First 'Ooni' Pizza!!

[Woodbloke]

As it was so pleasant in the back garden today I mentioned to SWIMBO that we could have pizza from the Ooni for tea and subsequently got the 'green light'. At the end of summer last year, I froze a couple of base mixes, some salami and mozzarella, so they were defrosted during the day. What I didn't have was a tin of Mutti pizza sauce so I had to improvise with some ratatoullie (needs must :eusa-whistle: ) or any fresh basil. I thought I might have lost the knack:



....but it's like riding a bike so it got the not of approval from SWIMBO, especially when we had a bucket of ice cream for pud - Rob

 

[Mike G]

You're out of practice, Rob. I'm a bit worried about the symmetry. :lol: :lol:

 

[Woodster]

Now the weathers getting better I’ll be firing mine up a bit more often. My last effort was a bit soggy in the middle (but the crust was light and airy) due to me not turning the gas down a bit before launching the Pizza.

 

[Woodbloke]

You're out of practice, Rob. I'm a bit worried about the symmetry. :lol: :lol:

Looked a bit of a 'dogs dinner' with no greenery Mike and the tomato 'base' was a bit strange, but it tasted fandabby! - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

Are you pleased with the Ooni? I keep thinking about getting a pizza oven. My wife's firm imports the Alpha pizza ovens (which are mainly trade oriented) and she is keeping her eye out for a return of a small one. I've never used one of these dedicated jobs.

 

[sunnybob]

I've been this route before, so wont be too controversial this time :lol:
Pizzas cook at 255c (500f). 5 minutes if its fan assisted, 10 if it isnt.
Any temp over 250 crisps it to quickly.
Thats 20 years of installing and repairing catering pizza ovens talking.

 

[Woodster]

Are you pleased with the Ooni? I keep thinking about getting a pizza oven. My wife's firm imports the Alpha pizza ovens (which are mainly trade oriented) and she is keeping her eye out for a return of a small one. I've never used one of these dedicated jobs.

I’ve been making Pizza at home for quite a few years on and off.
Using a conventional oven, even pre heating a stone in it to put the pizza on, never achieved good results.
One tip I saw if using a conventional fan oven was to make the base and put the tomato sauce on and pre cook for a little while. Then remove it, put on the topping and re-cook. This helped but still didn’t produce what I would call a proper Pizza.

I bought a gas fired Ooni and it has transformed my results. I often prefer the Pizza’s I make to those from even Italian restaurants that serve Pizza. It reaches 450°C in about 10 minutes even in winter.
The high heat produces a crust that is light and airy in a way that was impossible in our fan oven (using exactly the same dough) I do though, as mentioned earlier, sometimes forget to turn the heat down a little which can result in a soggy base in the middle.

It’s not all good though. The Ooni doesn’t like windy conditions and it’s a little bit of a faff setting it up outdoors. If I had the space I’d prefer a Pizza oven I could use indoors. Having said that keeping high temperature devices outdoors is an advantage during the summer months.

As Pizza is one of my favourite foods I would definitely buy a proper Pizza oven again if I needed to.

My experience of fan oven v Ooni is conclusive but perhaps others have a different experience.

 

[Woodster]

This is an interesting article.

https://fornopiombo.com/blogs/news/...t are pizza ovens?,from a dome shape instead.

As I’ve liked Pizza since the mid 1970’s I took an early interest in how they were cooked in places like Pizza Express and Pizzaland. They use a different, non traditional method and may use different additives in their dough to achieve suitable results? Both restaurants put the dough into metal pans for cooking.
In the last Pizzaland I looked at the pizza was heated by electric elements from both above and below and the pans actually moved along a metal conveyor. Pizza Express, as far as I know use a static oven but once again I suspect heat is applied to both the top and the bottom of the Pizza. I don’t mind Pizza Express but I much prefer the pizza from a restaurant I know that uses a traditional style Pizza oven.

 

[Woodbloke]

Are you pleased with the Ooni? I keep thinking about getting a pizza oven.

Very pleased Adrian. There are different options but we went for the one that burns the wood pellets. It was a bit of a 'learning curve' last year when I was a newbie at it and we had one or two that were edible, but could have been better. After a few attempts, I'd worked out a what to do and more importantly, what not to do. At the end of the jour, anything that comes out of it will taste fantastic, but it's practice that produces a decent looking pizza. I'd definitely go for one with all the accessories (laser temp gun thingie, peel(s), cover etc) and the hardback recipe book is particularly good - Rob

Edit - I use the breadmaker to mix the dough and I made a boxwood 'pizza pin' last year to roll the stuff out.

