Electric Pizza Oven - successful test!

[MisterB]

As I'm getting more and more into using our lithium and inverter to make life easier (for us in our own minds!) and following on from not being able to use our gas BBQ recently due to 'naked flame' rules, I decided to invest in a pre loved electric pizza oven, I wanted one with a window to see it cooking without opening it up and losing the heat and also one with a top heating element. I also wanted to be able to cook from frozen and for the results to be similar to that we have got from using the cadac, which were excellent. I bought a pre loved one for £20 as opposed to buying the model I wanted at @£95 new.


His Pizza

Her Pizza - which was only allowed to be cooked if I didn't cock mine up!

The above was the test result at home.


Tasted great, crispy but not burnt base and crust. I actually think it was better than the cadac as we can now just set it and leave it to 'ping' rather than watching it.

Although it means carrying around another 'bit of kit' it means less reliance on using gas, it starts to make the built in oven a bit more redundant (for those without a built in oven it might be a useful addition?) and it should cost nothing to run using a lithium battery topped up by solar etc or paid for EHU. It can also be used inside the moho for when we can't cook outside. Plus of course it can be used to warm up those French pastries for breakfast without having to constantly watch them to prevent them from 'catching' ... I just need to test it using the lithium to see what sort of power it uses. I assume it will be similar to the kettle rated at @1200w, but will be on a lot longer as it took around ten minutes from frozen, but with proper planning we don't have to cook from frozen !!

Next on test will be a George Foreman electric grill/hotplate, again as we are gas (cadac) bbq'ers, my thoughts are that cooking on a hot plate with electricity should be the same as cooking on a hot plate with gas, but should be a lot cleaner as the fat drains away rather than it spitting and is actually designed for indoor use ?????

Anyone else use an electric BBQ? This ISN'T intended to be a discussion on the merits of what is or isn't a BBQ, just the opinions of those who use an electric BBQ.

 

[Roby2008]

Sounds interesting, looking forward to further tests
Madame only has 2 rules, as long as the coffee machine and the hair dryer work I can do as I please....
We take a small table top electric grill with us, only used on ehu so far.

 

[whiskyman]

Looks perfect, even mouth watering at 7.00 am.
Ref a George, my favorite and most used piece of kit at home. I use cajun pepper, soya sauce and Costco's own brand sauce amongst other bits and bobs. After a lot of use the plates would not wipe clean and needed a scrub after cooking, I was considering buying a new one but instead I started lininig the plates in foil with a good spray of one cal oil of varying types.
works really well especially on the cajun, no cleaning whatsoever, just bin or recycle the foil.
I have been using this method for over 5 years now and still using my original George which must be heading on for 20 years old. Happy Days

 

[Wingingit#1]

I'd be interested to know just how much of a workout for your battery this gives .

 

[funflair]

I'd be interested to know just how much of a workout for your battery this gives .

I have read the spec of a couple of these and they seem to be 1200 watts and take about 10 minutes to warm then cooking time is quite short I imagine, lets say another 10 minutes to cook a couple of Pizzas so 20 minutes total, 1200 watts is about 100 amps off your 12v battery so for 20 minutes that would be 33 ah.

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[MisterB]

I have read the spec of a couple of these and they seem to be 1200 watts and take about 10 minutes to warm then cooking time is quite short I imagine, lets say another 10 minutes to cook a couple of Pizzas so 20 minutes total, 1200 watts is about 100 amps off your 12v battery so for 20 minutes that would be 33 ah.

That would be around 10% of our battery, but even if it's more, so long as the sun is shining or we move on next day, then that's not an issue for us. Of course with your set up, you could do enough pizzas off grid for a Funster rally lol!!
And if we don't have a decent charge in the battery prior to cooking pizzas in the pizza oven, then we wouldn't have pizza that evening!

I'd be interested to know just how much of a workout for your battery this gives .

I will report back in due course but I think funflair is prob quite close to the demand it will place on the battery.
Perhaps someone else will already have gone down the guinea pig route?

whiskyman
Thanks for the feedback and tip. Have you ever tried the cooking mats? They work on a cadac grill but I'm not sure how the would work on the GF top plate?
Have you used it in the moho, either on EHU or off? I'd be interested in seeing how much power it used to do a few bits - though of course I realise that would depend on the size of the GF and how long you cooked for, but real life examples are always a useful indicator

 

[eddie]

I am nearing the end of a three month French trip, and have been 'playing' with a Tefal induction hob.

If overnighting is easy to plug it in the outside 220v socket and it's ready to go

A cast iron griddle for steaks, kebabs, chicken etc a flat iron 'plancher' plate for fish steak hache and eggs, and of course pasta in a pan

The inverter set up I have installed copes with missing a beat and it saves getting the Webber out, along with stand and gas bottle, which we still do if on a site for a few days, but already started to feel reluctant to bother given how well a decent Sirloin is on a red hot griddle

Of course the question is where to get decent Sirloins in France, running the gauntlet of hit and miss 'Entrocote'

 

[MisterB]

Are there specific 'induction hob' griddles/hot plates - I understood they can be anything that a magnet sticks to, so there is probably loads of suitable ones that aren't designated as induction 'friendly'

 

[eddie]

I just bought cast iron to be on the safe side, the griddle plate has a folding handle and the plancher has a removable handle, the pots and pans we use on the hob in the camper are Tefal and all stack inside each other and are induction based

 

[poppycamper]

As I'm getting more and more into using our lithium and inverter to make life easier (for us in our own minds!) and following on from not being able to use our gas BBQ recently due to 'naked flame' rules, I decided to invest in a pre loved electric pizza oven, I wanted one with a window to see it cooking without opening it up and losing the heat and also one with a top heating element. I also wanted to be able to cook from frozen and for the results to be similar to that we have got from using the cadac, which were excellent. I bought a pre loved one for £20 as opposed to buying the model I wanted at @£95 new.


