Everyone loves pizza. It’s such a staple food that you can eat no matter the time of the day and it’s delicious whether hot or cold. The crispy and slightly charred crust and delectable fried toppings of an authentic wood-fired pizza are just impossible to resist.
But the thing is that only a few pizzerias achieve such pizza perfection. A viable solution is finding a dependable pizza oven.
We learned from several pizzaiolos who have years of experience baking a variety of pizza styles that no matter how skilled a chef you are, the right oven could have a significant impact on the result.
Sure, you can build a brick pizza oven on your patio, but such an investment is usually expensive and takes up a lot of your space.
One of the many players in the market when it comes to manufacturing the best and high-quality pizza ovens is Forno Bravo. This US-based brand produces both residential and commercial wood-fired pizza ovens.
Since its launch in 2003, the company has quickly turned into a global leader in the production of commercial pizza ovens and outdoor fireplaces that you can see in many pizza parlors today. They also offer outdoor fireplaces for households.
Forno Bravo is quite well known for its portable Bella ovens, which you can set up in your backyard or patio. Their pizza ovens are quite an investment, though. Even their residential, traditional-style pizza ovens cost anywhere between $2,000 to $7,000.
In this Forno Bravo pizza oven review, we’ll look at the general features of the brand’s ovens. And, if you’re looking to own one, we’ll go through some of their best and most affordable ovens.
Say no more to subpar takeout pizzas!
Forno Bravo Pizza Oven Review
Forno Bravo does an excellent job of mimicking the results you get from a conventional brick oven. The brand has an array of ovens that come in various sizes, designs, and materials construction. They also offer DIY plans to design your oven the way you like it.
Here are some of the things we appreciate about Forno Bravo ovens.
Durability and Design
Some of Forno Bravo’s most popular ovens are from their Bella line. These pizza ovens are built with the same high-tech insulating and engineering techniques as their larger models. They are equipped with ceramic fiber insulation that promises superior heat retention.
Their compact ovens, on the other hand, are crafted from lightweight stainless steel, making them convenient to handle and move.
Forno Bravo pizza ovens are designed to have more thermal mass, giving you a better pizza-making experience every time. They have flat, sturdy cooking surfaces for even and superior baking.
Their ovens’ open barrel vault design boasts a large inlet, allowing you to maneuver your food easily. This feature also makes grilling and roasting much easier.
And, if you don’t want to deal with the aftermath of cooking in a wood-burning oven, some of their models are equipped with an ash drawer, which makes cleaning easier since you won’t need a brush to sweep it.
Forno Bravo ovens always have high vents as well. This design helps prevent smoke from entering your eyes while you cook. For gas models, several come with a regulator. This is an ideal feature if you prefer better control over the airflow.
Overall, Forno Bravo pizza ovens are of quality. They are durable from the chimneys down to the stands.
Accessories
In addition to their modular kits and fully assembled versions, they also offer the necessary peripherals to gear you up. You may get cleaning tools to keep your oven in tip-top shape.
The installation supplies are the coolest feature, which means you won’t have to purchase anything from a third-party source. You can also get the casseroles if you want. Tools like a pizza peel, an ash guard, an oven brush, a toolkit, and a wood holder are also essential.
Some Forno Bravo pizza ovens have a thermometer built into the steel door, however, you may not always get accurate temperature readings. We recommend investing in a far superior door thermometer. Infrared thermometers aren’t expensive. You may also want to get a digital scale to precisely measure your dough.
Available Sizes
You have endless premade options that you can have customized to meet your baking needs. If you need to cook more pizzas at a time, a large cooking floor is obviously a viable solution. The installation of the large commercial-grade ovens, however, will necessitate the use of forklifts.
For smaller models, you can get a stand that you can move around since those ovens are still hefty.
But as you might expect, the larger you go, the higher the markup in price. However, the customization could also up or lower the overall cost.
Key Features of Forno Bravo Pizza Ovens
As we’ve mentioned from the start, the right pizza oven will give you your desired result. Here are some of the Forno Bravo pizza oven features you should not overlook.