 

[Woodster]

Agreed on the accessories. I bought a laser temp gauge, pizza peel and a turning peel. The last item is handy for turning it around. I flip it 90° giving each section about 10 - 15 seconds in the Ooni and repeat if it needs a bit more.
I do a Poolish the day before then mix it in the KitchenAid. I roll it into balls which then go into a low euro box with a lid to rise for a few hours. I stretch mine and they end up similar to a Neapolitan Pizza with a nice airy crust. I’m currently using Caputo Nuvola Super flour which not only makes a good Pizza but also a nice loaf in the Panasonic.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks for answering my question.

Just for info, pizza express also use conveyors (not on customer view). My wife's firm supplies them to numerous chains doing pizza. In to out can be as little as 90 seconds the tech guys say, but typically 2 minutes. You can do several at a time as the conveyer grids are about 2 metres wide on the big ones.

Jay Rayner reckons he has done a blind taste test on gas v wood burner and reckons he can't tell any difference.

 

[sunnybob]

I installed maintained and repaired Lincoln and Blodgett conveyor pizza ovens to 90% of UK fast food catering and industrial outlets, Pizza hut, papa johns, perfect pizza ,Lloyds bank, natwest bank, et al, and countless independants.
I've been in clean room commercial test kitchens for frozen food suppliers working on the "perfect pizza's".
Every wednesday in my house is PIZZA night (and theres hell to pay if it doesnt happen :eusa-naughty: ).
My one specialist subject on this forum is pizza. :lol: :lol: :eusa-dance: :eusa-dance:

 

[Woodster]

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Jay Rayner reckons he has done a blind taste test on gas v wood burner and reckons he can't tell any difference.

I doubt I could either but then I wouldn’t expect to. It’s about the texture for me. I bought a gas Ooni for the convenience and the fact I already had a couple of propane bottles. I did have to replace the regulator though as the Ooni one is for patio gas bottles.

Interesting about the Pizza Express ovens. The one in my local PE looks completely different to the one I saw in Pizza Hut.

I’ll be looking to have a nice Pizza in Pisa soon.

Edit: I mentioned Pizzaland earlier, I meant Pizza Hut. Pizzaland sadly closed many years ago.

Edit 2: I thought they were different, this article discusses which Pizza ovens restaurants use.

https://www.cheffaq.com/ovens-popular-r ... xpress_use

 

[sunnybob]

I'm now 15 years out of date, but unless things have changed drastically, the most used system in commercial premises is the blast air system
This is where a conveyor runs through the oven cavity, at about 5 minutes for the journey. Blodget had the patent for this system but concentrated on large ovens (over 6ft long conveyor). they licensed the smaller ovens to LIncoln (up to 6ft belt) I worked mainly with Lincoln ovens
The 5ft belt Lincoln ovens had 4 large "fingers" above, and 4 below the belt with a huge fan blowing very hot air down them onto the pizza as it travelled along the belt. Each finger had a removeable sliding plate with several different hole layouts, from no holes, to half, to fully perforated. By swapping around the plates its possible to direct heat above and below the pizza, and regulate whether the heat was at the front, middle or end of the belt, so that the heavy base cooked in the same time as the delicate toppings.
Pizza Hut had a 6 page illustrated booklet showing how to arrange the finger holes to reach each products ideal cooking.
Of course, after installing an oven, I had to test it cooked properly, which meant I had a lot of free pizzas :eusa-whistle: :eusa-dance: :eusa-dance: :eusa-dance:

 

[Woodster]

A quick Pizza Hut search reveals they use a generous amount of oil in the pans and say the base is therefore fried. I wondered why Pizza Hut Pizza was greasy whilst others like Pizza Express aren’t.

 

[Steve Maskery]

This a very interesting thread. I didn't realise that commercial pizza ovens got to 450C. No wonder pizzas in a home oven are so disappointing. I have a pizza stone and have had acceptable results with that, but it's still nowhere near a good restaurant one.
A few months ago we stopped at some services on, IIRC, the A23. We wanted more than a sandwich but not a full meal, so we opted to share a pizza at Pizza Express.
When it arrived it looked nice enough. Very thin base, not exactly a genrous topping but OK, and a pile of salad in the middle. Only when we cut into it did we realise that the pizza base had a large hole in the middle, hidden by the rocket. I mean 4". The only reason for doing that is to save on ingredients, nobody else in the known history of the planet has ever thought that that was a good idea.
I did mention it to the young lass who served us, who offered her condolences for our disappointment, but pointed us to the description on the menu of the pizza "with a hole in it". Absolutely ridiculous. It was neither cheap nor satisfying.
Needless to say, we won't be going back.

