Tuscan Chef GX-C2 Deluxe Medium Wood Fired Pizza Oven with Cart

Description

The Tuscan Chef GX-C2 is a two chamber wood fired oven, what some dealers call a dual chamber oven: the fire burns in a brick lined firebox on the bottom, the food cooks in a separate chamber above it on a ceramic stone, and the smoke passes up through vents on both sides so the flavor reaches the food and the flames and ash do not. It is welded from 6 mm steel, wrapped in two inches of insulation and 304 stainless, and it stands on a welded steel cart with four casters and a shelf for the wood. Tuscan Chef calls it the Deluxe Family Oven, the medium of its four sizes, and it is the one we recommend first in the line. Crustify is an authorized Tuscan Chef dealer, and every GX-C2 ships free by freight.

What the two chamber changes is how you cook. In a dome oven the fire shares the floor with the pizza, so you build it, push it aside, and feed it between launches. In the GX-C2 you feed the fire through its own door below, set the heat with the damper on that door, and the chamber above behaves like a hot oven with a stone floor and a second shelf: pizza at 650°F in four minutes, bread and roasts lower and slower, for hours on a piece or two of wood an hour. It cures in an hour, assembles in half an hour, and the same oven goes into masonry later without its casters. This page covers the two chambers, how the oven is built, cooking and curing, where it sits, the built in option, how it compares to the other Tuscan Chef sizes and the other wood ovens on wheels we carry, and what to order with it.

Two Chamber: the Fire Below, the Food Above

Tuscan Chef's whole idea is the stacked layout. Every wood oven has to get the heat of a fire to a stone, and the usual way is to put them in the same room. The GX-C2 puts them in two. The firebox is the bottom chamber, lined with an inch of refractory fire brick, with its own door and a sliding damper. The cooking chamber is the top one, with the ceramic stone as its floor and the firebox roof as the stone's heat source. Vents on each side carry the smoke from the firebox up and across the cooking chamber on its way to the chimney, which is where the wood flavor comes from. The flames stay downstairs, the stone gets its heat from below like a hearth, and you work the fire and the food through two separate doors.

The firebox

Twenty inches wide, 16 deep and 7 tall, lined with fire brick, behind a steel door with a spiral heat deflecting handle and a sliding damper. The damper is the thermostat: open for more air and a hotter chamber above, closed down to hold a lower temperature on less wood. Both doors hinge down and rest on steel stops, so the firebox door becomes a lip to work the fire over. The manual's one caution is the one that matters on any two chamber oven: when you open the firebox to feed it, have the chamber above empty or the food covered, because fly ash can rise through the vents. Feed between pizzas, not during one.

The cooking chamber

Eighteen and a quarter inches wide, 18 1/2 deep and 10 tall, which is one large pizza on the stone, or two small ones, with a removable stainless wire shelf above for a second tray. That shelf is why Tuscan Chef says the oven has two to four times the cooking space of similarly priced freestanding wood ovens: pizza on the stone and a pan of vegetables on the shelf, or bread below and a roast above. The stone is about an inch and a half of ceramic and holds heat the way a hearth does, so a pizza launched straight onto it gets its crust from below while the chamber heat does the top. The oven door has the same spiral handle and the gauge sits in the body just above it, reading the chamber without opening the door.

How the GX-C2 Is Built

The body is 6 mm welded steel, a quarter inch, in high heat flat black paint, which is why it weighs 430 lb without the cart and why it holds heat for hours. Two inches of insulation surround both chambers and the sides and top are wrapped in 304 stainless; Tuscan Chef's own readings on a 700°F oven put the stainless sides at about 100°F and the top at 150, with the doors at 360 and the back at 450, so it is an oven you can stand beside and not one you touch at the back. A 39 inch stainless chimney with a spark guard cap slips over the collar on top, and two round stainless side handles bolt to the body for lifting and steering. The cart is a welded steel frame with a heavy steel shelf for the wood supply and four 4 inch casters, two of them locking, which go at the front; the oven's four corner tabs seat inside the cart frame so it cannot walk off. Chimney on, the top of the cap is 92 inches up.

Cooking in the GX-C2

Start the fire with kindling on crumpled newspaper, add small pieces as it catches, then larger splits, and give it about 40 minutes to mature into hot coals with little flame; Tuscan Chef's figure for reaching temperature is 30 to 45 minutes. The gauge above the oven door reads the chamber. Tuscan Chef says most cooking happens between 450 and 700°F, that bread, pizza, fish and steak want 600 to 800, and that ribs, roasts, poultry and lamb want 250 to 350 with the damper closed down. Thin crust pizza is four minutes at 650°F on the stone; at 700°F and up, a piece of wood every 20 to 30 minutes holds it, and at 350°F one or two pieces an hour hold it for as long as you like. Our pizza oven temperature guide covers what each reading is good for.

