Kevin Hansen
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I’m not going to lie. I was a bit surprised when I learned that Ooni was making an updated Volt electric pizza oven. The original Volt 12 was a fantastic product, so I wondered, “Can they really improve on an already great oven?” The answer, it turns out, is hell yes. Ooni was kind enough to send me a media sample so that I can describe my experience with the new Volt 2. As usual, I’ll give you my authentic opinion without any bull.
Unboxing & Design: Volt 2 vs. Original Volt 12
The first thing that surprised me about the Volt 2 is the price tag. I don’t always like to talk about price in reviews because numbers change over time. But the Volt 2 is launching in the US at $699 dollars, which is 300 bucks cheaper than when the original Volt released. But one difference is that the original Volt was an indoor/outdoor electric oven while the Volt 2 is strictly for indoor use.
The Volt 2 arrived like any other Ooni product I’ve tested – in beautiful packaging with no Styrofoam. I hate disposing of Styrofoam, so I’m always happy about that. After opening it, you’ll immediately see the most obvious change: the size. In the Pala Pizza review of the Volt 12, one of the biggest complaints was just how huge the oven was for cooking 12-inch pizzas. The new Volt is quite a bit smaller. The Volt 12 took up about 503 square inches of counter space while the new Volt 2 takes up only 373 square inches of counter space. That’s about 26% less than before!
Looking at the front you can see that the viewing window is larger and the controls have changed. The Volt 2 also has a larger temperature range as it’s able go as low as 70 degrees Fahrenheit in its new dough-proofing mode all the way up to a blazing 850-degrees for Neapolitan pizza.
Ooni abandoned the original Volt’s all dial interface and moved to buttons that let you choose between the different oven modes. There are modes for Neapolitan, New York style (which they call “Thin and Crispy”), Pan Pizza, Dough Proofing, Oven Mode, Broiling, and a couple extra buttons for you to create and save your own cooking presets. Each mode has a preset temperature and level of crisping intensity, but you can make adjustments within a range on each one.
Speaking of that oven mode, the Volt 2 comes with a wire rack so that you can bake, roast, and toast other foods as you would in other countertop toaster ovens. But for the purposes of this review, I’m focusing on the pizza. Speaking of which, how’d the Volt 2 pizza cooking go? Let’s get started.
Volt 2 Pizza Baking Performance
For the Neapolitan pizza, I made a 65% hydration poolish dough and let it rest in the fridge for three days. The Volt 2 has a new helpful boost setting available specifically when you’re in the Neapolitan oven mode. You press down the dial until the light starts flashing causing the oven to supercharge the top heating element. Once the flashing light turns solid, you launch in your pizza.
As you can see in the picture, the Volt 2 delivered excellent leoparding on the crust, better than what you’d get from the original Volt oven. The pizzas were delicious, and each one cooked in 80-90 seconds. The pizza baked evenly except for one pizza that I accidentally launched too close to the back of the oven. Here’s a picture of some pizza I made later in the original Volt 12 so that you can compare the quality of the leoparding for yourself.
With New York style pizza, the oven worked just as well. I made a 62% hydration dough letting it cold proof for two days. Using the “thin and crispy” mode, I got fantastic, crisp pizza cooked in just a few minutes. The color I got on my first cook might be darker than some people like (though I personally prefer it this way). The thin and crispy mode sets the oven to 660 degrees Fahrenheit by default, so for the last pizza I lowered the heat to 600 degrees and got pizza with less char. The power of this oven is how responsive the controls are. You can quickly adjust on the fly to get the preferred results for your pizza.
Final Thoughts
So what do I think of the Volt 2? It’s the best electric countertop oven I’ve tried so far. Between the smaller size, the improved top heating element, upgraded controls, and the flexibility to proof dough and use it as a conventional oven and broiler, the Volt 2 is far better than the original Volt. The launch price being $300 lower than the launch price of the first-gen Volt oven is a bonus. The Volt 2 will definitely be a mainstay of my home kitchen from now on.
Check out my video review for more info!
Have questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below!
