Orchard Ovens Introduces New Valoriani Electric Oven Delivering Wood-fired Standard Pizza

Chefs who thought it impossible to deliver the authentic flavours of wood-fired pizza, whilst benefiting from the ease of electric cooking, have a new dream option available from Orchard Ovens Professional, set to shake up the pizza oven market.

The Northern-based commercial and domestic pizza oven supplier is ready to start supplying the oven that delivers electric oven baking on a par to that achievable in a classic wood-fired oven.  This can be regarded as the holy grail for many a pizza chef.

Orchard Ovens is already experiencing a wave of interest in this brand-new oven, the Maximo, following its launch by Italian pizza oven maestro, Valoriani, at Host in Milan.  As the sole supplier of Valoriani ovens to the UK, the Preston-based business is gearing up to fulfil orders for an oven that has eradicated the negatives of cooking pizza in an electric oven.

The Maximo is Valoriani’s first electric oven and the result of all of the usual carefully crafted detail and in-depth research that has made the brand’s wood-fired and gas ovens renowned and used across the world.  The development work has resulted in a pizza oven that can utilise electricity to cook Neapolitan, classic Italian and Roman-style pizzas that can stand as equals with those cooked by wood.

The artisan approach that underpins everything at Valoriani has been applied to the Maximo’s development.  This has been created by the family firm’s refractory experts, working in collaboration with Eduardo Ore, the brand’s technical consultant and a specialist in pizza world R&D. The result is an oven going way beyond the expectations of an electric oven, redefining how such ovens are shaped, technologically designed and aesthetically presented.

The Maximo does not look like your typical electric oven.  It has a sexy drop shape that serves great purpose, enabling the chef to optimise usage of the floor’s entire baking surface. This top-grade refractory floor is made by Valoriani artisans, using unique ‘cotto’ clay and company experience dating back to 1890. The floor is perfectly heated in every single spot, with the conduction performance enhanced through the use of a specific refractory material from the Valoriani stable.  The oven also has a higher dome height than standard electric ovens and, with an internal dimension of 110cm, can bake up to seven pizzas simultaneously. 

The oven’s all-important convection is delivered by Valoriani’s patented RHS Evolution system, a recycled heat system that helps optimise energy usage and create air flows that maintain the proper level of humidity.  This ensures the pizza retains flavour and is not dried out in the way typically occurring in an electric oven. 

To deliver the radiated heat that is the final contributor to the perfectly cooked pizza, the oven has been designed with special heating elements that replicate the real wood effect.  Eighteen upper elements have been deliberately placed close to the front arch, to create the  visual impression of cooking with wood.  Embedded In opalescent quartz, these overcome the disappointment that can accompany an oven that cooks with no live flame.  They also deliver an infra-red impact that provides colour and appeal to the end product.

Twelve lower heating elements operate completely independently and are embedded in ceramic.  If one element breaks down, there is no need for the oven to shut down.  Cooking can continue, using other elements, until a repair is carried out.

Chefs can set the percentage of power they wish to supply to the upper and lower elements, according to the style of pizzas being cooked.  A Neapolitan pizza, cooking at 450°C, would probably want to have 90% power in the upper area of the oven and 0% in the lower.  For a Roman pizza, cooking at 330°C, this would probably by 40% and 60% respectively.

An air burner in the oven mouth assists heat retention, whilst an insulated steel door also prevents heat loss, which occurs at just 10°C per hour.  At Host, the oven was turned off at 6pm, when at a temperature of 450°C.  The following morning, the oven temperature was still an impressive 310°C.

The Maximo can be set to a maximum temperature of 550°C, using a 7-inch digital panel, which can automate switch on and off.  An App also enables remote control of the oven, by both user and technical support team.  

Those chefs wishing to cook some dishes in the mouth of the oven, in a ‘cotture a bocca forno’ way, can do so, due to the carefully designed heating element arrangement.  In addition, a shelf outside the oven mouth has been incorporated, to allow for the dehumidification of dough.

Options available as extras with the oven include systems that can control consumption, dehumidification and the extraction of vapours.

Orchard Ovens’ managing director, Andrew Manciocchi, says, “The Maximo delivers everything a pizza chef could want, if they do not wish to cook with wood and entertain with the theatre that this provides.   They can achieve the same authentic baking quality as a chef who is using wood but simply use electric controls to cook their pizzas.  It’s a game-changer in the market and we anticipate generating many enquiries in the run-up to Christmas and then again in the New Year kitchen refurbishment peak.”

To find out more about the Maximo, which is priced from £26,000, call Orchard Ovens on 01772 250000 or email matt@orchardovens.co.uk or andrew@orchardovens.co.uk

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Editors notes

Orchard Ovens is the domestic and commercial pizza oven supplier in the UK of Valoriani, based in Reggello, Tuscany - the manufacturer of Italy's hugely respected Valoriani pizza ovens, known as the Maserati of pizza ovens and the kings of clay. These ovens are made from superb refractory clay - cotto clay - found in the family's quarry and unique, thanks to having just the right alumina. This allows Valoriani ovens to heat up quickly and retain heat superbly, bring huge advantages to homeowners, as well as restaurant owners, hotels, pubs, mobile caterers, pizzerias, takeaways and more.

Orchard Ovens supplies some of Britain's best-known restaurants and chefs, whilst it is also a specialist creator of outdoor kitchens and wood-fired oven builds for the rich and famous, as well as everyday homeowners wishing to add value to their home and enjoy an outdoor lifestyle to the full.