Forno Bravo pizza ovens deliver authentic wood-fired flavor.
They just do. Nothing beats the flavor of a wood-fired pizza, and any enthusiast will agree with us. Forno Bravos excel at producing evenly cooked pizza with a deliciously crispy texture and a smoky flavor that goes well with pizza style.
Several owners doubted the brand’s capacity to produce wood-fired pizzas. This is because some of the models are made of stainless steel rather than full-ceramic or stone ovens. But, they found out later that the construction material had no influence on the flavor.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and hunt for high-quality smoking wood to achieve the flavor you like!
They heat up quickly.
Have you ever felt like you’re waiting a lifetime for an oven to heat up? We sure have felt that agony. Any oven that takes forever to preheat is a waste of money and time. The Forno Bravo ovens, on the contrary, proved to be the polar opposite.
Now, wood ovens will take a lot longer to heat up than gas models, so you may wait for a good 20 to 30 minutes to reach a scorching 800 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure that the rolling fire is stable. Once it reaches the ideal temperature, you’ll be able to cook your pizzas in under 2 minutes.
If you’re not the patient type, there are gas models from Forno Bravo. They heat up faster and you’ll have more temperature control.
They offer premium insulation.
One of the defining features of Forno Bravo pizza ovens is their superior insulating capacity, which is also why Forno Bravo ovens heat up so quickly.
While their ovens’ exteriors are made of stainless steel, their internal dome is wrapped in a 2-inch layer of ceramic. The same material is used for the cooking surface. With such a construction design, the pizza oven heats up quickly and retains the temperature better. This also helps to cook your pizza faster.
Our Favorite Forno Bravo Pizza Ovens
Want to get your hands on one of Forno Bravo’s pizza ovens? Here are some of their heaviest-duty models.
Forno Bravo Primavera 60
This Primavera 60 reminds us of the traditional wood-fired oven. It’s fully assembled and is small enough to fit in many outdoor spaces. With a 24-inch internal cooking surface, you can bake bread, and cookies, and cook a variety of dishes, not just pizza.
The pizza oven has a temperature of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, which is great if you want to make authentic Neapolitan-style pizza and it can bake Margherita pizza in just 90 seconds. And if you want to make batches at a time, this oven allows you to bake 30 pizzas an hour.
We already know that Forno Bravo ovens make the most flawless pizzas, but what we really love about this particular model is the shape.
It’s handcrafted into a beehive or igloo shape made from high alumina cast refractory material and space-age insulators. The manufacturer also used a stucco finish, sealed, painted, and glazed to protect it from elements all year.
It comes with a powder-coated steel stand that is also waterproof and rust-resistant. We think the terra cotta flue complements the dome’s design perfectly.
With a simple design and portability, this oven is also very easy to install and move anywhere you wish. It’s easy to care for without requiring much maintenance. This Forno Bravo pizza oven includes a metal door and a thermometer.
Forno Bravo Bella Grande 32
If you want to shy away from the classic brick-like design but still want the pizza quality that wood-fired bricks deliver, you may go with one from Forno Bravo’s Bella series, Bella Grande 32. It’s sleek, modern, and will easily blend in with the rest of your kitchen tools and appliances.
This wood-fired pizza oven is super portable and it’s lightweight. And the best part? It’s fully assembled and very easy to set up so you can use it almost right away out of the box. You can install it under the patio with the stainless steel chimney. The stainless steel cart is optional, though.
The Bella Grande 32 comes with a 32-inch cooking surface that’s 24-inch deep, which is larger than the previous one. It allows you to bake 4 pizzas at a time or 60 pizzas per hour—now, that’s a lot for a residential oven!
It has an all stainless steel landing and prep area, door, and dome core wrapped in red or black powder coating. The high-grade ceramic cooking floor also works well in cooking pizzas evenly.
It comes with a starter tool package that contains a stainless steel pizza peel and a wooden pizza peel. This fantastic pizza oven heats up as quickly as 15 minutes and requires less wood than a traditional brick oven.
