Ooni Pizza Oven

[Central PA Cowboy]

Anyone have an Ooni Pizza Oven? Any thoughts?

 

[bregent]

I don't, but know of several folks over at PMDC that do. From what I recall, they are generally happy with them, but I would search that forum and ask around.

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

PMDC?

 

[bregent]

PMDC?

Sorry, pizzamaking.com

 

[Wurstmeister]

Check out the Pizza Thread, last one listed, under the Smoking meats and other things forum. There are lot of recipes and discussions there. The calzone sounded really good!

 

[tx smoker]

A good friend here in the forum ordered one a while ago. Although I have no experience wit them, I know he did a ton of research before ordering it. Point being that I'd be willing to bet that they are a very good unit or he would not have placed the order. It's taking a while to deliver but if you're not in a huge hurry it may be a good idea.

Robert

 

[Central PA Cowboy]

Check out the Pizza Thread, last one listed, under the Smoking meats and other things forum. There are lot of recipes and discussions there. The calzone sounded really good!

I believe that was tx smoker

A good friend here in the forum ordered one a while ago. Although I have no experience wit them, I know he did a ton of research before ordering it. Point being that I'd be willing to bet that they are a very good unit or he would not have placed the order. It's taking a while to deliver but if you're not in a huge hurry it may be a good idea.

Robert

Good to know. They do look like some quality ovens. Thanks for the info.

 

[Inscrutable]

They make models fired by gas or wood pellet (and dual fuel) ... not a pellet person (yet), but curious ... with the universal opinions that folks get very little smoke flavor off pellet grills running at high temps, do you really get “wood-fired pizza” flavor off the pellet version, or about the same as the gas version?

 

[forktender]

They make models fired by gas or wood pellet (and dual fuel) ... not a pellet person (yet), but curious ... with the universal opinions that folks get very little smoke flavor off pellet grills running at high temps, do you really get “wood-fired pizza” flavor off the pellet version, or about the same as the gas version?

The ooni ovens are a bitch to cook on plan on burning many crusts until you dial the timing of your turns in, after that they cook fairly decent.
The wood fired pizza ovens are running anywhere from 900-1,200 degrees at those temp you can hardly taste any smoke flavor on the pizza or other foods cooked in them. I bet the flavor you get from the pellets is fairly comparable.

 

[Steve H]

I'd be interested in hearing if anybody else here has one too. I've yet to use mine.

 

[Inscrutable]

Exhuming thread for an update? Seen any action yet, Steve?
Noticed the Karu model can use charcoal and/or wood ... would think that flavor would be better than gas or pellets.

 

[Steve H]

Exhuming thread for an update? Seen any action yet, Steve?
Noticed the Karu model can use charcoal and/or wood ... would think that flavor would be better than gas or pellets.

Not yet. This weather isn't playing nice. On my work days the weather is ok. On my off days...... I read somewhere that there isn't much, if any, wood flavor from them.

 

[Inscrutable]

Not yet. This weather isn't playing nice. On my work days the weather is ok. On my off days...... I read somewhere that there isn't much, if any, wood flavor from them.

Yeah, the way it usually works

Thats a shame if still won’t impart that flavor ... may as well go with the cheaper/easier gas.

 

[Steve H]

Yeah, the way it usually works

Thats a shame if still won’t impart that flavor ... may as well go with the cheaper/easier gas.

I would have went with the wood burning model though. But this was a gift for the wife. And she wouldn't want the fuss with it.

 

[zwiller]

There are several things like this I want but admit they probably won't get used enough to justify. I plan to experiment but I saw someone hack their grill with a pizza stone and sheet of steel raised by some bricks to mimic one of these. I'd start with a pizza stone if you don't already have one. forktender is spot on. There is a learning curve to pizza. A pizza stone in a HOT oven makes wicked good stuff despite not hitting 1000F and a good place to start. I turn on the broiler about half way for a little char.

 

[Steve H]

There are several things like this I want but admit they probably won't get used enough to justify.

lol! I know, right? But happy wife..... Between the smokers, the grill, and oven. My little garage/man cave is getting full. I'm hoping the pizza oven will fit on the bbq cart I made last year. If not. I'll need to figure that out next.

 

[Bigheaded]

I'd be interested in hearing if anybody else here has one too. I've yet to use mine.

I bought a Koda about a year ago, one of the smarted things I've ever done. First 2 nights using it I thought I had made a mistake. It seemed impossible to launch a pizza, I ruined like 6 in a row the 1st night, and 2nd while I did better, they were all burnt. But by the 4th night I was knocking it out. I've made probably 100 pizzas on it, and everyone loves them. The one issue I have is it's very difficult to consistently get the temp low enough to do a New York bake. Neopolitians I can kill all day, but I like NY style. Some nights I have great luck with the flame + temp. But some nights not at all. Usually, I have to fiddle with the regulator a lot. That's not a knock on Ooni, this oven's meant to 900f+ Neopolitian bakes. If I had to go back a year I'd probably have gotten the Pro, people have much better luck with NY temps in it. But that said, for $329 I'm beyond impressed with the Koda.

