice and having proper wooden pizza peels to build the pizzas on and an aluminium peel to take them out of the oven means it's possible for me to create a fresh pizza from scratch in about an hour and a half -- and half of that time is waiting for the bread machine to finish with the dough. Once the pizza is in the oven, it's done in less than five minutes, so even though the oven can only deal with pizzas up to about ten inches in diameter, it is possible to crank them out very fast. (Something that always impresses our dinner guests.)I have in the past seen negative reviews objecting to how the stone becomes darkened and stained with use. That's a nonsensical complaint. There's nothing unsanitary about a piece of ceramic heated to more than 300°, and as long as you periodically scrape off any charred bits of stray cheese or dough that's stuck to the base for some reason, it's not a problem. You might see some smoking, but again that's not really a huge issue. Avoid getting any oil on the ceramic and after every pizza is done, brush off the semolina sprinkled on the wooden peel to facilitate the raw pizza sliding off it, and it's all good.The only valid complaint about this oven is that it is bulky, but if you're really into pizza, if you prefer to know exactly what's in the food you eat, and if you think you might enjoy the challenge of experimenting with dough recipes until you find one that works for you (I think the Panasonic machine's recipe is simple and good, and I find Lidl extra-strong white bread flour particularly suited for pizza), then this might be one of your more useful kitchen equipment purchases.

23.5.2015

I honestly cannot fault this product. I love pizza but I'm not fond of the frozen variety or the type you get in supermarkets. Given that, I managed to find several brilliant and easy recipes for pizza sauce and pizza dough but I gave up making them because my oven just wouldn't do them justice. No matter what I used, from pizza stones to special trays it was a waste of time as they were never crisp. Not any more! I ordered this oven late on Thursday night and I'm sitting here, on the Saturday afternoon, having just had the most delicious thin crust Italian pizza, all from the comfort of my own kitchen :-)The oven itself is well built and comes with a UK style plug.The instruction booklet/recipe book covers a variety of languages and the English section was clear and easy to understand. Similar to others reviewing this product, once I had it out of the box, unwrapped and plugged in, I turned it on for about ten minutes to make sure that any manufacturing oil etc would be burnt off. There was very little smell at all and to be honest I'm not sure if doing what I did is really necessary.Many reviewers haven't been keen on the pizza paddle that is included; I would disagree. It isn't the fanciest looking thing I've ever seen but it is perfectly good. I like the fact that it comes in two pieces and I found it very easy to get the pizza from the paddle and onto the stone. TIP - when I rolled out my dough (and size wise, the paddle gives you a great indication of how big to go) I then sprinkled semolina onto the paddle before placing the pizza base onto it. Not only does this make it easy to transfer the pizza onto the stone, you also get an extra crunchy base AND there is no danger of any pizza being stuck to the stone. After the oven cooled I just brushed the remaining semolina off and wiped over with a damp cloth; perfect. Anyone worried about semolina - it's tasteless used in this fashion.For this pizza I just used a packet pizza dough mix from a supermarket. I would normally do my own in the bread maker but I couldn't wait! As promised in the blurb, five minutes was all it took to have an authentic Italian style pizza . ANOTHER TIP - when loading toppings, put your cheese on first and then add your pepperoni, ham etc - it cooks much better like this and gives you a crispier pizza. I would really recommend that you have a bash at making your own pizza - loads of recipes for dough and sauce out there - because I honestly think that using this wee gem of an oven to heat up a frozen pizza would be a travesty.Overall I would say this is a fantastic piece of kit that is well worth the money and which does exactly as it promises. Best thing I've bought in ages.

2.10.2016

I don't usually write reviews but this machine is the business. Easy to use, great quality, prompt delivery, well packed and then there's the performance. I made my own dough (no knead pizza dough - Jim Lahey's recipe) and expected to have a couple of dud trials. My first attempt was so impressive that I couldn't stop talking about it. It really wouldn't have looked out of place in an authentic Italian wood-fired oven pizzeria; crispy underneath (which had been a worry of mine but it really does deliver!), speckled and slightly charred at the edges with the odd pillowy bubbles. Each slice would hold its shape as I held it which I always think is a sign of a good pizza.

13.6.2016

So, picture the scene last night. My niece's 2 year old decorated her own pizza and I cooked it. My son's teacher wife rolled out and did her own pizza and we cooked it and my son and son in law then made two more. When they were all cooked in the pizza oven we sat down, with beer and wine and salads and consumed them all. What a great evening. And we are an Italian family.You turn the oven on and I tend to set the thermostat to about 3 and a half. I then set a timer for ten minutes. Then we get started on the pizzas. The pizza oven comes with a (somewhat flimsy) pizza board, divided into two pieces. Once I have the pizza dough roughly the correct size , I lay it on the pizza board and start to decorate each pizza.

