Tuscan Chef GX-D1 46 Inch Two Chamber Wood Fired Pizza Oven with Cart

Description

The Tuscan Chef GX-D1 is the large one: the same two chamber wood fired oven as the GX-C2 and GX-B1, fire brick lined firebox below, cooking chamber above on a ceramic stone, smoke vented up through both sides so the flavor reaches the food and the flames and ash do not, built out to 46 inches wide with a 36 1/4 inch stone and a 38 1/2 inch firebox. It is welded from 6 mm steel, wrapped in two inches of insulation and 304 stainless, and it stands on a cart sized for a 700 lb oven, with five 5 inch casters and a rack for the wood. Tuscan Chef calls it the Deluxe Family Oven in its large size, and the catalog is plain about who it is for: the cook who runs out of floor before the guests run out of appetite. Crustify is an authorized Tuscan Chef dealer, and every GX-D1 ships free by freight.

The GX-D1 cooks the way the smaller Tuscan Chefs cook, with twice the floor. Two large pizzas go on the stone side by side, three smaller ones, or two whole birds in pans with room between them, and the wire shelves above hold the trays; the firebox takes bigger splits and more of them, so a long evening needs fewer trips to the fire. What it asks in return is a place: 46 inches wide, 96 tall with the chimney, 760 lb on its casters, and a 700 lb oven that goes onto the cart once and stays there. This page covers the two chambers at this size, how the oven is built, cooking and curing, where it sits and how it arrives, the GX-DL built in version, how it compares to the other Tuscan Chef sizes and the other big wood ovens we carry, and what to order with it.

Two Chambers at Full Size

Tuscan Chef's whole idea is the stacked layout, what some dealers call a dual chamber oven. 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 manual's one habit: 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 firebox

Thirty eight and a half inches wide, 16 deep and 9 1/2 tall, nearly twice the firebox of the medium ovens, behind a steel door with a spiral heat deflecting handle and the sliding damper that is the oven's thermostat. The size is the point for a long cook: full length splits lie flat, a bigger bed of coals holds the wide stone even from one end to the other, and the manual's schedule of a piece every 20 to 30 minutes at 700°F is for a single piece into a fire that is already deep. Both doors hinge down onto steel stops, so the firebox door becomes a lip to work the fire over.

The cooking chamber

Thirty six and a quarter inches wide, 18 1/2 deep and 11 1/4 tall over about an inch and a half of ceramic stone, with removable stainless wire shelves above. That is two large pizzas on the stone side by side, three 12 inch, or a pizza and a sheet pan, with the shelves for a second layer; Tuscan Chef puts the whole line at two to four times the cooking space of similarly priced freestanding wood ovens, and the GX-D1 is where that is most obviously true. The extra inch and a quarter of height over the medium ovens is the room a roasting pan with a whole bird wants. The gauge sits in the body above the oven door and reads the chamber without opening it.

The photo above is the honest capacity claim: two whole chickens in pans side by side with room to spare. Bread on one side and a roast on the other, a tray of vegetables on the shelf above, and the fire downstairs turned down to hold 350°F for the afternoon on a piece or two of wood an hour.

How the GX-D1 Is Built

The body is 6 mm welded steel, a quarter inch, in high heat flat black paint, which at this size is 700 lb of oven before the cart. Two inches of insulation surround both chambers and the sides and top are wrapped in 304 stainless; Tuscan Chef's 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. A 39 inch stainless chimney, 4 1/2 inches in diameter here, slips over the collar on top with its spark guard cap, and two round stainless side handles bolt to the body. The cart is a welded steel frame 46 wide by 19 deep and 22 tall, with a heavy steel rack for the wood and five 5 inch casters, two of them locking, the fifth under the middle of the span. The oven's corner tabs seat inside the cart frame. Chimney on, the cap is 96 inches up.

Cooking in the GX-D1

Start the fire with kindling on crumpled newspaper, add small pieces as it catches, then full splits across the width of the box, and give it about 40 minutes to mature into coals; Tuscan Chef's figure for reaching temperature is 30 to 45 minutes, and on a cold day the big oven wants the long end of that. 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 width changes the rhythm. With two pizzas on the stone you launch the second while the first is halfway, turn both, and land them together; with a 36 inch floor you can keep the hot side by the vents for pizza and the cooler middle for a pan, and read the difference with an infrared gun. Seasoned hardwood only, split long for the 38 inch firebox: no accelerants, no treated wood, and the drier the better; 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 you can cook the same evening. After that, clean the ash out of the firebox before each fire, wipe the stone, shelves and door with a damp cloth, wire brush any 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 makes a fitted cover for the GX-D1 and why our pizza oven maintenance guide puts a cover first.

