My last post dealt with a portable oven roundup and enough time has passed where I have some new information on a couple of those ovens as well as some big news with regards to one of those manufacturers. But first, I want to mention a new vendor I discovered that not only offers a great service to pizza enthusiasts, but does so with the highest level of customer service.

As I discussed in a previous post, FedEx did a pretty good job in attempting to destroy an Edil Planet oven I ordered last year. Not only did it take five weeks to arrive, but the box had been opened and the oven had been dropped, resulting in a damaged gas valve bracket and stone floor reduced to rubble. I could not source an Italian saputo stone as no manufacturer would ship to the U.S. and thus had to settle for a domestic refractory stone that proved to be horribly inadequate for handling Neapolitan temperatures. The oven was unusable for my needs until I discovered Biscotto International early this year.

Biscotto International is based in Norway and sources Saputo Biscotto oven stones from Italian manufacturers and ships all over the world. While they normally stock popular stones for Ooni, RoccBox, Pizza Party, and others, I found they went over and above sourcing for custom requirements. I had found their website and after looking through the stones they either had, or had on order, I didn't find the size I needed. However, I did find one that would be a bit small or a larger one that I could likely cut down to size. I inquired about the two sizes and Tom Fiksdalstrand asked what oven I had and more specifically the exact size I wanted. I told him a 40cm x 40cm would be ideal and Tom found me exactly what I wanted within a day. Within a week, I had the stone. Not only was it packed well, but they ship via DHL so there wasn't any of the FedEx drama.

This sounds like an advertisement, but I'm just a happy customer. Without them my Surriento would be still sitting unused in my garage. Instead it made all the difference in transforming the oven into a perfect mobile oven (more on that shortly). I'm now looking at getting replacement stones for my Pizza Party as well. It will always be cheaper to order the saputo stone as an option when you order your oven, but if you are looking for a replacement, Biscotto International is a great service.

So, backing up a bit, I had the Surriento oven but FedEx tried their best to make it unusable for my mobile oven needs. I was without a good stone and so I grudgingly accepted that I would still be without a mobile oven unless I began shopping for another. I had just written my post on small ovens, mentioning the Carbon, and after another round of research and reading some posts from owners, decided to order it and at last solve my mobile oven needs. I'm going to do a separate post on my Carbon experience after I've vetted it out even more, but my few experiences with it were underwhelming. After burn-in, the first bake of just a few pizzas went well. However, the next bake of ten pizzas revealed some aggravating temperature fluctuations which ultimately made me lose faith in relying on the Carbon as my go-to for mobile pizza nights. More work was needed in working out the issues with the Carbon, so I went back to the Edil Planet Surriento.

I had worked on the Surriento and had fixed the gas valve bracket, but knew it would only be the oven I hoped if I got a better stone. I'm a big fan of the Saputo/Biscotto stones, so decided to make another attempt to find a stone for my Surriento and suddenly I found Biscotto International. Within a week, I had my new biscotto stone and a few days after that started a new job that threw my whole world into disarray.

After a couple months, I became accustomed to my limited spare time and finally got back to serious business: pizza. I ran the oven a few times for burn-in, one hour at half temp and then again at full temps for another hour. Even though I had this oven for almost a year, I had not been able to really determine how good the oven was because I couldn't do a serious bake the entire time I owned it.

The thing is, I knew this could be a great oven. The design was similar to others in this space with a side burner that rolls a flame across the top (dome). The Surriento is well insulated and clad in sturdy stainless steel. It's fairly light and easy to carry, which makes it easier making my way through unfamiliar venues. The insulation and stone results in good heat retention but not so much that you can't handle it after an event. I was able to handle it and carry it back to the car after a couple hours.

The volcanic stone that normally comes with the oven is supposed to have the same properties of the saputo, but of course I never had the opportunity to find out for myself. I did notice that the stone pieces that I did get were fairly rough and other owners have commented that it can be tough to launch and turn a pizza. There's no such issue with the biscotto stone so I would recommend going with this upgrade if you struggle with the original stone Edil Planet provides.

After burn-in, my first couple bakes were, well, okay. The first attempt was done on a very windy day and I struggled with getting the flame adjusted properly and reaching optimum temperatures. The second attempt had similar results, but since I was baking seven pizzas that night, I realized that I had neither preheated enough, nor ran it hot enough. It was only the last couple pizzas where the oven was both hot and fully saturated, that I got the kind of pizzas I strive for.

I had an upcoming event with a planned bake of 18 pizzas, so I thought about these past bakes and how they could help me in the next. When I set up at the event, I fired up the oven and made sure the burner was cranked up enough where it was rolling flame across at least half the dome. I started the oven an hour before I began cooking to make sure the stone got fully saturated with heat. 

I never touched the gas valve for the entire bake and the oven was consistently in the 1000° dome/800° floor (ish) range the whole time. I guess. The reality is that once I began cooking, every pizza was cooking like the one before it so I never had to use my thermometer or adjust anything. 

The nice thing about the Surriento is that the cooking area isn't huge, but working a 12" pizza is pretty easy. There's enough room to move the pizza around to adjust for the overall bake. I will launch right in the middle of the floor, then when that left side is starting to get the leoparding, I turn the pizza. Unlike the Carbon, there's never a need to take the pizza out of the oven to turn. You can spin it, move it to the left or right to brown it more or less. Even dome it the last couple seconds to get that last sizzle.

What a great oven.

Aside from the possible difficult to work stone, the only other flaw was the oven door, which fortunately they figured out and replaced the metal handle that got unbelievably hot. They also added some decorative cutouts which cools it even more. Finally, some forum members cited issues trying to order or get information from the manufacturer. I didn't have a problem at all and found them to be very nice and efficient. I think those negative comments stemmed from people acting like entitled Americans, which usually doesn't open a whole lot of doors. 

So, I am pretty happy with the Surriento, but to be honest, it wasn't my first choice for a portable gas oven. I had already made up my mind to purchase the Pizza Party Ardore, when the company decided to pull out of the American market. I already have one PP oven and have been so impressed by the oven that it was an easy choice to go with them again. Therefore I was pretty devastated that they pulled from the market just weeks before I decided to buy. Honestly, I was forced to go the Surriento route, but ultimately am pretty happy with the outcome.

With that said, I'm still excited that Pizza Party announced they are returning to the American market. While I won't be interested in purchasing an Ardore (although many will), I will be looking at perhaps upgrading to their larger Pizzone oven.

The pizza oven market has exploded in recent years and while not all players are producing quality products, it's great to see there are so many choices for pizzaiolos, amateur and professional alike. I'm an admitted fanatic about all things Italian and proud to have a couple excellent ovens sourced directly from Italy. Fortunately I have the means to indulge in that, but the proliferation of so many new and inexpensive ovens have opened up the pursuit to so many.