Witt Etna Rotante Pizza Oven Review: Designed for experienced cooks

Verdict

Make no mistake, the Witt Etna Rotante is extra of an oven for pizza aficionados somewhat than newcomers. In addition to the strong construct and better value, there’s an assumption of pizza-making expertise. Its options – double burners, giant capability, rotation, excessive temperatures – are there that can assist you make higher pizza than the stuff you’ve created earlier than.

Introduction

Much less depending on the climate than a barbecue, and sooner, however nonetheless full of alfresco appeal, pizza ovens have been gaining in reputation. Nonetheless, there’s a knack for getting these good leopard-spotted crusts, which is the place Witt’s Etna Rotante is available in.

This pizza oven has been designed with a rotating pizza stone, making certain that not solely will baking be extra even, however there’s additionally much less probability of burning. And, in addition to a wraparound burner on the again, there’s a further burner underneath the stone, placing an finish to soggy bottoms for crisp, tasty bases each time.

Design and options

• Strong, strong construct high quality
• Huge opening for giant pizzas
• Folding legs

These with a tiny backyard may battle to discover a appropriate spot for the Etna Rotante. Whereas it’s extremely fashionable to have a look at, and is available in 4 covetable painted colors (orange, gray, black and cream), it’s an enormous, heavy piece of package, weighing 26.8kg and greater than 66cm extensive.

It stands on 4 fold-out legs – though I discovered that these are liable to collapsing in when moved, so it’s finest to discover a spot for it and let it reside there. Annoyingly, there’s no cowl for it for storage however the exterior seems to be pretty strong and weather-resistant. 

Nonetheless, the pay-off for this massive measurement is that the oven has a large opening for getting pizza out and in. Inside, there’s loads of cooking area – sufficient for a 40.5cm pizza (nearly 16 inches), making it supreme for catering for a crowd. There are literally two items of stone: a spherical one which sits on a turntable and a static one in entrance for catching any mess or for warming small dishes. 

The controls are tucked at one facet, with a knob for the principle wraparound burner, and one for the ‘booster burner’ that sits under the rotating pizza stone.

Between them is a button for turning the rotation on and off. Ignition of the burners is automated and powered by a single AA battery beneath. You’ll additionally want 4 AA batteries in a separate compartment for powering the rotation, or there’s an adaptor – however this implies you’ll want an influence provide close by, which restricts the place you should use the oven. 

The one detachable elements that want cleansing are the stones. The recommendation is to wash these utilizing plain water as detergents will be absorbed. I discovered this to be ineffective at getting off burnt substances: incinerating any particles whereas the oven was nonetheless in use proved to be more practical, though the stones remained blackened. 

Efficiency

• Heats up in underneath quarter-hour
• Cooks pizza quickly
• Lacks equipment, reminiscent of a peel or thermometer 

One necessary side to notice is that the gasoline hose provided with the Etna Rotante comes with a butane connector, somewhat than one for propane (a extra common gas within the UK, as propane can deal with decrease temperatures when exterior).

This implies when you can’t supply butane or it’s expensive (our 13kg bottle price £70 and was the one measurement out there), you’ll have to supply a appropriate connector to your gasoline bottle. 

Lighting the Witt Etna Rotante Pizza Oven is a very spectacular expertise. It could possibly take a short while for sufficient gasoline to build up in order that whenever you launch the principle burner knob, the flame doesn’t exit.

As soon as it’s lit, nevertheless, it offers off an enormous quantity of warmth. Lighting the booster burner beneath is a bit trickier. There’s a small inspection gap to test that it’s lit, however as my oven was floor-standing, making an attempt to see via to test it was awkward. On breezier days, I discovered myself worrying that it could blow out and I wouldn’t discover. 

The quick heat-up (Witt estimates that it’ll attain 500°C in lower than quarter-hour) leaves you simply sufficient time to stretch out the premade dough and add a topping. It wasn’t clear if the stone needs to be rotating whereas the oven was heating up, however I felt this is able to warmth it extra evenly.

There’s no temperature gauge so it was unattainable to know when it had reached the correct warmth for cooking. One different shock is that the oven doesn’t include any equipment, reminiscent of a pizza peel. There’s the belief that when you’re into pizza, you in all probability have already got one, and Witt’s branded peels begin at a further £45.

I attempted sliding pizza in and retrieving it with out one however this was messy and fraught with issues. After buying a peel, I had much more success sliding the pizza in in order that it was pretty central on the rotating stone.

I discovered it simpler to modify the rotation off when including and eradicating pizza, however with apply, you might not want to do that. The pizza does prepare dinner in a short time – Witt suggests lower than 90 seconds however for toppings reminiscent of greens (mushrooms and peppers), I tended to go away it for 2 minutes so the chunks would brown a little bit.

I had probably the most success with simply cheese and tomato – the extra toppings, the harder I discovered it to land the pizza centrally on the stone. Whereas I’d have appreciated much more steerage from the directions, after some apply, the pizzas I cooked persistently emerged with a noticeably fluffy risen crust, genuine ‘leopard spots’ and fantastically browned cheese.

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