This oven does not have the annoying flaw" that you say it does. . I watched your video several times and I was curious about what I saw you doing. I watched other videos and confirmed what I thought today when I received my Chefman. You are putting your pizzas in during the preheating phase which only sends the oven up to temp. Once it is at temp (and it will say it) you put the pizza in and then set your time and press the knob to the far right. That keeps the top element on.
Thanks for your feedback!Q. It sounds like you are saying is they were not following the instructions, thus resulting in. failed final product. That's what happens whe an EXPERT attempts to ov errule how a device is supposed to be used. .
@Chicieah Not sure for the pizzas after the first one, but for the first one they filmed the oven had been preheated and was at temp when they put it in. Then they turned it off and right back on to try to get the top element to stay on. It also looked like the element was on a couple of times when they thought it was off. But the timer does not cause the top element to stay on. Chefman says the elements are designed to cycle on and off depending on the oven temp.
you are absolutely right! You can se the light flashing "pre heating" when they placed the pizza on the stone. Funny thing is that throughout the video, they showed the controls when the ligh "at temp" was on, but not when the pizza was place on the stone. Great observation.
I've seen another popular pizza RUclipsr called, Vito Iacopelli, and he always seems to pre-cook the pizza with the sauce. After that, he takes the pizza out the oven, adds mozzarella, and then pops it back in the oven to finish the pizza without burning the cheese.
They're saying problem is there's not enough top heat. You still want the cheese to brown, but it doesn't get hot enough to both brown the cheese and get a good crust color. If you add the cheese later, you'd get melted cheese, but it's not hot enough to give it any color. With proper top heat, you should get melted cheese with small patches of blisteringbut without any oil leeching out. If you think of it like a steak, this oven cooks the cheese "well done" before the cheese is able to get brown. With more heat, it should be able to "get a nice crust" while still being moist on the inside.
I learned a little trick from an Italian pizza maker for home ovens. He said to add a little sugar to your pizza dough. Not enough to make it sweet, but just enough so that the sugar will make the dough brown faster. I have been doing this for years when making pizza in my home oven and it works great.
At 29.43 the PREHEATING light is flashing but the pizza has already been placed inside the oven. WHY are you not waiting until the AT TEMP light is lit THEN placing the pizza into the unit? .
I recently bought this oven and have done 3 cooks so far. My first attempt was epic fail due to user error (I forgot to check stone temp before launching). t’s been a learning curve, but it’s getting better. The key is figuring out what is best temp for the dough I’m using. The 3rd attempt was really good, but it’s not quite Neapolitan yet. I’m happy with this oven cuz much faster preheat and cooking time than my oven. And easy clean up. The only thing I didn’t take into consideration was where I’d store this when not in use.
So I just saw a test of a European version this oven done by a German guy. So he used the automatic napolitan settings, 400C top and bottom 2 minutes, and the result was pretty perfect. I've seen other testers going free style (manual setting) and they have identical problems as you guys. Maybe you should give the auto settings a try :)
How are you accurately adjusting the temperature? I am having an issue with temperature control. Both upper and lower knobs have no indicator marks for setting the temp. When turned left or right they will never stop so how do you determine what temp you have set?
You must _start the timer_ to get full power to the top element on this oven. After preheat, when the timer is off it is in low-power standby mode. At least that's how it works on my Gemelli-badged version.
@@overnightclassic2 Yes, when the timer is on, the heating element is at full power, and the oven pulls 1700w. ( Most of this seems to be going to the top element, since the bottom of the stone is not as hot as the top of the stone after baking a pizza. But I can't be sure.) When the timer is off, it goes into standby mode, cycling ~15s at 1000w and ~15s at 0w. If you bake without starting the timer, you will only be using the residual heat of the stone plus this intermittent 1000w. I tested it with a wattage meter.
According to the alib a ba germany website the burner is 550w on top and 1150w on bottom. If the oven was 1700w going to the top heating element you would get 70second charred pizzas which is not possible. I know this because the ooni volt is 1600w (100% power to the top) and it does 80 second pizzas if the heating element is glowing which you can't control.@@coomeetepips
I mean we are willing to give it a try but the manual does not mention anything about the timer controlling anything related to the heat. In fact the manual specifically says “Note: Heat does NOT turn off when the timer ends.” So not sure what the actual process should be
Might not be browning because its hot enough, but the small cavity means there's too much steam in there. When i bake bread in my oven I have to add a tray of water for steam. I noticed the bread doesn't brown as fast in a steamy oven.
