Stainless-steel and refractory wood-fired oven: Alfa’s innovation turns 10.
Alfa ovens are popular all over the world for their quality, their high cooking performances, their elegant design and energy efficiency.
From the very beginning, Alfa has focused on continuous innovation to improve oven performance by working on their inner structure and doing extensive research on the heat capacity of refractories. By combining the manufacturing technologies used to build traditional wood-burning ovens with those of steel stoves, Alfa managed to get the best of both worlds, a stainless-steel and refractory oven.
In this article, we will trace the events that allowed us to develop and patent the Forninox technology, an important building block of the Alfa models, which are highly prized on the pizza oven market.
The Forninox™ patent and the Alfa steel wood-fired ovens.
Alfa’s technology facilitates the manufacturing of energy-efficient wood-fired ovens that nevertheless do reach the high temperatures necessary to bake a bona fide Neapolitan pizza. In fact, wood-burning ovens made with Forninox™ technology are equipped with a dome covered with a layer of various types of steel that makes for a better insulation and keeps the heat in the cooking chamber longer. The floor and the vault are built with the best in-house refractory materials.
Besides, the base comes with a further refractory layer to control heat loss and to stabilise the temperature. Thanks to Forninox™ technology, Alfa meets the needs of people who want to cook with a real wood-fired oven in a no-fuss way. Let us face it, traditional wood-burning brick oven are simply the pinnacle of cooking, but they also overflow with serious constraints such as:
- Large quantities of firewood to reach high and stable temperatures.
- Time (at least 2 hours) and care to light and build a fire.
- Restrictions on installation, construction or setup of a chimney system.
Alfa thought of them when it came up with the idea of producing steel wood-fired ovens capable of going beyond the limits of traditional brick ovens.
Want more info about Forninox™ technology? Visit our page to look into the technical points of this innovation and the materials used to build our ovens.
Do you want to find out which oven is best suited for your needs?
Forninox™ technology for the professional market
The success of Forninox™– technology home ovens and the growing interest of professionals operating in the hospitality business, have convinced Alfa to extend the use of this technology to commercial ovens as well.
Many pizza makers had already chosen Alfa’s wood-fired commercial ovens for their restaurants and pizzerias attracted by their compactness and remarkable versatility. So, in 2015 the Forninox™ technology was applied to the whole range of Alfa’s commercial ovens getting a wonderful reception.
This achievement has driven us to develop new technologies and materials to manufacture high-performance, state-of-the-art ovens.
The benefits of the Forninox™ technology.
Here are the main advantages of Alfa’s steel ovens:
- Reduction of oven prep time
- Low firewood consumption
- Ease of installation
- Outstanding mobility
Reduction of oven prep time
Alfa’s largest home ovens can bring the temperature up to more than 450°C in about thirty minutes and even less for smaller models. In fact, thanks to Forninox™ technology, it takes just a few minutes to heat the oven up to the right temperature.
Low firewood consumption
To operate such an oven, you need less firewood as the STAINLESS-steel covering and the high-grade refractory materials provide enough insulation to reduce heat loss.
Ease of installation
The oven is delivered to your door and ready to be used in nothing flat. Just screw it to the base, put the flue into the dome and get it going! The dome is coated with a double layer of powder paint to protect the oven against bad weather.
Outstanding mobility
The oven low weight makes for extreme maneuverability heightened by a 4-castor light structure to move it easily. From now on, you will be able to wheel your wood-burning oven to your garden or terrace to host stonking pizza parties with friends and family.
Do you want to find out which oven is best suited for your needs?
Alfa’s ovens: “Made in Italy” swings between tradition and innovation.
Since the very beginning of the company, the pursuit of excellence was our mission statement.
The first traditional Alfa oven was built by the two founder members in 1977 (and is still in working order). We pioneered the refractory oven industry and for almost 50 years our aim was to make the wood-fired oven an affordable and easy-to-use cooking appliance which heats up quickly and consumes less energy.
We started with the raw materials, working and improving on refractories to obtain ovens with better thermal mass and insulation. Then, we focused on the structures to create robust products that stand the test of time.
All Alfa ovens are made in Italy by skilled craftsmen on the company’s premises in Anagni, not far from the historic cradles of pizza, Naples and Rome.
Watch this video to find out how our ovens are built, to understand our search for perfection in every detail and to recognise the value of craftsmanship in creating high-performance products.
Continuous research and development of new materials and technologies is the key to our successful attempt to produce ever better ovens in terms of performance and energy efficiency.
Our wide range of residential and commercial ovens provides something for everyone: indoor or outdoor, free-standing or built-in, fixed or mobile, wood-fired, gas-fired and hybrid with different customisation options available.
The Forninox™technology has allowed us to revolutionise the home wood-burning oven market and the recently patented Flue System™, that enhances the air circulation inside the chamber, has further optimised the heat output of our STAINLESS-steel wood-fired models.
At Alfa we consider the oven as a fantastic tool to enhance Italian gastronomic excellence and a source of pride to know that customers all over the world will be able to savour a bit of this excellence in a restaurant equipped with an Alfa oven.