The second shelf is the habit to build. Pizza on the stone and a tray on the shelf, bread on the stone and a bird on the shelf, two trays of vegetables at once: the chamber is a 10 inch tall oven with a hearth floor, and it cooks like one. Seasoned hardwood only, split to the firebox: no accelerants, no treated wood, and the drier the better for heat and a clean chimney; our pizza oven wood guide covers the species. Wood grade, moisture, altitude and weather all move the numbers, so the first few cooks are for learning your oven.

Curing, Wood and Care

Before the first cook the oven is cured: a fire in the firebox to 450 to 500°F with both doors open for at least an hour, which sets the high temperature paint and drives off its fumes. Tuscan Chef's line is that its ovens cure in an hour where clay ovens take days, and it is right; you can cook the same evening. After that, clean the ash out of the firebox before each fire, wipe the stone, shelf and door with a damp cloth, use a wire brush on buildup, and wipe the outside down. The black steel is painted, not stainless, so surface rust can show in time; the manual's fix is fine steel wool and a coat of high heat flat black, and it is excluded from the warranty, which is why Tuscan Chef recommends its fitted cover and why our pizza oven maintenance guide puts a cover first.

Where It Sits

Outdoors only, on a level surface that carries 485 lb, with 36 inches from the oven to anything combustible at the front, back and sides and 18 inches from the chimney. Lock the front casters once it is placed. The cart is built to roll on smooth, level, unobstructed ground, so plan its home before the pallet arrives rather than moving it across a lawn, and keep gasoline, propane and anything flammable away from it. Nothing else to plumb or wire: it is wood, a chimney and a match.

Freestanding Now, Built In Later

Tuscan Chef's manual shows the GX-C2 set into masonry without its casters, and sells the same oven without the cart as the GX-DL in the large size and the GX-CM in this size. The installation drawing sits the oven on fire brick inside a 29 1/2 inch wide by 19 inch deep opening with 2 inches of clearance each side and a 34 inch brick or stone facing, with the 36 inch combustible clearance carried into the design. Tuscan Chef supplies the oven and chimney only and asks for a wood fireplace installer on the build; send us the drawing and we check it against the manual before you order.

How the GX-C2 Compares

Tuscan Chef makes four sizes of the same two chamber oven, and we carry two other wood ovens on wheels. The GX-C2 is the medium Tuscan Chef with the cart.

Within Tuscan Chef the choice is size and shelves: the GX-C2 is the compact medium, the GX-B1 is the same oven with a wider body and work shelves, and the GX-D1 is the large one for feeding a crowd. Against a dome oven on wheels the question is whether you want to tend a fire next to the pizza or under it; if the fire under the food is what you want but with gas to light it, the HPC Forno is the hybrid on a cart. All four Tuscan Chefs are in the Tuscan Chef collection, every wood oven we carry is in the Wood Fired collection, every oven on wheels is in the Freestanding and Cart collection, and our best wood fired pizza ovens post ranks them against each other.

Who Should Buy the GX-C2, and Who Should Not

Buy the GX-C2 if you want wood fired flavor without working a fire on the same floor as the food, if you cook more than pizza and want a stone floor and a second shelf at the same time, and if you want an oven that assembles in half an hour, cures in one, and rolls to where the party is. It is the oven for the cook who roasts and bakes outdoors on Sunday as much as makes pizza on Friday, for the buyer who wants steel and stainless rather than a dome to cure for days, and for anyone who likes that the fire is behind its own door with a damper on it.

Do not buy the GX-C2 if you want a gas burner for weeknights; it is wood only, and the HPC Forno or the Kokomo are the carts with gas. Do not buy it if you want to see the flame licking over the pizza through the mouth of a dome; the fire lives downstairs here. Do not buy it for a spot closer than 36 inches to a wall, fence or overhang, or for a deck that cannot carry 485 lb on four casters. And if you are feeding a crowd every weekend, the GX-D1 is the same oven with a 46 inch chamber. Our pizza oven buying guide walks the whole decision.

What to Order With It

The oven comes with its shelf, handles, chimney and gauge, and you supply the wood and the peel. Tuscan Chef makes a 35 inch aluminum peel, a 10 inch brass bristle brush with scraper and a fitted cover for the GX-C2; we do not list the Tuscan Chef accessories, so ask us and we will quote the cover with the oven, since a fitted cover is the one add that protects the painted steel. Any long handled peel and a brush from our accessories collection work with the 18 inch chamber. Accessories ordered with the oven ride on the same freight at no added charge.