Try to raise in some way the stone (like putting a biscotto pizza stone) so the pizza is closer to the top heating element and set the bottom to the minimum. Another thing you can try is cooking the bottom quickly at high settings and then raise the pizza with the peel towards the top element.
Guys - the PREHEATING light is still flashing when you put the pizza in. Pretty sure you have to WAIT until the unit is preheated. Have you read the instructions? .
Watch the beginning again. At 1:25 You clearly see that the oven says "At temp" the only reason we did what we did was to trigger the top element to kick on again. Once again we did everything correctly and tried some other out of the box means of trying to get the oven to work for us but its not for us but that's ok. For home use its an amazing oven especially for the price.
This is such a great review- that steam issue is not good. Thanks so much I don’t see the benefit of this oven if you can’t force the top coil to stay on like you can with a broiler because I prefer my pizza a little softer on the bottom and crispy on the top with the cheese brown.
I been using chefman oven for awhile. New York pizza is dead on ,but far as making Neopolian Pizza its just alright. You get what you pay for. Thats why i decided to get the Ooni electric oven. Price is steep ,but so far its the best indoor electric oven out there.
Thank you for the follow up video with full review. I was about to go Costco and get one with price down to $299. Now, I don’t know. Having second thoughts!!
I think it’s still a very good oven, and looking deeper into it almost all of the other electric ovens (even the $1,000 ones) seem to have similar problems but the reviewers aren’t talking about it since those companies sponsor them.. we were being extra critical with it but for home use where you don’t care about perfect presentation and want great taste then this oven is a no brainer.
The ooni mostly does not have these problems. The ooni has both burners 1600w because it only uses a balance between the two burners with the top burner being the only one used for neapolitan. The ooni does have cheese separation problems if you bake too long with the heating elements off but it's not this bad at all. And you can cook the pizzas very charred before the cheese starts to separate. only time I would parbake the pizzas and add cheese later is when baking detroit style@@nomnomtech4070
I have this oven. I bought it from Costco and they reduced the price even though they were selling like hotcakes! So I got a $100 refund and have been happily using this pizza oven . It's made very well, and user friendly. I mainly make New York and New Haven style pizzas. the NewYork auto setting works great. I haven't tried the Neapolitan. Like any pizza oven you should watch the bake and turn the pizza as need. I turn mine once or twice. You can also use your own settings to suit your desired results. I have a Lloyds 10X10 pan coming Friday, and I'm looking forward to trying a NY Sicilian pizza in it. I own two Ooni 16"ovens but this Chefman is much more convenient to use. It fits nicely on my counter top, heats up quickly unlike my home oven that I have to preheat an hour to get the baking steel hot enough. This chefman will probably pay for itself with the money I save on the electricity! Life is good!
I think real flames will definitely be a better option no matter which brand. I believe the only electric oven that would be competitive would be the Effeueno one but it’s pricey
The top of the oven is 550w. Bottom is 1100w. If there is a way to swap the heating elements it would fix the issues Even for NY style that heat balance is just flat out wrong. I would pull the pizza the second the heating element shuts off as you're not going to get anymore color and your cheese will only separate.
Hey, would love to know where you got these specific specs, if you could share a tech manual I might be open to trying to swap the elements around somehow in the name of science lol
Timer does not do anything, verified.. we reached temp already, what you see us doing is all the attempts after trying to use the oven the regular way which did not work. If you look at 1:23 you see the oven was already at temp, we were just trying to kickstart the top element because the top element turns off when temp is reached.
Great video guys but you must know that your experiment was meant to fail from the get go. You have to experiment with the dough, amount of dough and if course temp like you have been doing. Taking a perfect recipe for a wood fired oven and expecting it be the same without some reworking with an electric oven is kinda ridiculous, no disrespect BYW. I purchased one and have had great experience by making a lower hydration dough and less of it. This oven definitely loves less dough. I think it's a fantastic oven for the price and very convenient for the majority of home pizza cooks. Thanks so much for all the hard work you put in for videos.
