The Secret Features That Make The Fontana Volta Worth Every Dollar

The Fontana Volta has just been released, and it's unlike anything else on the market. This smart outdoor oven is digitally controlled, cooks with both gas and wood, and has the same amount of cooking space for either fuel type.

If this sounds like something you want to put in your outdoor kitchen, you're in the right place.

Shipping & Assembly

Shipment and delivery of the Volta was easy. It came in a box truck, and it wasn't just a cardboard box on a pallet, it had a wooden crate built around the box to protect in transit, and it made the trip from Italy to Indiana without any scratches or blemishes.

This isn't a 2 man lift oven, since it weighs almost 300 pounds, so we invited some guys over to The Lab to get it on the table and fire it up. There's not that much to assembly, just connecting the digital display, hooking up the propane tank using the regulator hose, and installing the exhaust pipe.

You will need to peel off the sticky film from any of the stainless steel pieces, so hand those to the kids and get ready to hear, "This is SO Satisfying!" many times. We're installing our Volta on the Fontana Forni pizza desk, and there's plenty of film to peel on the huge top surface.

Since there's a digital display, you will need to have electricity available for this oven in addition to either propane or natural gas.

Measurements & Specifications

This model is the Volta 90, and it's the larger of the 2 available sizes. The Volta 70 is a bit smaller, but here's the specs on the 90 version. 

With the stack installed, it's 46 inches (1167,7mm) tall and 42.5 inches wide. (1080mm). From the front wall to back measures 28.7 inches (729mm). Inside the oven, the burner is 15.2 inches long (385mm) and the cooking surface measures 35.4 inches (899mm) wide and 19.7 inches (500mm) deep. The Volta 90 weighs 287 pounds (130 Kilograms), We had 5 guys lift it onto the desk, but probably could have gotten it done with 3-4.

Pizza Stones & Preheating

There are 4 main stones inside the cooking chamber of the oven, and they're 19.7 inches deep and 7.9 inches wide.

What really matters is the stone thickness though, and these stones are one and a quarter inches (32mm) thick. If you're coming from a smaller pizza oven like an Ooni or a Gozney style oven, they're only about 1/3 of this thickness, and the Volta is a refractory stone compared to cordierite in the smaller outdoor pizza ovens.

This cooking floor will take longer to heat up initially, but stones that thick are better at maintaining steady heat and stone temperature between pizzas. I would suggest that you plan on at least a 30 minute warmup before you launch a pizza to let the stones gather heat.

Digital Temperature Control

The feature that had us the most excited before we ever lit it up was the digital temperature control. We've tested other gas ovens and wood ovens in the past, but the digital display on most ovens simply reports internal temperature instead of actually controlling that temperature.

The Volta is automatic when cooking with gas. Just push the power button, set your desired internal temperature on the smart control module, and the burner lights itself and takes the oven to the set temp. I can't overstate how cool this feature is. It's a high heat pizza oven with the same temperature control as a pellet grill, and when I'm entertaining a bunch of people, I know I want to focus on my guests and what I'm cooking. If the oven can maintain the exact temperature I'm after on its own, that really benefits my overall cooking experience.

When cooking with gas, the low temperature is 300°F (149C). To go any lower, you'd need to use wood or cycle the power on and off or get creative. The high on this oven is 840°F (449C) and that's with either wood or gas. There are electronics in this oven that don't like it hotter than that, so you could try to push it higher, but you'll possibly start melting things and that's no bueno.

Mobile App

There is a mobile app for the Volta, and you can get notifications and control the oven from your mobile device. Of course, this doesn't work when wood cooking, but it will relay the oven temperature so you can still see where the oven is as long as you keep it plugged into power.

On the app, you can set the temperature from anywhere as long as the oven is connected to wifi. There's also bluetooth connectivity if wifi isn't available. You can get push notifications from the app when the oven is up to temperature, as well as error code alerts with what's likely causing the error and how to fix the issue. We finished off a few propane tanks over the course of our testing, and we appreciated the automatic alerts telling us when the flame went out.

Dual Food Probes

The Volta comes with dual food probes for monitoring internal food temperatures during a cook. Since the probes plug into the advanced control module, you can easily see the oven temperature and both probe temperatures in the app.

I like that Fontana Forni included small cutouts in the door for the included dual food probes. Just slide the cable to the right or left side of the door, and you can keep the probe inserted while using the door to control heat while cooking.

So many people don't think past cooking pizzas in their outdoor oven, but these things can cook so much more, and having the integrated temperature probes to monitor the internal food temperatures of meat is really helpful, especially with the accompanying app.

Expand Your Cooking Options with Cast Iron

I really like using cast iron to expand cooking options in outdoor ovens. It adds much more diversity in what you can do with an oven, and we like mixing it up.

To thank the guys for helping us assemble the pizza desk and lift the Volta, we dropped in our Smithey double burner griddle and let it preheat for some fajitas. We started with the peppers and onions, and once those started looking charred and delicious, we moved them to a pan and added our seasoned chicken thighs. It didn't take long until we were ready to combine everything together and put out a sizzling plate of fajitas to thank our friends for coming out to The Lab on a Saturday.

