As a restaurant chef with over 10 years of experience at my restaurant, Dequte Restaurant LironBoylston, I’ve had the opportunity to use and evaluate various pizza ovens in my kitchen. In this article, I’ll compare the Bertello Pizza Oven and the Cru Champion Pizza Oven, both of which have been thoroughly tested for their performance. My analysis will focus on key factors such as quality and materials, temperature control, shape, first-time usage impressions, power source, size, ease of cleaning, and a real pizza cooking test to assess how long each oven takes to deliver results. For a more detailed breakdown of my testing process, feel free to refer to my separate article.
The Bertello Pizza Oven stands out as a versatile and compact multi-fuel oven, while the Cru Champion Pizza Oven offers a premium design and robust performance tailored for outdoor cooking enthusiasts.
This article offers a comprehensive comparison of the Bertello Pizza Oven and the Cru Champion Pizza Oven, based on my own testing experience.
Disclaimer: This article contains referral links, which support my blog at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Bertello VS Cru Champion: Quality and Materials
| The Bertello Pizza Oven is crafted with high-quality stainless steel and a refractory stone surface, ensuring durability and resistance to high cooking temperatures. It feels sturdy and well-made. |
The Cru Champion Pizza Oven features a dual-layer construction with ceramic stone sandwiched between stainless steel and lacquered aluminum. While robust, the chimney showed wear over time.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: Temperature Control
| Bertello achieves over 900°F with excellent heat retention and even cooking. Its dual-fuel capability (wood and propane) ensures flexibility and precise temperature management. |
Cru Champion retains heat effectively, reaching 900°F in around 13 minutes. Its semi-dome design ensures even heat distribution, but heat can escape due to its large opening.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: Shape
| The dome-shaped design of the Bertello Pizza Oven optimizes airflow for even cooking, making it ideal for achieving a crispy crust and perfectly melted toppings. |
The semi-round dome of the Cru Champion enhances heat circulation but is larger, which may cause slight heat loss through its opening. Ideal for cooking multiple items simultaneously.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: First-Time Usage Impressions
| Bertello impresses with its sleek design and easy setup. Preheating is quick, and the oven produces perfectly cooked pizzas in just 90 seconds on the first try. |
The Cru Champion oven’s large cooking space is a plus for versatility. However, the preheating took longer than advertised, and the chimney became discolored after initial use.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: Power Source
| Bertello offers multi-fuel flexibility: propane, wood, or charcoal. This versatility allows users to experiment with flavor profiles and cooking preferences. |
Cru Champion uses wood or charcoal, providing a smoky, authentic flavor. However, it lacks the added convenience of a propane option for easier heat control.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: Size
| Compact and portable, with a 12-inch pizza capacity and weighing 34.6 pounds, the Bertello Pizza Oven is ideal for small outdoor spaces and portability. |
Cru Champion boasts a large cooking space (24” x 24”) for an 18-inch pizza or multiple smaller dishes but is significantly bulkier and harder to move.
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Bertello VS Cru Champion: Ease of Cleaning
| Bertello’s cleaning requires manual ash removal and pizza stone maintenance, which can be messy but is manageable with regular care. |
Cru Champion’s removable dome simplifies cleaning. Ash removal and wiping the stones are easy, but its larger size makes maintenance slightly more labor-intensive.
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Pizza Cooking Test
When it came to heating up, the Bertello Pizza Oven proved highly efficient, reaching its optimal cooking temperature of over 900°F in just 10–15 minutes. The design, combined with the option to use propane for consistent heat, made preheating a straightforward and quick process. On the other hand, the Cru Champion Pizza Oven required around 12–15 minutes to preheat, slightly longer than its claimed 13-minute time. Its larger size and open design contributed to the extended preheating period, though it still achieved impressive heat retention.
For cooking a Margherita pizza, both ovens performed well. The Bertello excelled with a cooking time of just 90 seconds, producing a pizza with a crispy crust, evenly melted cheese, and a traditional Neapolitan-style char. Its dome-shaped design ensured heat was distributed evenly across the pizza, delivering consistent results. The Cru Champion, with its semi-dome design and wood-fired setup, cooked a Margherita pizza in 90–120 seconds. While the larger cooking space allowed for versatility, maintaining consistent heat required more frequent monitoring, which slightly impacted the evenness of the bake.
In terms of taste, the Bertello Pizza Oven delivered a perfectly balanced flavor, with a light and crispy crust and toppings that were thoroughly cooked. The Cru Champion, with its ability to burn wood or charcoal, added a subtle smoky note to the pizza, which some may prefer. However, the need for additional heat management made the cooking process slightly more involved.
Both ovens produced restaurant-quality pizzas, but Bertello stood out for its speed, ease of use, and consistent results, making it a top choice for quick and delicious pizza-making.
How We Tested
To fairly evaluate the Bertello Pizza Oven and the Cru Champion Oven, we conducted a series of tests focusing on performance, ease of use, and final results. First, we followed each oven’s recommended setup and preheating process to ensure both were used under optimal conditions. For Bertello, we used a combination of propane and wood to test its multi-fuel capabilities, while for the Cru Champion, we exclusively used wood, given its robust wood-fired design.
We prepared identical Margherita pizzas using the same dough, sauce, and toppings to maintain consistency. Each oven was preheated to its maximum recommended temperature, with Bertello reaching over 900°F in about 10–15 minutes and Cru Champion achieving similar temperatures in approximately 12–15 minutes. We monitored the stone temperatures with an infrared thermometer to ensure the optimal baking surface for both ovens.
During the cooking test, we tracked how quickly each oven baked the Margherita pizza, recording times and observing the evenness of the crust, cheese melt, and overall appearance. Bertello cooked the pizza in just 90 seconds, while Cru Champion took slightly longer at around 90–120 seconds. We also noted the flavor profiles, including the presence of any smoky notes from the wood-fired method.
Finally, after each test, we evaluated the cleaning process, removing ash and wiping down the pizza stones to understand the maintenance requirements. This comprehensive testing allowed us to assess both ovens’ performance and suitability for different cooking scenarios.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the choice between the Bertello Pizza Oven and the Cru Champion Oven depends on your personal preferences, cooking style, and needs. Both ovens deliver excellent results, with Bertello offering unmatched versatility and portability, while Cru Champion shines with its spacious cooking area and traditional wood-fired charm.
If you decide to buy one, I would highly appreciate it if you use my referral links. It helps support my work and allows me to keep creating content like this at no additional cost to you. Here’s the link for Bertello, and here’s the link for Cru Champion. Thank you for your support, and happy pizza making!