Choosing Your Powerful Wood, Gas or Electric Commercial Pizza Oven

Pizzerias and pizza-serving restaurants in urban centres, which want the ease of cooking superb pizza without a real flame, but don’t wish to miss out on the benefits of a renowned Valoriani commercial pizza oven, have two other choices.  

Valoriani has both gas and electric commercial pizza ovens that have been designed to exactly replicate the superb cooking credentials of its wood ovens, often the difference between average pizza and top quality pizza.

Wood oven food theatre from gas and electric commercial pizza ovens 

Whilst a restaurant moving away from wood might think it then misses out on a real benefit of a wood-fired oven, in terms of the food theatre, Valoriani has made every effort to retain customer focus on its gas and electric commercial pizza ovens.

With its gas-burning Verace oven, the gas flame has been incorporated within the oven in such a way as to look, as much as possible, like a real flame.  The Verace was the first gas-fired pizza oven to be approved by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) as being able to serve Neapolitan pizza.  Achieving this status was a long process, involving blind taste tests, to ensure no tangible difference between pizza cooked the wood-fired way and that cooked in the gas oven.

With the electric Maximo pizza oven, Valoriani’s development team went to great lengths to build as much drama as possible into the oven’s functionality during the cooking process.

Here, special heating elements replicate the real wood effect.  Eighteen upper elements, embedded in opalescent quartz, have been positioned close to the oven’s front arch, to create the  visual impression of cooking with wood.  With an infra-red functionality too, colour and appeal is also provided to the cooked pizza.  Twelve lower heating elements operate completely independently and are embedded in ceramic.  If one breaks down, cooking can continue, using other elements, until a repair is possible.

Controlling commercial pizza oven energy costs

Moving away from wood does bring a sharp focus on to energy costs but Valoriani has tried to minimise those for the restaurant owner too.  In the case of the technologically advanced Verace, a unique patented recycling heat system (RHS) provides uniformity of heat throughout the oven but also allows the oven to be extremely energy efficient and generate very low emissions as a commercial pizza oven.  Recycling heat means having to use less ‘new’ power to keep the oven burning.

With the Maximo, the oven’s convection heat is delivered by Valoriani’s patented RHS Evolution system again.  This optimises the energy usage in this oven too and creates air flows that maintain the proper level of humidity.  This ensures the pizza retains flavour and is not dried out in the way that an easily happen in an electric oven. 

An air burner in the Maximo oven’s mouth assists heat retention, whilst an insulated steel door also prevents heat loss, which occurs at just 10°C per hour.  With this oven, chefs can also cook some dishes in a ‘cotture a bocca forno’ way, in the oven mouth, whilst a shelf outside the oven mouth has been incorporated, to allow for the dehumidification of dough.

The commercial kitchen wage bill 

Sometimes, the driver behind the move to a non-wood-fired oven is that of manning costs and the need to have someone continually turning pizzas, there is another option.  The Rotativo (Rotante) rotating commercial pizza oven from Valoriani requires no manual turning of pizza on the part of the chef. They simply select a speed option from a rotating control panel and let the rotating floor do all the hard work, cooking pizza easily and evenly.

The chef can turn their attention to other tasks, knowing that, when the pizza is cooked, an audible signal will be issued. As eight or nine larger (30/32cm) pizzas can be cooked simultaneously, in 70-90 seconds, this takes a lot of the workload away from the chef.  Even clean-down is much easier, as any food debris falls into a removable drawer, for easy emptying out.

And, when it comes to the energy credentials of this oven, the good news is that the RHS recycled heat system is also incorporated into this gas-fired rotating commercial pizza oven, reducing energy costs by up to 30%.  Thanks to having a first-class 10-burner Spitfire device, this oven only requires one burner rather than the usual two, which helps keep costs down.  Furthermore, it needs no additional electrical support, so the electric meter is not ticking over as this gas-fired rotating pizza oven cooks. 

Eco-credentials of pizza ovens

Another reason to move away from a wood-fired oven might be concerns over emissions.  With so much misinformation about wood burning, when done the right way and with the right wood, it can be difficult to present and communicate the correct and actual facts.  However, what is indisputable is that Valoriani wood-fired ovens have been certified by Defra for their emissions and not deemed an environmental risk.  Other ovens cannot say the same or produce certification, if challenged.

If this is the reason for wanting to change oven, then the restaurant owner should think carefully about their choice of oven, as all fuels have associated environmental impacts.

Summary

There are pros and cons with each type of commercial pizza oven, whether you buy a wood fired oven, an electric pizza oven or a gas-fired pizza oven.  Underpinning each choice will be a degree of future-proofing – ensuring that you have made the right investment for the future and what might happen.  

In Valoriani’s case, you can plan well ahead, as your oven is designed to be part of your kitchen for many years into the future, not just a year or so, as is, unfortunately, the case with some other ovens.  When making your purchase decision, be sure to focus on longevity, as well as the aesthetics, the type of fuel used, fuel economy, associated labour costs and eco-credentials.

Ends

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.