Ooni Pizza Oven

[Binford 6100]

As far as store bought doughs go it highly ranked. And thus far its great. I will get into my own dough someday. But right now we are just having fun with the oven and pizza combos.

This is a spicy red pepper hawaiian.

 

[02ebz06]

Mmmm pizza.

 

[Steve H]

After 2 failed attempts now with the Ooni fyra pellet oven. I decided to convert it to gas. It just doesn't like breezy weather. And most of my camping is waterfront where wind is often blowing harder than inland. It does great at home though. The fyra isn't made to use the burner attachment. But you only need to drill 2 small holes to mount it. And don't use the door. So now I have two heat options for it.

 

[Bigheaded]

I sold my Ooni and bought a Halo Versa 16 pizza oven. Anybody looking to make pizzas, it's really awesome for lower temp pizzas. I do 600-700f NY style, which for me required a lot of playing with the gas knob on my Koda 12, less so on my Karu 16. But I still had to do adjusting throughout the bake. I also had a Gozney Roccbox, which is fantastic for small Neapolitan pizzas but was a nightmare for NY. Since the Versa has a motorized platter, I set the temp and a 4 minute timer, then after 4 minutes I crank it up and let it go for 2 minutes. I don't have to worry about turning or anything, so I can walk away for 4 minutes which is lovely.

It's not a super oven for Neo style, it doesn't get as hot as the Ooni's or Roccbox. But I've seen people getting 2 minute bakes out of it. I like to make 16" NY pizzas so the temps are perfect for me. Also the rotating pizza stone's a game changer.

Every Sunday I do a small 6-8 pizza pizza night and deliver to some neighbors and a few other people. I bought a Vollrath insulated delivery backpack that has an electric heating pad. I plug it in and it keeps the pizzas nice and hot, I make 5 at a time and when the 5th is coming out of the oven the 1st will still be as hot as a pizza fresh from the oven. Then I putt around on my electric scooter delivering them. There are basically no great pizza spots in my town so people think I'm some sort of master chef lol. If Ooni makes a Karu like oven with a rotating pizza stone I'll pre-order it. I miss my Karu 16 it was a beast of an oven.

 

[Binford 6100]

Holy crap. Look at this guy with a pizza warmer and all.
Where do you buy the boxes?

 

[Bigheaded]

Holy crap. Look at this guy with a pizza warmer and all.
Where do you buy the boxes?

A store called Smart & Final, it's a West coast only (I think) grocery store that sells bulk stuff to a lot of small restaurant owners. And I buy 5lb loaves of Mozzarella cheese for my pizzas there for $16. It's about $7lb at any other store around here.

Buying boxes online kinda sucks because of the shipping. I get they're big and the 50 bundles they come in weigh a good amount. That means shipping will double on every bundle you add. You can get them with "free" shipping on Amazon, but the price is a lot higher so it winds up costing the same.

I know most towns won't have something like Smart & Final, I'd use Amazon otherwise.

 

[Steve H]

Got the gas burner mounted on the Fyra this morning. And fired it up. Works great. Got to 950 degrees a little quicker then the 16"gasser.

 

[chopsaw]

Nice . I've got dough in the fridge for sometime this week . Make sure you post up results when you get into it .

 

[Steve H]

Nice . I've got dough in the fridge for sometime this week . Make sure you post up results when you get into it .

Thanks, I will!

 

[Binford 6100]

Made a Caramel apple pizza tonight for dessert.

Make a cinnamon cream cheese, for the "sauce"
Topped with chopped granny smith's, drizzled Caramel all over it and topped that with chopped honey roasted peanuts, and some cinnamon Graham crackers.

 

[Danblacksher]

Really been looking at these I am currently using a 16 x 16 1/4 steel plate in the oven to cook pizza’s with. Make my own dough and they have come out really delicious, but oven only goes to 550.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I have the Ooni Fyra 12 inch model that uses pellets. I really wanted a gas model that uses natural gas, but they don't make one and I wasn't comfortable doing a conversion. I have a natural gas line on my patio with a natural gas Weber plus an electric smoker and the pizza oven, so no room for a propane tank.

Anyway, I made a 12 inch thin crust Chicago style pie this weekend that came out pretty good. (Sorry for not taking pictures.) The stone heated to 950. Upon launching, I immediately closed the damper about halfway to allow time for the raw sausage to cook.

I still have a couple things to work on with the Ooni. First, this time, I used too much flour on the peel. It ended up on the stone below the pie and burned right away. Maybe I should use semolina next time? The second thing I need to do is rotate the pie almost immediately upon launching or the inside half will burn. The problem is the outside half is still soft, which makes it hard to turn the pie without messing it up. Timing is everything on that first turn!

 

[Steve H]

Nice . I've got dough in the fridge for sometime this week . Make sure you post up results when you get into it .

Made a couple last night. They came out perfect except for the pepperoni being too thin and burned a bit. Used the Boboli crust.

 

[02ebz06]

Nothing wrong with charred edges on the pepperoni.
I dome mine to get that.

 

[chopsaw]

They came out perfect

Looks good . I like the char .
We ran some last week . My Son heated the Solo up to about 700 , then turned it down right before he added the pizza .
Split a batch of store bought dough .
This one is from the pizza oven .

This is from the house oven .

Same dough , but the one that came out of the pizza oven had a better taste and texture .

 

[Steve H]

I have the Ooni Fyra 12 inch model that uses pellets. I really wanted a gas model that uses natural gas, but they don't make one and I wasn't comfortable doing a conversion. I have a natural gas line on my patio with a natural gas Weber plus an electric smoker and the pizza oven, so no room for a propane tank.

Anyway, I made a 12 inch thin crust Chicago style pie this weekend that came out pretty good. (Sorry for not taking pictures.) The stone heated to 950. Upon launching, I immediately closed the damper about halfway to allow time for the raw sausage to cook.

