The “Darkness” dial defaults to the center position, and I can turn it to the left to decrease the temperature or to the right to increase the temperature. Adjusting the temperature allows me to make a lighter or darker crust pizza.
There’s also a manual mode, which lets me totally customize heat distribution. The Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo uses Element iQ technology, which automatically adjusts which heating elements are on based on the presets. However, for example, I can select to have the topping and crust cooked evenly or direct more heat to the crust (preferable if you like thick over thin crust). The Alternate Interface Magnet can be placed on the front of the control panel to guide me in making these changes. But, honestly, I trust Breville to decide the best settings for its pizza oven, so I never use that feature.
My experience
The active deck (or stone deck) moves forward when I open the door and moves backward when I close the door. This makes it easy to put the pizza in and take it out. I can use the pizza pan or the pizza peel, but not both.
In my first go, I used the pizza peel to place the pizza directly on the stone deck. However, despite sprinkling the pizza peel with flour, getting the pizza to slide off the peel onto the stone deck was not as easy as it looks in those pizza commercials. And my pizza stone no longer looked new when I took the pizza off of it. It has burn marks that aren’t coming off. However, with practice, I’m sure I’ll get better at using the peel.
The rest of the time, I chose to use the pizza pan. After attaching the handle, it was super easy to place the pan on top of the pizza stone and then disengage the handle. The pizza oven has an alert and the lights on the “Time” dial flash at the end of the cooking cycle.
I ate way too much pizza when testing the Smart Oven Pizzaiolo, partly because it was so simple to make it, and partly because the pizzas were so delicious. The crust and veggies were consistently crunchy, and the cheese melted in my mouth. Now, my pizzas are pretty basic: store-bought dough, sauce, shredded cheese, pepperoni slices, and chopped peppers. However, this recipe never got boring.
Personally, I’m not a fan of oily pizzas or a lot of salty seasonings, so I appreciate being able to control every single ingredient that goes into making my pizza. I don’t use any seasonings, and I only use a tiny drop of oil, which allows me to taste the actual flavor of the pizza dough and toppings.
Breville also includes several recipe cards besides an extensive product manual that includes various tips for great pizza making.
Care
I followed the instructions in the manual to season the pizza pan before the first use. After each use, I also followed Breville’s cleaning and care instructions. It was easy to just wash it by hand with warm water and mild soap, and then I dried and seasoned it again. The pizza pan should not be immersed in water or placed in the dishwasher. The oven, pizza stone, and pizza peel were cleaned with a soft damp sponge (and soapy water as needed), and I used a glass cleaner on the glass door.
The verdict
As someone who loves pizza—especially round pizzas—I found the Pizzaiolo pizza oven to be quite gratifying to use, since I could actually make 12-inch round pizzas instead of the square shapes required to fit in a countertop oven. And speaking of shapes and countertops, this gadget has roughly the same horizontal footprint as a countertop oven, but it takes up much less vertical space (however, you should not plan to store items on top of it). I also like the ease of use and the simple control interface. Best of all, I can mimic the same style of pizza found in my favorite pizzerias.
Now let’s talk about cost. The Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo is right at $1,000, which is quite a hefty price considering that, unlike a countertop oven, it’s not an air fryer and doesn’t also broil, pressure cook, etc. So if you’re only making pizza every now and then, you may not be able to justify dropping a grand on it. But if you really love making restaurant-quality pizza at home, I think it’s definitely worth the splurge.