Hear me out: There’s no better feeling than successfully pulling out a perfectly baked pizza from an 800-plus-degree oven at home.
After spending anywhere from a few hours to several days preparing for family pizza night, carefully making the dough, selecting the toppings, and taking everyone’s orders, you can’t help but feel a strong sense of accomplishment when everything goes right.
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From unboxing to pizza in 30 minutes
The initial unboxing and setup experience for the Arc Lite is as straightforward as it gets. There’s no fancy electronics or gadgets you need to worry about. After removing everything from the box, you slide the 12mm thick cordierite stone into the Arc Lite, put the flame guard in its place, connect a propane tank, and you’re ready to go.
Oh, I almost forgot there’s a weirdly shaped piece of metal that you use to ensure the stone is pulled all the way to the front of the oven. But it’s not a stretch to say it takes all of five minutes to go from a pizza oven in a box to a pizza oven on a table, ready to light.
Ignition is handled by a single knob, which triggers the igniter as you rotate it. You’ll feel and hear a click as you turn the knob, followed by a gentle rolling flame that — as its name implies — arcs over the roof of the oven. You don’t have to fuss with batteries for electric igniters like higher-end ovens have. Just turn, and it’s lit.
There are blue and red markings next to the knob, which are crude indicators of a temperature range. Truly, the best way to monitor the oven’s temperature is to get an infrared thermometer.
Fully assembled, the oven weighs just over 26 pounds and measures 16.9 x 28.9 x 11.7 inches, with an internal size of 12.8 x 14 x 5.9 inches. Its overall size makes it extremely portable and easy to pack up to take to the park for a picnic, or to put into storage after you’re done cooking dinner (and it’s properly cooled down). It’ll handle pizzas up to 12 inches in size.
After assembly, all you have to do is turn it on and let it get to temperature, saturating the stone with heat at a full flame. It takes right at 20 minutes in my testing to go from cold to ready for pizza.
Giving yourself a 5-minute buffer, all told, you’ll be ready to start making pizza within 30 minutes of cracking open the Arc Lite’s box.
Bigger pizza ovens like the Gozney Dome S1 or Ooni Koda 2 Max take anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour to preheat.
Taking the Arc Lite for a spin
I didn’t have dough ready on the same day the Arc Lite arrived, so I had to wait a couple of days before I was able to put it through its paces.
On the day of, I lit the oven before I started getting all of the toppings out for pizza night. I checked the stone’s temp after 15 minutes, and it was hovering right around 750 degrees — I gave it another five minutes to get closer to 800 degrees (my personal sweet spot), and it was ready to go.
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I launched the first pie, spun it around 180 degrees at the 30-second mark, with another spin every 15 seconds or so after that until the bottom had just the right amount of char, the crust was brown, and the cheese was bubbling. All told, it took 1 minute and 48 seconds to bake.
In about 30 minutes, I made a total of 6 pizzas. As I went on, I had to give the stone more time to reheat between each pizza. The bottoms of a few of the pizzas weren’t nearly as charred as I’d like.
At 12mm thick, the stone won’t retain heat like the thicker stones used in ovens like Gozney’s Dome S1 (which is also why they take so long to preheat).
Even though I can see why some will view that as a shortcoming of the Arc Lite, I see no issue with it. As an oven designed for beginners, odds are you’re going to take several minutes to shape and top the next pizza, which gives the stone plenty of time to get back to temp. Whereas someone who is hosting a big party or using it in a commercial setting is sure to get frustrated by its lack of heat retention.
Here’s how I really know it’s for beginners
Near the end of that same night, I didn’t feel up to making the last pizza. I was hungry and just wanted to eat. My 14-year-old son noticed there was one last dough ball and asked if he could make it. I somewhat reluctantly let him after I accepted the fact that the worst outcome would be a burnt pizza.
I watched him stretch, top, and launch the pizza into the oven. He started turning it, with a touch of reassurance, and eventually pulled the pizza out. He over-baked the top just a bit, but overall it was a success.
I attribute this to the fact that he’d watched me do it many times before, but also to the fact that the Arc Lite isn’t a large, intimidating oven. Its small stature and limited heat output didn’t scare him away, as other ovens had in the past.
For someone who’s currently debating whether or not they’ll use a pizza oven at home enough to justify their high price tag, the $399 Arc Lite offers an entry-level experience that doesn’t skimp on the overall experience. I hope, one day, you get to feel the rush that comes with making the perfect pizza at home. But be warned — it’s addicting!
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