We absolutely expect the same recipe to work in an electric oven that should/claims to replicate the cooking process of a fire oven. In fact we are currently testing another electric oven that works flawlessly without changing a tried, tested and proven recipe that is being used in a traditional fire oven. Having to tweak the recipe of a pizza to an extent as to lose what makes our pizza taste top notch just for it to bake good enough in an oven that misses the mark for this style of pizza is not what we were trying to do. But like you said it’s a great oven for the casual home pizza maker for certain styles of pizza at a very attractive price, cheers!
Thanks I was looking at this, glad I was still looking and not buying To renew at Costco for this or get the Ninja from Sam’s where I’m still a member 😊
Is it a professional oven? Well no it’s not by far. But for a home on counter oven it’s great. I have no problems with mine besides a little changes. When I put a second pizza in I hit the power off button reset the cycle and wait 5 min before I start another. But don’t get discouraged it’s a great inside pizza oven. Plus some dads cook on RUclips has awesome videos on this oven. Good luck !!!
The ninja pizza oven is a better option. I try Kalorik High Heat Stone Pizza Oven and it have the same heating element as the chef man and it suck. Now with ninja I do start off with the pizza at the top position for 3 min then bottom position to finish it off at 550° using a pizza screen and no pizza stone. In all it takes 7 min .
The pizza oven you mentioned looks nothing like the chefman. Even if the coil is the same the entire top of that oven opens up which would let out all the heat
The only flaw about this oven is the way you use it. When you make a change you have to let the oven come up to temperature. You guys kept cooking when it was pre heating. Read the owners manual before you put such work into something and render it useless. I think this video should be deleted and replace it with a new one.
Dude, just because you set new temps doesn’t mean you got them ready for you. This is why the device gives you a countdown letting you know when it reached the temperatures. You must be a huge disappointment to your wife as you shove the pizza inside before the oven is ready to receive it. Really sad review as you don’t observe basic instructions.
This oven is a fail. If it can't cook a proper Neapolitan, at the level of other high-end electric home ovens (Ooni, Effenuo, and other Italian home brands), then you don't need it. You can cook any other style in your home oven.
I've had an electric clamshell for over a year which I use almost daily so I can't speak on this exact oven. Understanding how to best use it makes a huge difference. I make the dough and pizza to suit the oven and am very happy with the end result. I can't do an authentic 60-90 second neapolitan but I can achieve a nice replica. I got mine because I wanted to make fresh pizza at home on a regular basis as easily as possible. I saw a picture of a result on page 7 of the pizza making forum for this oven and that is definitely something one can expect to achieve which won't leave you disappointed. I would also recommend starting out following any recipes/instruction that comes with the oven.
This oven does not have the annoying flaw" that you say it does. . I watched your video several times and I was curious about what I saw you doing. I watched other videos and confirmed what I thought today when I received my Chefman. You are putting your pizzas in during the preheating phase which only sends the oven up to temp. Once it is at temp (and it will say it) you put the pizza in and then set your time and press the knob to the far right. That keeps the top element on.
Thanks for your feedback!Q. It sounds like you are saying is they were not following the instructions, thus resulting in. failed final product. That's what happens whe an EXPERT attempts to ov errule how a device is supposed to be used.
.
@Chicieah Not sure for the pizzas after the first one, but for the first one they filmed the oven had been preheated and was at temp when they put it in. Then they turned it off and right back on to try to get the top element to stay on. It also looked like the element was on a couple of times when they thought it was off. But the timer does not cause the top element to stay on. Chefman says the elements are designed to cycle on and off depending on the oven temp.
They should redo the video and also discuss their mistakes for a learning experience
you are absolutely right! You can se the light flashing "pre heating" when they placed the pizza on the stone. Funny thing is that throughout the video, they showed the controls when the ligh "at temp" was on, but not when the pizza was place on the stone. Great observation.
Exactly right. Tested this on my Chefman. You are correct.
I've seen another popular pizza RUclipsr called, Vito Iacopelli, and he always seems to pre-cook the pizza with the sauce. After that, he takes the pizza out the oven, adds mozzarella, and then pops it back in the oven to finish the pizza without burning the cheese.