Buying the GX-C2 From Crustify

Crustify is an authorized Tuscan Chef dealer, so the two year parts warranty applies. The oven and cart ship by freight on a pallet from Inmar Industries, Tuscan Chef's distributor in Ontario, shrink wrapped and crated, and arrive curbside with a $95 residential liftgate fee at checkout; a business address with a dock pays no liftgate. Shipping is free in the contiguous 48 states; Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico are quoted before you order. Inspect the pallet before you sign and write "damaged" on the bill or refuse delivery if there is any; Tuscan Chef treats damage reported more than three days after delivery as having happened after delivery, so unpack it when it lands. Returns on an unused oven in its original packaging follow our return policy, with return freight paid by the buyer. Chat and email go straight to the owner and are usually answered the same day; if you are planning a masonry setting, send the drawing through our contact page and we will check it against the manual before you order.

KEY FEATURES

• Tuscan Chef GX-C2 Deluxe Family Oven: two chamber wood fired oven, fire brick lined firebox below, cooking chamber above, smoke vented through both sides for flavor without flame or ash on the food
• 6 mm welded steel body in high heat flat black, two inches of insulation around both chambers, 304 stainless wrap on sides and top
• Cooking chamber 18 1/4 in wide by 18 1/2 deep by 10 tall over a 1 1/2 in ceramic stone, with a removable stainless wire shelf for a second level
• Firebox 20 by 16 by 7 in, lined with 1 in refractory fire brick, steel door with sliding damper and spiral heat deflecting handle
• Rated to 950°F; most cooking between 450 and 700°F; thin crust pizza in 4 minutes at 650°F; 30 to 45 minutes to temperature
• Holds 700°F on a piece of wood every 20 to 30 minutes and 350°F for hours on one or two pieces an hour
• Stainless gauge above the oven door, 39 in stainless chimney with spark guard, round stainless side handles
• Welded steel cart with wood shelf and four 4 in casters, two locking; oven tabs seat inside the cart frame
• Oven 27 1/2 in W by 19 D by 28 1/2 H; 92 in to the chimney cap on the cart; 430 lb oven, 55 lb cart
• Assembles in about 30 minutes, cures in an hour at 450 to 500°F with both doors open; all season outdoor use
• Sets into masonry without its casters; GX-CM is the same oven sold without the cart
• Two year parts warranty, normal consumer use; surface rust and abuse excluded
• Ships free by freight on a pallet; $95 residential liftgate

SPECIFICATIONS

Documents: Tuscan Chef GX-C2 and GX-CM spec sheet (PDF) and the Tuscan Chef product brochure (PDF).

VIDEO

INSTALLATION GUIDE & USER MANUAL

Delivery. The oven and cart arrive on a pallet, shrink wrapped. Inspect before you sign; mark the bill "damaged" or refuse delivery if there is any, and report concealed damage within three days. Unpack on a moving pad or cardboard so the steel and stainless do not scratch; cut the plastic wrapped ties holding the doors, pull the nylon hinge inserts, the tube support inside the oven and the box with the chimney cap and thermometer.

Cart. Turn the cart on its edge and bolt the four casters on with a 14 mm socket and 13 mm wrench, the two locking casters on the long side where the front of the oven will be. Set it on its wheels and lock them.

Oven. Bolt the round stainless side handles to the oven body with a 17 mm wrench. Push the thermometer through the hole above the oven chamber and snug the nut and washer from inside. With two or more people, lift the oven onto the cart so its four corner tabs seat inside the frame. Fit the cap to the chimney and slide the chimney down over the collar on top of the oven.

Curing. Light a fire in the firebox, open both doors, and run the oven at 450 to 500°F for at least an hour to cure the paint before any food goes in.

Firing. Kindling on crumpled newspaper, small wood as it catches, then splits; about 40 minutes to mature coals. Set the heat with the firebox damper and the amount of wood; a piece every 20 to 30 minutes at 700°F, one or two an hour at 350°F. Empty the oven chamber or cover the food before opening the firebox. Gloves or mitts on both doors; lift each door slightly to swing it and lower it onto its stop.

Care. Clean the ash from the firebox and wipe the chamber, stone, shelf and door with a damp cloth before each use; wire brush any buildup. Wipe the outside down; touch up surface rust with fine steel wool and high heat flat black paint. Cover the oven between cooks.

Documents: Tuscan Chef GX series owner's manual (PDF), Tuscan Chef GX-C2 and GX-CM spec sheet (PDF).

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Term. Tuscan Chef outdoor wood fired ovens are warranted for two years, parts only, subject to normal consumer use. Curing the oven before use as the manual describes is a condition of the warranty.

Not covered. Surface rust on the painted steel, and damage caused by abuse or neglect, including improper installation or use contrary to the manual; Inmar Industries accepts no liability for damage from improper use or installation.

Claims. Contact us first with photos and your order number and we handle the claim with Tuscan Chef. Shipping damage is separate: note it on the bill at delivery or report it within three days.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - FAQ'S

Your Questions Answered Before You Buy

These are the questions we get most often about the Tuscan Chef GX-C2, answered from Tuscan Chef's manual, spec sheet and brochure. If yours is not here, chat or email goes to the owner and you will usually hear back the same day.