4.10.2018

It's rare for me to be unsure where to start a review but that's the situation I'm in right now. On the one hand I've made some really nice homemade pizzas with this, on the other hand I have also cremated far too many.I feel like I'm still learning to use it after almost a dozen pizzas.Following the instructions almost always left me with an uncomfortably blackened base - I know this is fashionably called "char", but it's the sort of thing where a little goes a long way. No matter what I did I couldn't get the upper crust to "char" in a similar fashion, unless the base was absolutely incinerated.You also have to be careful that your dough won't puff up too much, cause the dough to touch the element.For me,

7.7.2016

I made pizzas for many years on a large ceramic floor tile that lives on a shelf of my oven. This works very well for various breads and baked goods, especially my focaccia, but it has never quite succeeded with thin-crust pizza. The reason for that is that my oven will not achieve much more than 200 degrees (and it takes half an hour to reach that temperature). The pizza needs 20 minutes or so to firm the base, by which time the topping is dried up. The advantage of this machine is that it gets to a much higher temperature and it gets there quite quickly. The manufacturer claims over 300 degrees and I am sure it must be about that. It reaches full heat in less than ten minutes.

10.1.2014

Having read all of the reviews on this page I was slightly concerned about ordering this pizza oven.However having now used it to cook pizza it is awesome, incredible, wonderful and here is whyThere is an element in the lid to cook the top and one under the stone to cook the baseThe temperature is so high the pizza cooks very fast meaning it stays moistThe base (a standard pizza dough mix) crisped and bubbled and tasted deliciousThe topping browned and crisped tasting deliciousThe pizza cooked very swiftlyI made sure the base was very thin, so it would cook quickly and also because I hate thick doughy bases. I also made sure to use strong bread flour to get the best base possible.I also rolled the base on a generous sprinkle of semolina (as they do in Italy)

2.11.2015

Brilliant product and produces great pizzas, garlic pizza bases, focaccia with a bit of practice. If you get the ingredients in bulk, and have a bread machine, then the dough must cost less than 10p per base. Use any pasta sauce, a jar will cover 4-5 pizzas - a bag of grated mozzarella, and a bit of ham and you have a cheap delicious meal for the kids.Once you have the routine down to a tee, the ingredients can keep easily in the fridge and you can just take the dough out a couple of hours before you need it and knead it a bit and reshape it into a smooth ball, let it rise then you have a ball ready to make a fresh pizza with.It does take practice, but worth the effort,

13.9.2016

Oh my god this pizza oven is amazing!My wife and kids are so sick of Pizza now because I cannot stop using it... I'm force feeding them Pizza's every day!!! hahahaHonestly, this pizza over produces pizza's of restaurant quality. The reason for this is that it has a stone cooking plate at the bottom and cooks at high temperature (390c).Firstly, if you want the proper restaurant pizza taste and experience then you will have to use fresh pizza base dough (Do not use frozen pizza). Now Asda already sell ready mixed fresh dough for only £1.30 a pack and this will give you around 2 medium sized pizza's.Keeping lid shut, Set your pizza oven on heat setting 2. Switch on and heat it up.

15.3.2018

This is quite a long review with lots of tips but READ THIS IF NOTHING ELSE:Preparing the oven: For this kind of pizza/base I've found you get the best results at the max cooking temp. THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT: Turn the oven on and close it. Leave it on until the light goes out - this gives the stone etc. time to warm up. Once the light is out lift the lid and WAIT FOR THE LIGHT TO COME BACK ON - should only take about a minute or two. This is the perfect time to put your pizza in. It means the top element has just come back on, and will stay on while your pizza cooks, which is what you want to cook the top of your pizza best.

30.3.2015

Excellent. My pizza dough (currrently Panasonic breadmaker for 2hrs 20mins) tends to rise too much for the available height within the chamber, resulting in scorched dough unless I open the lid to allow the base bottom to continue cooking. However, my fifth effort was much better, I'd made the base as thin as I could (4mm) when rolled and pressed out). At present, I'm giving the initial heat on setting 2 and baking on 2.5, rotating through 180 deg after 3 mins and baking for 2-3 mins more, lid closed/open.Family agrees that the result is better than the conventional oven (cheese strings more for one thing), the base is crisper on the bottom and the dough is chewy but not doughy if I've given it enough time.

G3 Ferrari Delizia Pizza Express - Reviews

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