I’ve been baking sourdough bread for a little over ten years now, professionally for nearly four. I’ve also worked extensively in commercial kitchens as a professional chef, and used a lot of ovens over that time. It wasn’t all that long ago that if you wanted to bake more than a few loaves of bread at a time in a home setting, you had one option — a Rofco. Sure you could use multiple dutch ovens or rig an open bake hack out of a standard home oven, but the Rofco was the only hearth oven designed to give home bakers results similar to that of a professional deck oven.
I suppose there really wasn’t much demand for others either. Covid and the rise of the cottage baking industry have changed that though, and we are in the midst of a modern day baking renaissance at the moment. Over the last five or so years, multiple competitors have arrived to the market, vying for expanding market share. This growth in baking has mirrored the growth of our group, Sourdough Geeks, and I have been watching the oven space closely since the group was founded in 2020.
The purpose of this article is to compare all of the major home-suitable bread ovens on the market today, of which there are five. There are a few others out there, but these five are the major players: Rofco B40, Nero 400, Simply Bread Oven, RackMaster RM2020 and the Tom Chandley Pico+. Both the Rofco and the Tom Chandley also come in other options, but these two are both the largest of their offerings. In addition to my thoughts on each of these ovens, I have also put together an at-a-glance chart to help you compare the features and benefits of each.
Rofco B40
Since Rofco was the first to market, this is a fitting place to start. I know many people who own and love their Rofco(s). There is a strong affinity for them amongst cottage bakers, partly because of the way it united them in learning to deal with its quirks and issues together. In so many ways it's a workhorse, and its simplicity is one of its greatest strengths. It doesn’t have any bells or whistles, but it also puts out loaf after loaf after loaf.
They definitely have their quirks that need adjusting to though. They have a single control for all of the heating elements, and, since they have 3 decks stacked vertically, this presents uneven heating issues. The bottom deck is notoriously the hottest on a Rofco, and is the reason for a maneuver dubbed the ‘Rofco Shuffle’ where a baker uses a peel to swap the bread on the top and bottom decks mid-bake. Yes it’s annoying, but it’s an annoyance that brought the community together.
Then there’s the failure issues. Complaints from cottage bakers seemed to be happening with increasing frequency. The door seals would begin to fail. The doors themselves would begin to get misaligned over time and the latches that hold the door shut would also fail. An enterprising fabricator in the UK named Campbell MacFarlane actually started a cottage industry in creating fixes and workarounds for these failures (more on him later). Lots of people complained, but nothing was done to improve things by Rofco. Customers were just left to their own devices to sort out the issues on their own.
There are steam trays available for the Rofco, but they take up valuable real estate on each of the decks, so most Rofco owners use a garden sprayer to steam their ovens. It’s a workaround that works, but, again, it’s a workaround.
Nero 400
The Nero was the first to really challenge the Rofco, and it offered several features that the Rofco was missing. It has a much better door latch and seal for starters, and also has small viewing windows into each deck so you can see a bit more of what’s happening inside. They have independent controls for each heating element, which allows for a more even bake. But the deck space is actually smaller than the Rofco, so they have slightly lower baking capacity, and they have well documented niggles with things like the light covers breaking and fuses overheating that have caused quite a few issues for owners. The fact that they also don’t have any steam generation along with a recent price increase makes them much less a value proposition today.
Simply Bread Oven
Simply Bread is relatively new to the market, and I first heard about them through a cottage baker friend who bought one in the summer of 2022. She posted a video of it and my first thought was that it was aesthetically beautiful! She went on to mention that it had integrated steam, great heat retention, individual deck adjustment and was easy to make good bread in. I was a retail bakery owner at the time, using a large steam injected MIWE deck oven, so I didn’t really think much else about it at the time, other than being really impressed with its visual appeal, large viewing window and impressive features.
We closed the bakery last Spring, however, and Sourdough Geeks was (and still is) growing rapidly. I began looking at home-suitable ovens again and spent a lot of time speaking to owners and researching all the available options. I continued to hear nothing but positive things from Simply Bread owners, and I was impressed with the features and functionality that were listed. The Simply Bread has the joint largest capacity, is one of only two that have integrated steam, has a large viewing window, adjustable intensity controls for even baking, and they are designed and built in the US where I live.
RackMaster RM2020
This oven came out shortly before the Simply Bread, but was not yet available in the US until after the release of the Simply Bread Oven. It is the brainchild of the aforementioned Campbell MacFarlane, who made a name for himself creating fixes for the Rofco. His oven is an impressive one, and is built very solidly with thick stone decks and an innovative twist door seal mechanism that produces a very good seal. It also boasts a large viewing window like the Simply Bread, and individual control over each heating element, but does not come with integrated steam. It does have 8% larger deck area, but ends up with very similar capacity in terms of number of loaves because of the layout dimensions.