 

[sunnybob]

Steve, you have misunderstood. Most high street chains use conveyor belt ovens for speed of service and consistancy of product. these all run at 255c (approx, which is around 500F, which is where most of the confusion comes from).500c pizza ovens are a lifestyle choice.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Steve, you have misunderstood.

Not for the first time in my life...

 

[Woodster]

This a very interesting thread. I didn't realise that commercial pizza ovens got to 450C. No wonder pizzas in a home oven are so disappointing. I have a pizza stone and have had acceptable results with that, but it's still nowhere near a good restaurant one.
A few months ago we stopped at some services on, IIRC, the A23. We wanted more than a sandwich but not a full meal, so we opted to share a pizza at Pizza Express.
When it arrived it looked nice enough. Very thin base, not exactly a genrous topping but OK, and a pile of salad in the middle. Only when we cut into it did we realise that the pizza base had a large hole in the middle, hidden by the rocket. I mean 4". The only reason for doing that is to save on ingredients, nobody else in the known history of the planet has ever thought that that was a good idea.
I did mention it to the young lass who served us, who offered her condolences for our disappointment, but pointed us to the description on the menu of the pizza "with a hole in it". Absolutely ridiculous. It was neither cheap nor satisfying.
Needless to say, we won't be going back.

:text-lol:

Steve, that’s a bit like ordering a cheese sandwich then complaining there’s no meat in it!

The description of the Leggera in the menu is very clear. It’s not to save on toppings but to reduce the calories for those watching their weight.

Pizza Express ovens run at up to 350°C so a lot hotter than a normal home one.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Steve, that’s a bit like ordering a cheese sandwich then complaining there’s no meat in it!

LOL! Fair enough, I suppose. To a degree.

The description of the Leggera in the menu is very clear. It’s not to save on toppings but to reduce the calories for those watching their weight.

Maybe. But we felt cheated. They could have said that the hole was massive. Some dimensions. some indication that what it looks like and what you imagine in your head is not the same as reality. And if you really do want people to read the details, print them in text that you do not need a magnifying glass, on top of regular reading glasses, to see.

If you want to make healthier pizza, just make it smaller and be straight about it.

Pizza Express ovens run at up to 350°C so a lot hotter than a normal home one.

Whatever, neither of us thought it was a very good pizza, with or without the disguised hole.

 

[Woodster]

Pizza Express is the nearest you’ll get to a real Pizza on the high street and I’ve found them to be very nice.
Pizza Hut and Papa John’s are quite like Pizza and many seem to like them.
On the few occasions I’ve Pizza cooked in a proper brick oven though they’ve all been much better.

 

[Woodster]

Ooni have a sale on if anyone’s interested.

 

[Woodbloke]

Some good deals there; the 'Freya' has £90 knocked off and a swift G search indicates there's nowhere cheaper - Rob

 

[Woodster]

Yes, I can’t remember how much I paid for my Koda 12 but I think it was £299 at the time.

 

[BigMonka]

It was the May sale last year that I bought mine so I guess I've had it a year now! We've used it throughout the year and still love regularly using it

 

[Woodster]

We went to Pizza Express with friends today and sitting near to the oven I noticed it was set to 371°C.

 

[Woodster]

Pizza time today. No pineapple for me! :text-lol:

 

[TrimTheKing]

I fired up my new wood fired stove the other evening, we really liked the look of this to go with our outdoor building, and to use as a stove too, otherwise we'd have seriously looked at the Ooni.

Second last picture is the previous pizza, not the one on the peel, but the final pic is the one on the peel. It's an interesting learning process to get the fire right (wood needs to initially be cut into around 3cm sq strips to get the burn going quickly and raging, then you can add bigger pieces, but it very much works better with smaller pieces and feed often rather than just whacking big lumps on.

Also the multi-piece stone, while being sensible from a weight and transport perspective does seem to lose a bit of heat between each cook, so I found that two cooks, then a couple of mins of the embers back onto the centre got it back up to heat. Will play around with moving the embers from side to side rather than pushing to the back and maybe just moving them from side to side between cooks might mitigate that issue.

Anyway, the pizzas that came out of it, providing you press/roll the dough out nice and thin, were bl00dy beautiful!

Daughter has friends round tonight and they've requested it to be fired up for tea so I guess I'll be cheffing all evening...