They're saying problem is there's not enough top heat. You still want the cheese to brown, but it doesn't get hot enough to both brown the cheese and get a good crust color. If you add the cheese later, you'd get melted cheese, but it's not hot enough to give it any color. With proper top heat, you should get melted cheese with small patches of blisteringbut without any oil leeching out.
If you think of it like a steak, this oven cooks the cheese "well done" before the cheese is able to get brown. With more heat, it should be able to "get a nice crust" while still being moist on the inside.
Soft & crunchy at the same time!
@@d3tached205exactly the magic zone for a pie
I learned a little trick from an Italian pizza maker for home ovens. He said to add a little sugar to your pizza dough. Not enough to make it sweet, but just enough so that the sugar will make the dough brown faster. I have been doing this for years when making pizza in my home oven and it works great.
Milk powder does too.
You can do that with Diastatic malt powder.
At 29.43 the PREHEATING light is flashing but the pizza has already been placed inside the oven. WHY are you not waiting until the AT TEMP light is lit THEN placing the pizza into the unit?
.
Probably because they are expecting it to act like a full sized industrial oven.
I recently bought this oven and have done 3 cooks so far. My first attempt was epic fail due to user error (I forgot to check stone temp before launching). t’s been a learning curve, but it’s getting better. The key is figuring out what is best temp for the dough I’m using. The 3rd attempt was really good, but it’s not quite Neapolitan yet. I’m happy with this oven cuz much faster preheat and cooking time than my oven. And easy clean up. The only thing I didn’t take into consideration was where I’d store this when not in use.
So I just saw a test of a European version this oven done by a German guy. So he used the automatic napolitan settings, 400C top and bottom 2 minutes, and the result was pretty perfect. I've seen other testers going free style (manual setting) and they have identical problems as you guys. Maybe you should give the auto settings a try :)
Where is this video?
How are you accurately adjusting the temperature? I am having an issue with temperature control. Both upper and lower knobs have no indicator marks for setting the temp. When turned left or right they will never stop so how do you determine what temp you have set?
You must _start the timer_ to get full power to the top element on this oven. After preheat, when the timer is off it is in low-power standby mode. At least that's how it works on my Gemelli-badged version.
the timer turns the heating element on?
@@overnightclassic2 Yes, when the timer is on, the heating element is at full power, and the oven pulls 1700w. ( Most of this seems to be going to the top element, since the bottom of the stone is not as hot as the top of the stone after baking a pizza. But I can't be sure.) When the timer is off, it goes into standby mode, cycling ~15s at 1000w and ~15s at 0w. If you bake without starting the timer, you will only be using the residual heat of the stone plus this intermittent 1000w. I tested it with a wattage meter.
According to the alib a ba germany website the burner is 550w on top and 1150w on bottom. If the oven was 1700w going to the top heating element you would get 70second charred pizzas which is not possible. I know this because the ooni volt is 1600w (100% power to the top) and it does 80 second pizzas if the heating element is glowing which you can't control.@@coomeetepips
I mean we are willing to give it a try but the manual does not mention anything about the timer controlling anything related to the heat. In fact the manual specifically says “Note: Heat does NOT turn off when the timer ends.” So not sure what the actual process should be
Might not be browning because its hot enough, but the small cavity means there's too much steam in there. When i bake bread in my oven I have to add a tray of water for steam. I noticed the bread doesn't brown as fast in a steamy oven.
Have you tried the presets they’re pretty spot on going manual will be a guessing game but your pizzas still looks yummy
I plan on only making New York and pan style so I’m super glad I bought it.
Yea NY style in this oven will be an absolute breeze and it’s a no brainer especially at the price point.
Thank you for this in depth review. Very helpful in determining whether or not to buy.
Try to raise in some way the stone (like putting a biscotto pizza stone) so the pizza is closer to the top heating element and set the bottom to the minimum.
Another thing you can try is cooking the bottom quickly at high settings and then raise the pizza with the peel towards the top element.
Guys - the PREHEATING light is still flashing when you put the pizza in. Pretty sure you have to WAIT until the unit is preheated. Have you read the instructions?
.