His Pizza
View attachment 767769

Her Pizza - which was only allowed to be cooked if I didn't cock mine up!
View attachment 767770


The above was the test result at home.


Tasted great, crispy but not burnt base and crust. I actually think it was better than the cadac as we can now just set it and leave it to 'ping' rather than watching it.

Although it means carrying around another 'bit of kit' it means less reliance on using gas, it starts to make the built in oven a bit more redundant (for those without a built in oven it might be a useful addition?) and it should cost nothing to run using a lithium battery topped up by solar etc or paid for EHU. It can also be used inside the moho for when we can't cook outside. Plus of course it can be used to warm up those French pastries for breakfast without having to constantly watch them to prevent them from 'catching' ... I just need to test it using the lithium to see what sort of power it uses. I assume it will be similar to the kettle rated at @1200w, but will be on a lot longer as it took around ten minutes from frozen, but with proper planning we don't have to cook from frozen !!

Next on test will be a George Foreman electric grill/hotplate, again as we are gas (cadac) bbq'ers, my thoughts are that cooking on a hot plate with electricity should be the same as cooking on a hot plate with gas, but should be a lot cleaner as the fat drains away rather than it spitting and is actually designed for indoor use ?????

Anyone else use an electric BBQ? This ISN'T intended to be a discussion on the merits of what is or isn't a BBQ, just the opinions of those who use an electric BBQ.

I would question whether a gas BBQ comes under the naked flame category..
IMV no differant to the loads of camping stoves used by campers and tenters in hundreds of campsites and in the wild worldwide.
Very differant however to open log fires and charcoal BBQ's.

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[MisterB]

I would question whether a gas BBQ comes under the naked flame category..
IMV no differant to the loads of camping stoves used by campers and tenters in hundreds of campsites and in the wild worldwide.
Very differant however to open log fires and charcoal BBQ's.

I agree, however their 'camping area' their rules... and we were having a family get together which we didn't want to spoil for the sake of a point of principle

 

[Ridgeway]

Must admit we’ve never had an issue in South France with a gas pizza oven, same tolerance as a gas BBQ i suppose.

Your pizzas look nice a round by the way

 

[Lenny HB]

Of course the question is where to get decent Sirloins in France, running the gauntlet of hit and miss 'Entrocote'

Now that really is flipping hard work.

 

[MisterB]

Wingingit#1
funflair


I have finally got round to testing power consumption - I didn't turn off the solar, which was delivering around 9Amps, so that needs to be considered. Allowing for inverter power I reckon you can add about 8 Amps to the current being drawn.

Without oven on

Oven set to heat bottom plate only

I set the timer for ten minutes as suggested when preheating, when finished it showed this reading on the capacity, remember at this stage the oven is off and the solar is charging the battery.

On the next screenshot I have the top and bottom heater plates on for five minutes

And finally when it had finished the next screenshot gives an idea of the total power consumption. As I mentioned, it is slightly slewed by the incoming solar, but gives an idea of total current draw.

Conclusion
- to preheat the oven it will draw around 7Ah and take 10 mins
- for one pizza after pre heat, using top and bottom heaters, it will draw around 5Ah from your battery and take about 5mins. We have previously cooked pizza from frozen and it took just over 5 mins, I assume fresh might be a lower time?

• based on previous cooking experience for one pizza from frozen, inc preheat it will draw around 12Ah from your battery and take around 5 mins
• for two pizzas I assume 7Ah + (5Ah X 2) so around 17Ah and I assume around 20 mins in total.

So it seems to be quite a bit less than thought, but of course I had solar coming in, so I reckon it's around 20 Ah off your starting power from your battery, prob less if the pizzas are not frozen.


One of the benefits of course is that you don't need to constantly watch the pizza oven, once you know how long it takes for your favourite pizza, just set the timer and go and get the wine open! I'd you have a decent amount of solar coming in to charge your battery then it seems to be worth considering. It does produce a lot of heat though, so if it's hot, then being able to use it outside safely might be the best option?

I am certainly happy with the results 'off grid'/off ehu' and will be finding a space in the motorhome for the electric pizza oven !!

 

[TheMachMan]

Interesting. Going more electric is an attractive alternative when away for longer periods and not having to worry about gas levels. We’ve been away for 7 weeks and know my cadac is going to stop anytime! What is the make of pizza cooker? And anyone tried the Kampa induction hobs?

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[TCG]

Has anyone tried the new ninja electric bbq
How that looks interesting

 

[MisterB]

Interesting. Going more electric is an attractive alternative when away for longer periods and not having to worry about gas levels. We’ve been away for 7 weeks and know my cadac is going to stop anytime! What is the make of pizza cooker? And anyone tried the Kampa induction hobs?

I don't think it's a particularly expensive one, I only paid £20 'pre loved' just to try it out and was quite surprised by the results. Your statement re gas is one of the reasons I decided to try it, especially now we've gone to lithium, inverter and solar!