Forno Bravo Napolino 70
We love the retro vibe this oven exudes. The Napolino 70 is a Naples-style pizza oven that also comes fully assembled and ready to use. This wood-fired pizza oven is ideal for outdoor kitchens and it can back 2 to 10-inch pizzas at once.
It offers fast heat-up and industry-leading performance for home chefs. If you’re going to host a small pizza party, it can bake up to 30 pizzas each hour. And you can expect your pizza to cook evenly, all thanks to its commercial-grade refractory oven dome.
It’s equipped with a 28-inch firebrick cooking floor, which is NSF-4 certified, making it safe for food. This oven has a stainless steel door and chimney cap, as well as a stove pipe that you can upgrade while going through the patio cover. The thermometer that comes with it is also a great bonus.
This igloo-shaped oven is easy to set up and portable, so you can take it with you if you relocate. If you can’t go without a custom-design platform, the stainless steel oven stand will come in handy. But, you can also easily mount it on a countertop.
We like the decorative steel housing in red, but you can go for bronze and it will look just as lovely in your backyard. Luckily, you can also have the color of the tiling customized to your liking.
Forno Bravo Casa 80
Here’s another conventional-looking model that’s more affordable than a traditional brick oven. The Casa 80 is a UL-certified pizza oven for use in both indoor and outdoor kitchens. It’s equipped with a 32-inch cooking surface and can bake 2 to 10-inch pizzas at a time. That firebrick cooking surface is also NSF-4 certified.
It takes 30 minutes to heat up, which is longer than other Forno Bravo ovens, but once it reaches the ideal temperature, it cooks your pizza fast and has excellent heat retention.
This pizza oven kit comes with everything you need to put it together. It also includes a refractory dome and vent, ceramic insulations, a high-temperature mortar, stainless steel chimney with a rain cap, a steel door, and a thermometer.
The Casa 80 is also available in a gas version. If you choose the optional gas burner kit, you will get a flame control system with a pilot as well as low and high flame settings. It also has a stainless steel burner guard, a remote thermocouple with wire and gauge, and a gas leak detector.
FAQs
Are Forno Bravo pizza ovens any good?
Forno Bravo pizza ovens are a great companion for outdoor cooking. The brand offers both commercial and domestic ovens that boast superior durability and heat-insulating capacity. These models are quite pricey, though. But they are also among the best pizza ovens that are worth the investment.
Where is Forno Bravo made?
Forno Bravo has its own factory in Castroville, California. It’s where they design, build, and assemble their wood-fired ovens and fireplaces. They use custom-designed gear and equipment, in addition to its own patented refractory technology.
Can you use a pizza oven for other things?
Pizza ovens are versatile cooking equipment, allowing you to cook virtually anything in them. Besides making delicious pizzas, you can roast and grill vegetables, and chicken dishes, or cook mac and cheese. You can even bake cookies.
Certain small countertop pizza ovens are only made for pizzas and cookies, though. This is because they don’t have enough space to accommodate larger quantities of food.
How much is a pizza oven for home?
Generally, you can get a home pizza oven for as low as $150. Larger and higher-end models may cost anywhere between $1,999 to $5,000. The cost also depends on the type of pizza oven you need, as well as the brand and construction.
Should the chimney be open in a pizza oven?
Just like any other bulky fuel-burning appliance, your pizza oven requires ventilation. Venting your pizza oven with a chimney keeps the fire rolling optimally. It eliminates smoke from your oven that could contaminate your food. By leaving the chimney open, you can avoid getting smoke in your face while cooking.
Final Thoughts
We really think that the pricing point of Forno Bravo pizza ovens may be a huge factor to many home chefs. But overall, we believe they are an amazing investment if you prefer to bake delicious pizzas in your own backyard.
If you can set aside a few thousand bucks for a good-quality oven, then why not get one of Forno Bravo’s Bella residential wood-fired models? These ovens are excellent for making wood-fired and smoked pizzas. You can also cook in peace knowing that you have durable and reliable equipment that will serve you for many years.
Definitely worth the upfront cost.
Good luck!
