I got to try the Alfa Minuti 5 today. The unit we were using was a prototype that had many hours of use. The first thing to note is even though it has traveled all around the state, (and been dropped once) it was still in good shape.
The oven lighted easily and got going quickly. I would say 5 minutes is a stretch but it was certainly usable in 20 minutes.
We were not trying to make Neapolitan pizza, but rather cook a mix of stuff to see how it worked. We did do some pizza, but using a thicker wetter dough than classic Neapolitan. So bear that in mind. My previous experience has been using Mugnaini ovens. You can google them if you don't know them.
The first image below shows the oven floor with the fire pushed over to one side during the warm up. This was about 30 minutes in. We already had been cooking mushrooms and veggies in the oven. Most of the floor is already over 270C with some cooler spots still down at 240C.
The next image show the oven floor after about a 1 hour cool down, with the door open. We started the cool down from about 270C (500F) floor temp. Out side temperature was about 30C (86F). The average temp has fallen to about 180C (360F). So we are losing about 5C per minute from the oven floor.
The last picture shows the outside of the oven. Now we had been using this for several hours at this stage so it is hot at around 90C or 195F. I was finding roof temperatures to be about 50C higher than the floor. This seemed to be a bit more consistent than Mugnaini ovens where I find the roof temps can change quite a bit quicker than the floor temps.
Overall I was impressed with the results from the oven. If you wanted to make Neapolitan pizzas, I think you would need to keep moving the fire, bouncing it left and right, between pizzas as I think it is going to be hard to maintain floor temperature with a 5C cool down per minute. However the amount of fuel in the oven is much less than a conventional oven, so it is not as hard as it sounds.
For other pizzas that like 600-700 degrees, roasts, veggies, and breads this oven will work right out the box. After due consideration, I have decided to purchase one.
Oliver