 

[Woodster]

Keeping the Pizza reasonably circular can be really difficult at times. The dough can have a mind of its own even when you religiously follow a much repeated recipe. Case in point, the dough was too loose for me to shape today after proving. Now having worked it back into balls it’s too stiff to stretch. I’m now trying to be patient to see what it does next …

 

[Woodbloke]

Keeping the Pizza reasonably circular can be really difficult at times...

It's not if you make a 'pizza pin'; mine's a small boxwood effort with slightly conical ends so that it's relatively easy to make it circular and roll out the thicker parts of periphery at the same time - Rob

 

[TrimTheKing]

I long ago lost the desire to care whether they're round or not. So long as they're reasonably round, thin enough and hold the toppings then they're good enough for me.

I've created all kinds of shapes! :eusa-doh: :lol:

 

[Woodster]

Keeping the Pizza reasonably circular can be really difficult at times...

It's not if you make a 'pizza pin'; mine's a small boxwood effort with slightly conical ends so that it's relatively easy to make it circular and roll out the thicker parts of periphery at the same time - Rob

I prefer to use the traditional method of hand stretching the dough, I think it helps preserve a nice open crust.

Todays worked out very nicely.

It’s purely a matter of taste of course but I like a nice “bready” style Pizza like the one I had in Naples.
Some commercial Pizza’s are a bit too much like a biscuit for me.


.

 

[TrimTheKing]

It’s purely a matter of taste of course but I like a nice “bready” style Pizza like the one I had in Naples.
Some commercial Pizza’s are a bit too much like a biscuit for me.


.

Looks good. What's you dough recipe please? Apologies if you've already shared above.

 

[Woodster]

For 2 Pizzas I use:

200ml Water
300g Flour
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey

The secret ingredient is “Caputo Nuvola Super” Flour. I bought a 15kg sack last time as we use it for bread making as well. Various sources and can be bought in 1kg bags as well.

I normally mix all the water with half the flour and the honey the night before then the following day the rest of the flour and salt goes in the mixer with a little more yeast. You can just chuck the whole lot in the mixer though and still get good results.

 

[AndyP]

Is it OK to put anchovies and tin mushrooms on supermarket dough? . Not up to the haute cuisine standards of some of you folks but there were no complaints.

My only saving grace is I do use genuine buffalo mozzarella.

 

[TrimTheKing]

For 2 Pizzas I use:

200ml Water
300g Flour
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey

The secret ingredient is “Caputo Nuvola Super” Flour. I bought a 15kg sack last time as we use it for bread making as well. Various sources and can be bought in 1kg bags as well.

I normally mix all the water with half the flour and the honey the night before then the following day the rest of the flour and salt goes in the mixer with a little more yeast. You can just chuck the whole lot in the mixer though and still get good results.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Woodbloke]

For 2 Pizzas I use:

200ml Water
300g Flour
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey

The recipe in the Ooni 'book of words' (which is the one I use) makes no mention of sugar or honey, but as I've got a load of honey to use up, I may well put a small teaspoon of the stuff into the mix for the Sat evening pizza...weather permitting.

Question on wood pellets though. The current bag which has almost run out contains softwood pellets which don't appear to burn too hot and are a bit smokey. The Ooni ones which I collected today from Waitrose are Oak. Apparently they're almost smokeless (according to one reviewer) but will they burn hotter? - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

I would suggest that the pine will be marginally easier to light but not last long compared to the Oak ones, heat wise? I’m sure the Oak will produce more heat.
Ian

 

[Woodster]

For 2 Pizzas I use:

200ml Water
300g Flour
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey

The secret ingredient is “Caputo Nuvola Super” Flour. I bought a 15kg sack last time as we use it for bread making as well. Various sources and can be bought in 1kg bags as well.

I normally mix all the water with half the flour and the honey the night before then the following day the rest of the flour and salt goes in the mixer with a little more yeast. You can just chuck the whole lot in the mixer though and still get good results.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I’ve been using this recipe for several years but it’s not until I got the Ooni with its higher operating temperature that the crust fluffed up.
Even pre heating our NEFF up to its maximum of 275°with a Pizza stone in it never did it justice.

 

[BigMonka]

If anyone hasn't tried a beer dough then I'd really recommend it as it adds loads of flavour even with a fairly short proving time. The classic recipe for it seems to be Dan Leppard's one: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...vDF07utoGB8JXtHv6YI5vsYsbKRh9UhUaLWwvxHyCEnBY
But I've found that any recipe with the water substituted for any beer works (even up to 100% of the liquid content).
bscene-drinkingcheers: