But this is a sturdy, well-designed oven that’s easy to use and easy to clean. It’s also been lauded for its ability to cook things other than pizza, so more experienced cooks might want to try it out for making roasts, breads, and more.
Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven: Price and Availability
Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven review: Ease of setup
Of the ovens we tested, the Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven required a bit more assembly, but was relatively no-hassle: The thermometer was screwed into the top of the oven, a handle was attached to the pizza oven door, a shelf was installed and screwed into the front of the oven, and the pizza stone was placed inside of the oven. All of this took just under 20 minutes, and required little technical know-how. Once assembled, to get the oven running, you simply need to hook the gas regulator — already attached to the firebox — up to a propane tank. Once it’s secured and tightened, the Camp Chef manual recommends that the gas connection should be tested with a soapy water solution to ensure there are no leaks. We ran a quick test, and found no leaks. The Camp Chef oven is ignited by turning a large round knob on the front of the oven, which clicks until the oven is lit. We could hear when the burner switched on. The oven’s manual recommends heating the oven with the oven door on for 10 to 15 minutes, until the oven temperature reaches between 700 and 725 degrees F. It took much longer in our test to heat the oven to the desired level; after 40 minutes of heating, the oven still only clocked in at 600 degrees. We let it heat for another 10 minutes and then began cooking at around 700 degrees.
Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven review: Design and functionality
The Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven has the feel of a traditional countertop appliance. Unlike some of the other models we tested, such as the Ooni Koda 16, the exterior is completely made of stainless steel, with very short legs, giving it the aesthetic of a much larger toaster oven. Because the rectangular shape is bulky, and weighs in at 47 pounds, the Camp Chef oven is less portable than others, and may require two sets of hands to move and set up. The oven has a wide mouth that makes sliding pizzas in and out very easy. That said, a stainless steel shelf attached to the front of the oven gets very hot to the touch, so you have to be careful when inserting and turning pies. The Camp Chef oven has a large cooking area, so you could definitely fit two 12-inch pies in at the same time if you so desired. There’s also an oven door designed to fit over the opening of the oven to trap in heat; the handle is quite narrow, and because it’s stainless steel too, you may want to wear an oven mit when closing and removing the door. Lastly, one disadvantage of using the Camp Chef oven is that you can’t see the burners. The oven has a thermometer on top, but it’s quite small and can be difficult to read. As with other ovens, we’d recommend investing in an infrared thermometer so you can accurately track the oven and the stone’s temperature.
Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven review: Cooking performance
Our biggest issue with the Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven was reaching and maintaining a high enough temperature to blister pies and cook them all the way through. After we cooked each pie, the temperature would drop below 500 degrees, so we would attach the oven door and reheat for about 10 minutes in between pies. The oven’s manual recommends cooking thin-crust pies for four to seven minutes, but we found that seven minutes was the minimum for most types of dough. Homemade fresh and pizzeria doughs puffed up nicely after seven minutes, with a little bit of browning but not nearly as much as they had with other exposed-flame ovens. Our frozen and refrigerated dough needed close to 10 minutes and came out with a crisp crust that wasn’t cooked all the way through. Browning on top of the pies was an issue; we’d recommend using a peel to hold the pies up close to the top of the oven to try to get a more melty, charred effect. The Ooni Koda 16 and Gozney Roccbox ovens both cooked pizzas more quickly, and their exposed cooking flames allowed for more charring on top of the pies, which is why we rated them higher than the CampChef oven.
Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven review: Verdict
If you decide to buy a Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven, be forewarned that it may take longer to heat up and to cook pizzas than the manual promises. Those who like a more traditional cooking experience and want to experiment with cooking other things in their pizza oven might like the large cooking area and versatility of the oven. For pizza newbies, we’d recommend the Ooni or Roccbox for their more modern design and ease of use.