Watch the beginning again. At 1:25 You clearly see that the oven says "At temp" the only reason we did what we did was to trigger the top element to kick on again. Once again we did everything correctly and tried some other out of the box means of trying to get the oven to work for us but its not for us but that's ok. For home use its an amazing oven especially for the price.
This is such a great review- that steam issue is not good. Thanks so much I don’t see the benefit of this oven if you can’t force the top coil to stay on like you can with a broiler because I prefer my pizza a little softer on the bottom and crispy on the top with the cheese brown.
What are the exact dimensions of the interior cooking space/stone?
I been using chefman oven for awhile. New York pizza is dead on ,but far as making Neopolian Pizza its just alright.
You get what you pay for.
Thats why i decided to get the Ooni electric oven. Price is steep ,but so far its the best indoor electric oven out there.
Thank you for the follow up video with full review. I was about to go Costco and get one with price down to $299.
Now, I don’t know. Having second thoughts!!
I think it’s still a very good oven, and looking deeper into it almost all of the other electric ovens (even the $1,000 ones) seem to have similar problems but the reviewers aren’t talking about it since those companies sponsor them.. we were being extra critical with it but for home use where you don’t care about perfect presentation and want great taste then this oven is a no brainer.
The ooni mostly does not have these problems. The ooni has both burners 1600w because it only uses a balance between the two burners with the top burner being the only one used for neapolitan.
The ooni does have cheese separation problems if you bake too long with the heating elements off but it's not this bad at all. And you can cook the pizzas very charred before the cheese starts to separate.
only time I would parbake the pizzas and add cheese later is when baking detroit style@@nomnomtech4070
I have this oven. I bought it from Costco and they reduced the price even though they were selling like hotcakes! So I got a $100 refund and have been happily using this pizza oven . It's made very well, and user friendly. I mainly make New York and New Haven style pizzas. the NewYork auto setting works great. I haven't tried the Neapolitan. Like any pizza oven you should watch the bake and turn the pizza as need. I turn mine once or twice. You can also use your own settings to suit your desired results. I have a Lloyds 10X10 pan coming Friday, and I'm looking forward to trying a NY Sicilian pizza in it. I own two Ooni 16"ovens but this Chefman is much more convenient to use. It fits nicely on my counter top, heats up quickly unlike my home oven that I have to preheat an hour to get the baking steel hot enough. This chefman will probably pay for itself with the money I save on the electricity! Life is good!
the fan is noissy?
I'm thinking about buying it. Is there CA prop 65 warning? Thank you for your great review.
Of course. Everything has a CA prop 65 warning.
This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, thank you!!
Yea stupid information as these guys never read the manual and they are junking a bunch of pizzas LOL
Would the oonie gas versions be a significant upgrade from something like this?
I think real flames will definitely be a better option no matter which brand. I believe the only electric oven that would be competitive would be the Effeueno one but it’s pricey
Thanks for the in depth review, question what was hydration on your dough.
thanks again.
I believe it was a 65%
@@nomnomtech4070 hey bro at least you got the hydration right. to bad you can't cook the pizza if your life depended on it.
This video is a joke
Who raised you? Whoever it was didn't invest any time or energy on it. @@georgepagakis9854
There is a Neapolitan setting you could try that
The top of the oven is 550w. Bottom is 1100w. If there is a way to swap the heating elements it would fix the issues
Even for NY style that heat balance is just flat out wrong.
I would pull the pizza the second the heating element shuts off as you're not going to get anymore color and your cheese will only separate.
Hey, would love to know where you got these specific specs, if you could share a tech manual I might be open to trying to swap the elements around somehow in the name of science lol
I got the specs from an al iba ba page in germany. This is a generic chinese oven sold by shenzen shiny electric co@@nomnomtech4070
@@nomnomtech4070 move the feet to the top of the oven, then invert
Your cooking pizza while preheating. Even uuni wont run top element during preheat. Let the oven heat up. Then turner on the timer.