We also use our Smithey 12" skillet to cook some pretty greasy proteins without any worry of mucking up the stones. We roasted a Rack of Lamb one day, and pork belly bites the next. Roasting with the open flame doesn't always provide the full sear we like to see on steaks, but cast iron can really help with that. 

We brought this tomahawk up to temperature slowly, pulled it out to rest, set the cast iron griddle pan back into the oven to get ripping hot, and then were able to get a beautiful final sear on this delicious ribeye. For me, "pizza ovens" aren't just for pizza, and I love a good multitasker.

Incredible Cooking Space

The nice thing about the Volta 90 is the cooking space it provides. You can cook multiple dishes simultaneously.

We started with a couple of baked potatoes that we left in the oven for about a half hour before we added 4 chicken thighs in our #12 Smithey cast iron pan. Shortly thereafter, we added in some asparagus and finished an entire meal in the oven with plenty of room to spare.

This is one of the primary reasons that I like larger outdoor ovens. There's room for multiple pizzas, sure, but what changes the way that we cook is the room for a protein, a vegetable, a starch and even have it still warmed up if the kids want to roast marshmallows for dessert.

With the Volta 90, there's room for all kinds of meals in the same oven cooking multiple items at the same time. I need to stock up on roasting pans and half sheet trays, because.... I have ideas.

Baking in Outdoor Pizza Ovens

Besides cooking dinner, a lot of people like to use their outdoor oven for baked goods, like bread, and the Volta 90 makes this easier than every other oven out there with the digitally controlled temperature.

Any other time we've tried baking in a pizza oven, the temperature was a complete guessing game of trial and mostly error. With the Volta you can set your desired temperature and not have to worry about dialing up and down the flame to fight the temperature fluctuations.

The only thing that you need to remember is that when you're baking with an outdoor oven, whether gas or wood, you're operating an oven that works like a broiler with heat blasting down from the top. The hot stones are providing the heat from the bottom, but the flame is arcing over the dome and over your food. For baking, just add a lid or a sheet of foil, and it takes away the harsh broil for more delicate foods. Then you can uncover it at the end and monitor while it gets the final browning you're looking for.

Neapolitan Pizza

To do some testing with high temperatures, we launched a few Neapolitan style pizzas at 750°F, and yes, I know that true Neapolitan pizzas are cooked hotter than 750, but I'm an American, and we tend to like our pizzas a little more crisp on the bottom instead of fork and knife on a plate style. Instead of a 60 second cook, I was aiming for a 2 and a half to 3 minute cook, and the bottom of our pies achieved a lovely color and rigidity just like we prefer around here.

Wood Fired Oven Conversion

I mentioned it at the beginning, but this is an oven that you can cook with both wood and gas, and their claim is that you don't lose any cooking space changing fuel type like almost every other oven on the market. Most have wood burning on one side and gas on the other, and to do that you lose cooking surface, and the Volta wants to change that.

To make the transition, we need to pull out the far left brick and slide the burner cover between the wall and the first brick, but here's a helpful hint. You can take out this heat shield to make it much easier. The shield just slides out, you put the burner cover in place and lay the brick back down with the it wedged between the brick and the side of the oven. Sounds simple, but it took us awhile to get it the first time. Once that's all set, slide in the heat shield, place the wood rack on top of the burner cover and you're in business. 

Cooking With Wood

While we were lighting the wood and bringing the oven up to temperature, we put some filet mignon in the sous vide set to 125°F. We preheated the Smithey Cast Iron #12 griddle until it was good and hot, and then placed down the steak for its final sear. It only took about a minute on each side, and we were able to get that Maillard reaction that would rival almost anything I could do on a grill.

After we let the wood fire die down a bit, we tried our hand at a New York style pizza. This dough is from Trader Joe's, and no it wasn't made with New York water and no it's not a New York specific dough, that's why I said New York "Style" pizza. I stretched it out over our 16 inch pizza screen, covered it with cheese (since that's how the kids like it) and let it rip. After a few minutes, I took out the screen and put the pie straight on the stone to finish the cook, and I would say for some grocery store pre-made dough, it makes a quite respectable wood fired New York "style" pizza.

I like that the Volta 90 gives you the option for both fuel types without losing cooking space, but I've got to be honest, I'm probably going to stick to primarily gas because I love the digitally controlled temperature.

Why I think the Fontana Forni Volta is the best hybrid pizza oven:

I feel like we've just skimmed the surface of what this hybrid oven can do, but I'll finish by pointing out three things that I think are the defining characteristics of the new Volta.

First, it's a digitally controlled oven. Simply set it and forget it. Dial in a number, push a button, and walk away. Easy digital precision in an outdoor oven.

Second, it's the dual fuel option for me. You can cook with wood directly on top of the gas burner using the cover that's included, without losing any of the cooking space.

Third, it's a 3-pizza oven. There's room for 3, but I think an even better use of the space is cooking some wings to go with that pizza.

Discount Code

If you're thinking about adding this oven to your backyard, here's a way I can help. If you use the code "BBQLABVOLTA" at checkout, it will get you a free premium cover and free shipping right to your door. If you do make a purchase, it will support our channel and help us keep great content like this coming your way.