Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven Review: Bonfire to Backyard ‘Za

Smokeless fire pits are all the rage; no one has to shift away from a plume of smoke and your clothes don’t develop that charred scent. But if you really want to capitalize on the high-heat and burn efficiency of your Breeo, you can take it a step further with the Breeo Live-Fire pizza oven. Harness those raging temps into a ⅞-inch thick pizza stone for fun cooking and delicious pizza. I tested the Live-Fire by sending 20 pies through it on a Friday night. Check out how it went in this Breeo Live-Fire pizza oven review. 

Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven Specs and Key Features

See It

• Outer Finish: Corten steel or 304 stainless steel 
• Pizza Stone: Cordierite 
• Total Height: 19 inches
• Total Width: 27.5 inches
• Stone Thickness: 0.875 inches
• Stone Length: 19 inches
• Weight: 76 pounds with stone, 61 pounds without stone 
• Compatible with X24, X30, and Luxeve fire pits
• Lifetime warranty
• Made in the USA

Pizza Stone

The 19-inch pizza stone that rests inside the Live-Fire is split in half for convenience. At nearly an inch thick, it’s pretty heavy so the fact that it’s in two parts helps a lot when placing and removing it, as well as with clean-up and storage. The ⅞-inch thickness keeps pizzas at a hot and even temperature.

Temperature Gauge

The oven is equipped with a temperature gauge that measures the air temp inside the oven. This makes cooking a breeze because you can easily tell when to start cooking, add more wood, or adjust the flue opening to stay inside the optimal cooking range of 700º to 900º.

Durability

The steel is built to withstand the elements and the high-heat necessary for cooking pizzas in minutes. There are hooks built into the pizza oven that properly place the accessory on top of your firepit and the entire system is sturdy. I feel good about the oven’s longevity, and it comes with a limited lifetime warranty. The corten finish has a natural rustic patina, so signs of age appear charming rather than weathered. 

Testing the Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven In the Field

To test Breeo’s Live-Fire pizza oven, I invited friends over for an evening of personal wood-fire pizzas: BYOT (bring your own toppings). About 20 pizzas went in and out of the oven over the course of an hour and a half. 

Step 1: Bonfire

To get started Breeo recommends starting a fire in your smokeless fire pit 45 minutes before you want to cook to develop a bed of coals. That’s right, step one is just starting a bonfire and opening a beer. While the smokeless design of the Breeo means there’s a ton of airflow to promote the most efficient burn, it also means that the fire eats through the coals you want for cooking. So you’ll want to add a lot of wood for this initial fire. Use up your largest pieces of wood now, because the smaller pieces are more effective at keeping your temperature evenly in range later.

Step 2: Pizza Oven

Once the fire burned down into embers, I put the pizza oven on top. I’d recommend having a friend help with this step, but I managed alright as a 5-foot, 7-inch woman (lift with your legs). To give myself the best chance of success at topping the firepit with the 27.5-inch wide and 61-pound oven solo, I left the 15-pound pizza stone out until the oven was locked in place with the helpful hooks inside. You can slightly adjust the oven on top of the fire pit until the hooks situate. 

If you have a friend helping you lift the oven, go ahead and put in the pizza stone prior so you don’t have to arrange it on top of a hot fire. I used the convenient hook on the Breeo 304 fire poker to coax both pieces into place. There is a hole in the back of the oven that the stone curves around to allow for air flow and rising heat. Keep this in mind when you’re slinging pizzas, because you don’t want one to hit the back and fall into the flames below.

Step 3: Pizza

After 10 minutes of a 700º to 900º air temperature, the stone should be hot enough for a pizza. I threw in a test pie slathered in buffalo chicken dip with parmesan and jalapenos on top and in minutes I had an appetizer to rival your favorite sport’s bar. A non-negotiable accessory to the Live-Fire is a peel (the paddle-shaped pizza transporter). I thought Breeo’s peel worked phenomenally. I sprinkled it with cornmeal before every pizza and no sticking occurred. The back of the aluminum blade is up-turned to prevent covering yourself in pizza after a too-swift jerk. 

Though once I was cooking two personal pizzas at a time, the turned up edges worked against me. The lip was too good at keeping the pizza in place when I was aiming to spin it around for even cooking without disturbing the other pie, resulting in an awkward twist motion. But I still recommend this peel. I was highly impressed by the silicone grip; it never got too hot or warped even though it was frequently too close to the very hot oven when I rested the peel’s blade on top.

Step 4: Turn 180º

The pizzas take about 5 minutes each to cook, and it’s necessary to turn them halfway through for an even golden crust. If you maintain a higher temperature, you can cut that cook time in half. I’d highly recommend keeping a stock of small pieces of wood to keep the fire hot. A typical log resulted in a longer lag for the temp to rise, and too much heat. Some 10-by-2-inch hardwood scraps were perfect. It only took one or two to raise the temperature 200º.

I was able to smoke out one pie by messing with the adjustable chimney flue. I added too much wood, and tried to stifle the heat by partially closing the flue. Keep it at least the majority open the entire time, if not fully open. It took a couple minutes (and one very black pizza) to restore air flow balance to the oven. The flue adjuster is just a metal extension above the pizza slot that gets very hot. You’ll need gloves to touch it, and watch out when leaning in to inspect your pizza: I managed to singe my forehead on it.

Step 5: Enjoy

I felt like a pizza professional using Breeo’s rocker to cut up the pies. After all of your pizzas are done, you and a friend (don’t try it solo if the oven is hot) can lift the pizza oven off to once again enjoy a smokeless bonfire. 

What the Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven Does Best

Sturdy, durable, and massively fun, this backyard wood-fire pizza oven is an awesome accessory to your Breeo smokeless fire pit. It’s easy to use and produces delicious pizzas. I have confidence that it’ll last a long time. The Live-Fire is great for shoulder season because you can gather around the bonfire before and after. And you can keep the heat out of your kitchen in the summertime. 

If you’re always looking for an excuse to move the party outside, this is a great investment for your backyard. My guests were inspired to bring cookie dough next time, and have a brunch pizza party. Rather than the novelty wearing off, I only want more excuses to use it.

Where the Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven Can Improve

Friends were also interested in taking it camping for backcountry pizza, but in my opinion, that is where the versatility of the Live-Fire stops. It is large, heavy, and far from portable. It was a two-person chore to move it down five stairs from my porch to the patio. Keep it in one spot if at all possible.

Read Next: Best Smokeless Fire Pits

Final Thoughts

Breeo’s Live-Fire Pizza Oven was easier to use than I anticipated and I had a ton of fun manning the fire and slinging pizzas. In my book, not much beats an open beer and an open flame. If you feel the same, you won’t regret investing in this Breeo smokeless fire pit accessory.