The oven has a considerably larger footprint than any of the other ovens I looked at, with an external width of just under 32”, over 7” wider than the Simply Bread. I have a friend locally with one so I was able to check it out in person. I was truly surprised at how big it was when I was face to face with it. It does have the longest heat up time of the ovens I looked at, but the thickness of the stones likely has a lot to do with that and I was impressed with how sturdy it was.
Tom Chandley Pico+
This one is a bit of a wild card in the mix here. It is also made in the UK like the RackMaster, by Tom Chandley who have been making commercial bread ovens for decades. On the surface that sounds like strong praise, but I would personally rate their commercial deck ovens as mid-tier at best amongst European manufacturers.
I haven’t actually used one of these before, although I do have a few baker friends who own one. It has the fastest heat up time of all the ovens I looked at, and does have individual controls for both the top and bottom elements. I will say that the people I know who have one seem happy with their purchase. It is a single deck, modular oven that can hold a full sheet pan, so to match the capacity of the Simply Bread or RackMaster you would need to purchase 2-3 of them. They do have integrated steam but I’m told it's a little tricky to fill the reservoir which is under the deck, and the door is two pieces of glass with open top and bottom and no easy way to clean in between the two panes.
The distributor in the US is a company called ISCA which appears to be relatively new, and possibly a rebrand of Brook Bake. They are commercial equipment distributors, and it's a bit of a chore getting information as you have to contact them to see pricing and request a shipping quote for actual freight charges. It’s all just a bit of an old paradigm in my estimation, with other brands being more transparent and accessible to their audiences.
Bottom Line
Last year, we were in serious talks with multiple manufacturers/distributors about an oven partnership for Sourdough Geeks. After literally months of deliberation, lots of back and forth, researching and studying every possible angle, we came to the conclusion that the Simply Bread Oven was the right choice for us as a partner. Here are some of the factors that were the deciders:
Rofco
I’ve used a Rofco in the past and honestly never got along with it. I suppose if you’ve never used an oven with properly even heat, a good seal and steam injection, you perhaps don’t know what you’re missing. But, if you have, these things are woefully absent, and babysitting bakes where you can’t really see the bread baking but know you have to move loaves around for an even bake is no fun at all. If you need larger capacity on a tight budget then I can see a case for buying one now, but be prepared for lots of time and energy spent that would serve better elsewhere.
Nero 400
This isn’t an oven that I have ever seriously considered and wouldn't ever recommend buying unless it was second-hand at an absolute bargain price. I see it as a stop-gap solution rather than an end goal oven.
RackMaster RM2020
The size of this oven was the biggest disappointment for me. It was realistically just too big for the room I was putting the oven in (my dining room) but not quite large enough for meaningful extra capacity. If it were 2” wider it would take 3 full sheet pans, and I would rather it be a little bigger for that kind of extra capacity. If you have the room for one then it is worth taking a closer look at, and I have no doubt that it is a solid performer despite the lack of integrated steam.
Tom Chandley Pico+
If I were looking for limited capacity for home baking, this is one I would consider for that. It is the least expensive of the ovens I looked at, but also has the smallest capacity. Another consideration is that it can grow with you because they are stackable and modular, and you do get flexibility of being able to bake at different temperatures on each one, but you will also need a dedicated 220V circuit for each one also, so it's likely going to cost you more overall to reach the same capacity as the others once you factor in shipping and additional costs of wiring electrical for it.
Simply Bread Oven
This one just ticked the most boxes for me personally. I got to meet the owner, Stijn Vanorbeek, along with his wife, Jana, who hosted me for a couple of days at their home in southern California. I really clicked with them as people, and Stijn and I share the same entrepreneurial spirit. I was able to use the oven extensively and was really impressed with its performance, and I loved the fact that they are designed and built here in the US where I live and where the largest percentage of our membership also lives. They are also going to be expanding production to the European market and are looking to expand into Australia in the future too.
The Simply Bread Oven warranty has been extended to two full years, including commercial use, and they were recently awarded an NSF listing which means that the ovens can be used in both residential and commercial settings. Stijn also has a vision for his company being much more than an oven manufacturer. He views the role of Simply Bread as being a partner to cottage bakers, and they have an app in beta (soon to be fully released) which helps cottage bakers to manage orders, stock levels, customer marketing and communication and more. He has shared some of that vision with me, and I am excited about the prospect of how we can work together to continue to innovate and support the cottage baking industry at large.
And, last but certainly not least, the oven is simply beautiful. This isn’t really a consideration in a commercial space, but if an oven is going to take pride of place in a home then it should also be a statement piece of equipment that is designed with both form and function in mind.
Summing up: For a cottage baker, your oven is likely to be your single largest investment and your choice should be based not just on budget but also on both your immediate and long-term needs and goals. After considerable deliberation the choice was clear for us. I hope this article (and handy comparison chart) help bring that decision into sharper relief for you.
To purchase a Simply Bread Oven and receive their Essential Accessory Bundle FREE ($250 value) simply use the following link and make sure you put both the oven and the Essential Accessory Bundle in your cart before checkout: Simply Bread Bundle
*This article solely represents the opinion of the author, and assertions made in it are believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