I still have a couple things to work on with the Ooni. First, this time, I used too much flour on the peel. It ended up on the stone below the pie and burned right away. Maybe I should use semolina next time? The second thing I need to do is rotate the pie almost immediately upon launching or the inside half will burn. The problem is the outside half is still soft, which makes it hard to turn the pie without messing it up. Timing is everything on that first turn!

You can get the LP gas unit for your Fyra. It only requires drilling 2 holes to mount it with zip screws. Then just get the bulk tank adapter to use the 1 pound tanks.

 

[Steve H]

I still have a couple things to work on with the Ooni. First, this time, I used too much flour on the peel. It ended up on the stone below the pie and burned right away. Maybe I should use semolina next time? The second thing I need to do is rotate the pie almost immediately upon launching or the inside half will burn. The problem is the outside half is still soft, which makes it hard to turn the pie without messing it up. Timing is everything on that first turn!

I use corn meal to launch. And you need to rotate the pizza pretty much from the start. I just use a metal peel. And a spoon to rotate the pie. Easy peasy.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

You can get the LP gas unit for your Fyra. It only requires drilling 2 holes to mount it with zip screws. Then just get the bulk tank adapter to use the 1 pound tanks.

Interesting. I'll definitely look into this. Thanks!

One thing I'll note in passing: I thought the pellet model would impart a "smoky" flavor to the pie but it does not. The pie isn't in the oven long enough for that, and the pellets don't generate much smoke.

 

[Bigheaded]

I have the Ooni Fyra 12 inch model that uses pellets. I really wanted a gas model that uses natural gas, but they don't make one and I wasn't comfortable doing a conversion. I have a natural gas line on my patio with a natural gas Weber plus an electric smoker and the pizza oven, so no room for a propane tank.

Anyway, I made a 12 inch thin crust Chicago style pie this weekend that came out pretty good. (Sorry for not taking pictures.) The stone heated to 950. Upon launching, I immediately closed the damper about halfway to allow time for the raw sausage to cook.

I still have a couple things to work on with the Ooni. First, this time, I used too much flour on the peel. It ended up on the stone below the pie and burned right away. Maybe I should use semolina next time? The second thing I need to do is rotate the pie almost immediately upon launching or the inside half will burn. The problem is the outside half is still soft, which makes it hard to turn the pie without messing it up. Timing is everything on that first turn!

Semolina's what I use, also try holding the turning peel near the fire for like 10 seconds to get it warm before you turn the pizza. I've made a lot of pizzas and I couldn't turn one sooner than 15-20 seconds without it sticking. Heating up the turning peel does help, but the dough needs some time on the stone or it'll stick. Your pizzas shouldn't burn that quickly, what kind of flour are you using? Anything malted or enriched will burn before the pizza's done at those temps. If using malted flour the only thing that works is to drop the temp and do longer bakes. 700f is about the highest temp I could hit without a burnt and still raw in the middle pizza. With the right flour you'll have some breathing room for that 1st turn. If you're using 00 and it still burns almost instantly, I dunno what the problem could be.

You don't need 00 flour, but at least in So Cal, finding flour that isn't malted or enriched can be tough. Kroger brand has an organic AP that works great. Maybe it's my pallet isn't dialed in, but I couldn't tell really any difference between 00 and a good AP.

You could also launch on a screen, that way you can turn it without any worries, and then slide it off the screen about 30-40 seconds into the bake.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Semolina's what I use, also try holding the turning peel near the fire for like 10 seconds to get it warm before you turn the pizza. I've made a lot of pizzas and I couldn't turn one sooner than 15-20 seconds without it sticking. Heating up the turning peel does help, but the dough needs some time on the stone or it'll stick. Your pizzas shouldn't burn that quickly, what kind of flour are you using? Anything malted or enriched will burn before the pizza's done at those temps. If using malted flour the only thing that works is to drop the temp and do longer bakes. 700f is about the highest temp I could hit without a burnt and still raw in the middle pizza. With the right flour you'll have some breathing room for that 1st turn. If you're using 00 and it still burns almost instantly, I dunno what the problem could be.

You don't need 00 flour, but at least in So Cal, finding flour that isn't malted or enriched can be tough. Kroger brand has an organic AP that works great. Maybe it's my pallet isn't dialed in, but I couldn't tell really any difference between 00 and a good AP.

You could also launch on a screen, that way you can turn it without any worries, and then slide it off the screen about 30-40 seconds into the bake.

Thank you for your insight. I will keep your points in mind when I make my next pie. A couple things in particular struck me.

I like the suggestion of heating the turning peel before using it. I'll definitely try it next time. Last time, I ended up having to wait for the crust on the front of the pie to harden a bit before I could turn it. The back of the pie burned a bit while I waited.

I use "all purpose" flour that I get from the local Kroger. That will give you some idea how sophisticated I am about flour <smiles>.

I am following recipes from the pizzamaking site, which generally assume the pie is cooked in an oven inside, so they offer little insight into how to adapt recipes to the Ooni. I'll start paying a little more attention to the flour I'm using in the Ooni.

I hit over 900 degrees on the stone last time. The result was not bad in terms of crispness of the crust, but 700 might be easier to manage from a turning perspective. That said, managing temperature is a bit tricky with the Fyra.

My favorite pizza style is Chicago thin. That requires that sausage is applied to the pie raw and cooked while the pizza is cooking. That presents a special challenge with the Ooni. I find that, upon launching the pie, I need to close the damper by at least 50 percent very quickly to avoid burning the top of the pie and ending up with sausage that's not done. Closing the damper reduces the temperature on the top of the pie, allowing the sausage to cook longer before the rest of the toppings are "done".