I have a massive wood fired brick oven that I built in my backyard. I love the ritual of chopping the wood, building the fire, managing the temperature and executing a day’s worth of cooking (sometimes overnight too).
I’d rather have an electric oven.
Okay, in fairness, I’d like to have both. One for outdoors in the warmer months and entertaining crowds, one for indoors the rest of the year.
You’ve hit on a couple of the most important issues, such as year round use, ease of temperature management, efficiency of electric compared to gas/wood. There are other issues as well. The exposure to particulates from wood/gas cooking is garnering more and more negative scientific consensus. I also live in an area that has been prone to massive wildfires–further increasing my exposure to particulates.
The frequent negative is that an electric doesnt doesn’t cook the pizza the same way. Utter hogwash. A pizza crust cant tell if the temperature was created by any particular means. I have heard that electric ovens create a drier environment, but I’ve never tested this out nor seen it. As for taste, at 500C, burning wood or charcoal are not smoking or imparting taste. And, the fact it can be used indoors means it will get double the use of an outdoor oven. I’ve also struggled at planned events if I screw up the temperature management or the weather turns bad.
One of my favorite pizza makers in the world switched to electric decades ago as it provides greater control, quicker heat times and greater efficiency. His crust is the best I’ve ever tried.
But, it’s a personal decision. It’s a big purchase, might as well get what you will enjoy the most.