Timer does not do anything, verified.. we reached temp already, what you see us doing is all the attempts after trying to use the oven the regular way which did not work. If you look at 1:23 you see the oven was already at temp, we were just trying to kickstart the top element because the top element turns off when temp is reached.
i would be thrilled if my pizza came out as good as their so called bad pizza !!! , i seem to have a mutant gene when it comes to making pizza at home
Great video guys but you must know that your experiment was meant to fail from the get go. You have to experiment with the dough, amount of dough and if course temp like you have been doing. Taking a perfect recipe for a wood fired oven and expecting it be the same without some reworking with an electric oven is kinda ridiculous, no disrespect BYW. I purchased one and have had great experience by making a lower hydration dough and less of it. This oven definitely loves less dough. I think it's a fantastic oven for the price and very convenient for the majority of home pizza cooks. Thanks so much for all the hard work you put in for videos.
We absolutely expect the same recipe to work in an electric oven that should/claims to replicate the cooking process of a fire oven. In fact we are currently testing another electric oven that works flawlessly without changing a tried, tested and proven recipe that is being used in a traditional fire oven. Having to tweak the recipe of a pizza to an extent as to lose what makes our pizza taste top notch just for it to bake good enough in an oven that misses the mark for this style of pizza is not what we were trying to do. But like you said it’s a great oven for the casual home pizza maker for certain styles of pizza at a very attractive price, cheers!
Thanks I was looking at this, glad I was still looking and not buying
To renew at Costco for this or get the Ninja from Sam’s where I’m still a member 😊
As soon as you put the pizza in you screw with the controls, it's all in the water, you didn't add anything either.
Is it a professional oven? Well no it’s not by far. But for a home on counter oven it’s great. I have no problems with mine besides a little changes. When I put a second pizza in I hit the power off button reset the cycle and wait 5 min before I start another. But don’t get discouraged it’s a great inside pizza oven. Plus some dads cook on RUclips has awesome videos on this oven. Good luck !!!
The ninja pizza oven is a better option. I try Kalorik High Heat Stone Pizza Oven and it have the same heating element as the chef man and it suck. Now with ninja I do start off with the pizza at the top position for 3 min then bottom position to finish it off at 550° using a pizza screen and no pizza stone. In all it takes 7 min .
What type of ninja are you using, please?
The pizza oven you mentioned looks nothing like the chefman. Even if the coil is the same the entire top of that oven opens up which would let out all the heat
Do step 3 for 3 mins and the rest until you finish. Ty….
This oven is for bar style pizza. Medium thick crust. Cheese and sauce to the very edge. No crust. Shaped circle, but cut square.
The secret is using high heat to cook the pizza in 3 minutes or so. The secret is the dough that cooks quickly.
You cooked most of them whilst the oven was pre heating and not up to temp! Apart from that it was a great trouble shooting video
Try raising the stone.
The only flaw about this oven is the way you use it. When you make a change you have to let the oven come up to temperature.
You guys kept cooking when it was pre heating.
Read the owners manual before you put such work into something and render it useless.
I think this video should be deleted and replace it with a new one.
Get and Effeuno pizza oven and you will not have these issues.
Yea I’ve heard good things about that oven, might be the next move
I’ve only seen the Effueno in 220v…do they make a 120v unit?
Use the Manual!!!
Dude, just because you set new temps doesn’t mean you got them ready for you. This is why the device gives you a countdown letting you know when it reached the temperatures.
You must be a huge disappointment to your wife as you shove the pizza inside before the oven is ready to receive it. Really sad review as you don’t observe basic instructions.
Should be 800 below and 600 on top. And do not use it until it gets to temperature.
The bottom will be burnt and the top undercooked at those temps
This oven is a fail. If it can't cook a proper Neapolitan, at the level of other high-end electric home ovens (Ooni, Effenuo, and other Italian home brands), then you don't need it. You can cook any other style in your home oven.
the issue is with your dough, not the oven.
I've had an electric clamshell for over a year which I use almost daily so I can't speak on this exact oven. Understanding how to best use it makes a huge difference. I make the dough and pizza to suit the oven and am very happy with the end result. I can't do an authentic 60-90 second neapolitan but I can achieve a nice replica. I got mine because I wanted to make fresh pizza at home on a regular basis as easily as possible. I saw a picture of a result on page 7 of the pizza making forum for this oven and that is definitely something one can expect to achieve which won't leave you disappointed. I would also recommend starting out following any recipes/instruction that comes with the oven.
Im with you - the clamshell is great for NY Pizza. Neapolitan is a buzz word now with the trendy group. But give me a NY style.