Where It Sits, and How It Gets There

Outdoors only, on a level surface that carries 760 lb on five casters, with 36 inches from the oven to anything combustible at the front, back and sides and 18 inches from the chimney; with the oven 46 inches wide, that is about ten feet of clear width. Lock the casters once it is placed. The cart rolls on smooth, level, unobstructed ground, and at this weight that means a slab or pavers, not a lawn or a step; plan the spot before the pallet comes. The oven itself is a 700 lb lift onto the cart: the manual says two or more people and gives you the side handles, and our advice is four people with straps or an engine hoist, and once it is on the cart it does not come off. If the oven is going onto a deck, have the deck checked for the load. Keep gasoline, propane and anything flammable away from it.

The GX-DL: the Same Oven Built In

Tuscan Chef sells this oven without the cart as the GX-DL, the same 46 inch body, chamber, firebox and chimney at 700 lb, for a masonry opening or a non combustible counter. Tuscan Chef publishes a masonry drawing for the medium GX-CM but not for the large; what carries over is the method, the oven on fire brick inside the opening with clearance each side, and the 36 inch combustible clearance designed into the structure. 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 before you order. If the oven will roll, the GX-D1 on this page is the one.

How the GX-D1 Compares

Tuscan Chef makes four sizes of the same two chamber oven, and we carry two other large wood ovens on wheels. The GX-D1 is the large Tuscan Chef with the cart.

Within Tuscan Chef the GX-D1 is the step up in floor, not in workspace: the GX-B1 gives you shelves beside a medium oven, the D1 gives you a stone twice as wide with none. Against the other big wood ovens on wheels, the question is weight and the fire: the Maximus Prime is the big oven that travels, with the fire on the floor beside the pizza, and the D1 is the big oven that stays home with the fire underneath. If a fire under the food with gas to light it is the goal, 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-D1, and Who Should Not

Buy the GX-D1 if you feed a crowd and want it done in one round: two large pizzas at a time, two birds on a Sunday, bread and a roast together, with a firebox that takes full splits and holds all afternoon. It is the oven for the big patio with a slab under it, for the host who cooks for twenty, and for the buyer who wants the two chamber layout at a size the medium ovens cannot reach.

Do not buy the GX-D1 if you cook for four; the GX-C2 does everything this oven does at half the weight and well under the price. Do not buy it for a spot that cannot carry 760 lb, for ground it has to cross that is not smooth and level, or for a deck nobody has checked. Do not buy it if you want a gas burner for weeknights, it is wood only, or if the oven needs to travel, where the Maximus Prime is the big oven under 200 lb. And if it is going into a masonry opening, buy the GX-DL instead and skip the cart. Our pizza oven buying guide walks the whole decision.

What to Order With It

The oven comes with its wire shelves, side 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 large cover for the GX-D1; 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. A long handled peel and a brush from our accessories collection work with the 36 inch chamber, and an infrared thermometer earns its place on a floor this wide. Accessories ordered with the oven ride on the same freight at no added charge.

Buying the GX-D1 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, and at 760 lb that is a reason to settle the spot and the lift before you order. Chat and email go straight to the owner and are usually answered the same day; send a photo of the spot through our contact page and we will check the clearances and the path in before you order.

KEY FEATURES

• Tuscan Chef GX-D1 Deluxe Family Oven, large: 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
• 46 in wide body; cooking chamber 36 1/4 in wide by 18 1/2 deep by 11 1/4 tall over a 1 1/2 in ceramic stone, with removable stainless wire shelves above; two large pizzas at once
• Firebox 38 1/2 by 16 by 9 1/2 in, lined with 1 in refractory fire brick, steel door with sliding damper and spiral heat deflecting handle; takes full length splits
• 6 mm welded steel body in high heat flat black, two inches of insulation around both chambers, 304 stainless wrap on sides and top
• 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 by 4 1/2 in stainless chimney with spark guard, round stainless side handles
• Welded steel cart with wood rack and five 5 in casters, two locking; oven tabs seat inside the cart frame
• Oven 31 1/2 in H by 46 W by 19 D; 96 in to the chimney cap on the cart; 700 lb oven, 60 lb cart
• Assembles in about 30 minutes with a four person lift, cures in an hour at 450 to 500°F with both doors open; all season outdoor use
• GX-DL is the same oven without the cart for built in or countertop
• 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-D1 and GX-DL 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, 760 lb together. 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 five 5 inch 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. The oven is 700 lb: the manual says two or more people; plan on four with lifting straps, or an engine hoist, and set it so its corner tabs seat inside the cart 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 across the box; 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, shelves 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-D1 and GX-DL 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-D1, 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.