I know some people don't like the propane only thing, but I typically do 60-90 second bakes, I don't think that would be long enough to impart a noticeable amount of smoke flavor. Not even sure a 6 min NY would. The Koda 16's improved a lot of the little things from the original. And being able to make a bigger pie's never a bad thing. The Koda can technically do a 13", but 12 is the largest I've successfully done. And it was a lot of monitoring and turning so it didn't burn. When you're cooking at 930f, even just 10-15 seconds too long can give you a super burnt pizza. Making pizzas is a lot of fun to me, I even like making the dough and I have a sourdough starter for SD crust. But it's a lot of exact measurments and science, where BBQ's much much more forgiving.

If you buy a pizza oven, as I saw already mentioned. I second joining Pizzamaking.com I learned sooooooo much on there. I'm new here, but this looks like it's basically the BBQ equivalent of there. They are all some of the legit nicest people you'll come across, and there's an endless wealth of knowledge.

I ordered a smoker that'll be here next week. When I make burnt ends I want to make a hybrid BBQ pizza with BBQ sauce and burnt ends on it. Koda + Masterbuilt 560 should be awesome.

 

[Steve H]

I bought a Koda about a year ago, one of the smarted things I've ever done. First 2 nights using it I thought I had made a mistake. It seemed impossible to launch a pizza, I ruined like 6 in a row the 1st night, and 2nd while I did better, they were all burnt. But by the 4th night I was knocking it out. I've made probably 100 pizzas on it, and everyone loves them. The one issue I have is it's very difficult to consistently get the temp low enough to do a New York bake. Neopolitians I can kill all day, but I like NY style. Some nights I have great luck with the flame + temp. But some nights not at all. Usually, I have to fiddle with the regulator a lot. That's not a knock on Ooni, this oven's meant to 900f+ Neopolitian bakes. If I had to go back a year I'd probably have gotten the Pro, people have much better luck with NY temps in it. But that said, for $329 I'm beyond impressed with the Koda.

I know some people don't like the propane only thing, but I typically do 60-90 second bakes, I don't think that would be long enough to impart a noticeable amount of smoke flavor. Not even sure a 6 min NY would. The Koda 16's improved a lot of the little things from the original. And being able to make a bigger pie's never a bad thing. The Koda can technically do a 13", but 12 is the largest I've successfully done. And it was a lot of monitoring and turning so it didn't burn. When you're cooking at 930f, even just 10-15 seconds too long can give you a super burnt pizza. Making pizzas is a lot of fun to me, I even like making the dough and I have a sourdough starter for SD crust. But it's a lot of exact measurments and science, where BBQ's much much more forgiving.

If you buy a pizza oven, as I saw already mentioned. I second joining Pizzamaking.com I learned sooooooo much on there. I'm new here, but this looks like it's basically the BBQ equivalent of there. They are all some of the legit nicest people you'll come across, and there's an endless wealth of knowledge.

I ordered a smoker that'll be here next week. When I make burnt ends I want to make a hybrid BBQ pizza with BBQ sauce and burnt ends on it. Koda + Masterbuilt 560 should be awesome.

Thanks for chiming in. Tomorrow I'll finally be getting this going. I got a cart set up for it.

In the morning I'll be making some pizza dough. And getting the tank filled. I'll be starting this simple. Just pepperoni and mushroom pies to get the hang of it.

 

[Bigheaded]

Thanks for chiming in. Tomorrow I'll finally be getting this going. I got a cart set up for it.
View attachment 490485

In the morning I'll be making some pizza dough. And getting the tank filled. I'll be starting this simple. Just pepperoni and mushroom pies to get the hang of it.

A lot of the high level dudes on the Pizzamaking forums suggest to anyone starting this. Make a pizza with only cheese, if you can make that good you're set. 2 things I recommend, a food scale, even just 10-15ml of water under/over can make a big impact on your crust. Also at least a 24h cord fermentation. I do 3 days for my NY dough and it makes a huge difference. There's nothing wrong with a good same day dough, but a CF will always give you a better crust. on PM.COM they refer to same day doughs usually as emergency dough lol. A IR temp gun is almost mandatory, even a cheapy one will help a lot.

Making pizza isn't that hard, but making good pizza there's a lot of science and you have to focus until you learn the in's and out. And this is just personal preference, but I've tried about 5 different ways to make dough. This is my go to.

I mix everything in a bowl with a danish dough whisk, normal whisks work great but with the danish ones no dough gets stuck so it's faster.
Once it's all incorporated, I put it on a board and stretch the dough from the top and fold it down. Then a quarter turn and repeat. Then 2 more times until you're back where you started. cover with a towel and come back in 15-20 minutes and repeat. cover again and come back and do a 3rd time. You might need to do it 4. But the dough will look soft and smooth. It takes about an hour, but 95% of the time's just waiting. If you don't have an hour, a stand mixer works great obviously. But I like the turn and fold method myself. And I usually do pretty decent size batches, enough to make 4-8 225g pizza balls. I'd also recommend Instant Dry Yeast I find it easier to work with than active.

And lastly don't get caught up if people tell you "the water needs to be 105-115f for the yeast to bloom." I use room temp water and my dough always rises. There's a lot of misinformation about making pizza dough out there and a lot of it sounds legit lol. Make an account on PM.COM and you'll learn everything the right way.

 

[Binford 6100]

Bump for an update. Interested in buying a ooni.