The Official Pizza Discussion thread (was: Cooking Neapolitan Pizzas with the Uuni 3)

[Loki]

nice selection -

Divisive question then - are you regularly using a(which) stand mixer given your high production volume (I'm lazy and am typically using the Pan bread machine, which is probably inferior to a stand)
Do you put them in the oven back to back or allow some recovery, too ?

I got a relatively inexpensive (compared to kitchen aid) mixer from The Rain Forest. I think it was £100, maybe £120 which has two dough hooks on it. It does a good job for what I need it to do.

In regards to cooking I have two ovens.

Igneus Classico This is a wood fired oven and it maintains temperature on the stone a lot better than the Ooni, so I don't need to be as mindful on temp recovery, it's more about having a bit of a flame going . In theory you can cook 2-3 pizzas at a time but I usually do one that's it. Great oven for summer and when covid restrictions were lifted last summer, had about 25 people round, was able to bang out 30 pizzas in around an hour. In winter it's not so great as I can't keep it under cover, this is where the Koda comes into it's own.

The Koda I find is a little more sensitive to temperature recovery. Usually fire it up on high get it to operational temperature then turn on low when cooking, once Pizza is finished, Bang it back on high for a minute to maintain the stone temperature. The Koda is a little more of a balancing act than a bigger oven as you don't have as much floor space to move the pizza around. Let's see the top cooks quicker than the base, your point about recovery time is super important.

 

[Loki]

Hey all! Potential Ooni 12 Koda purchase in the near future.

Looking for some advice for a beginner. (Never made dough etc)

I'll have a poke around here and who knows, maybe become a regular!

Looking to get the Ooni from John Lewis. Partner gets 25% off which really sweetens the deal. Wondering if I'd get much use our of it in the colder months? Does the outside colder temps affect the cooking process much? Or is that a silly question

Depends on where you plan to keep it. I use my Woodfired oven and Koda 16 pretty much all the year through. That said I have a car port at the side of the house that gives it some real good protection from the elements. No reason why you can't enjoy good pizza in your oven all the year through

 

[Loki]

Currently using a local Propane supplier for my bottle. It was £90.00 Up front inclusive of full bottle. This is an 11KG Patio Gas Bottle which meant it fits the Ooni and any Gas BBQ. Refill is £40.01 (Why the £0.01 god only knows) If I return the bottle and do not exchange then I get £49.99 back.

In terms of usage, I would say I make Pizza or BBQ most weekends. I got a new bottle 2 weeks ago and I would expect that to last me well into Spring.

On using the Ooni, it will be a bit of trial and error at first e.g. getting the floor upto heat then turning it down so not as to burn the crust and melt the cheese too quickly. Low flame usually gives a real good all around cook. Once you took your pizza out, whack it back on full just to bring the floor / stone back upto temperature.

Some other advice don't buy into the marketing of 'pizza in 60 seconds' crap. it's best to get used to controlling your oven temperature to get a good rise, cooked underneath without the crust, if that takes you 90 seconds, 2 minutes, no problems.

 

[Loki]

Got an upgrade to my pizza oven just before the royal funeral. Wasn't intending to get one, but hey ho...

Tesco had the ottimo 12" Gas Pizza oven on sale (end of season type thing) for £125 and we had some vouchers too. Sub £100 pizza oven? Yes please. It's a complete clone of the Koda tbh. Only thing I've had to do is buy a longer gas hose. It came with a 60cm hose which was not long enough for me. Got a longer gas hose from a local supplier for ~£5 for 1.2m. Spent a few days locating a place that would sell me a gas bottle, surprisingly large number of places nearby will only do refills now which is awkward.

Didn't come with an instruction book. Dropped the company an email late saturday night, received a response in my inbox with a digital copy at 8:30 sunday morning. Impressive customer service.

Can't say the first pizza was a success. I left it to pre heat for 20 minutes on full blast, suspect it needed a bit longer. 2nd, 3rd and 4th were significantly better. Seems like 10-11" is the ideal size for it. Enough space to move it around easily to cook evenly. Dough wise, just used some frozen stuff by Northern Dough Co. Works nicely. Was just their normal stuff, but really want to try some of the other pizza dough's they have. Rosemary dough sounds nice for a garlic pizza. I can also recommend their cookie doughs.

Already looking at a couple of modifications. One of which is a door, just to aid heating.

Will adding a door cause any problems with air circulation etc? Reason I ask is there is no ventilation on that (if it is a Koda clone)

Would strongly recommend getting yourself an infrared digital thermometer, can pick them up from the rainforest for less than £10.00 great way to monitor your heat on the pizza stone, may not need a door then

 

[Loki]

May order the Koda 12 this weekend. So where is the general go to place for the gas? Places like b&q/garden centres?

Just want to weigh up the cost of using the thing against how much I will actually be using it

Google your local propane supplier. I found them cheaper and they had more gas available than local Calor and B&Q

As long as you ask for Patio gas, you will be fine.

 

[Loki]

I'll have a look. Noticing many places aren't offering bottles themselves right now so that could be a challenge but will see.

I'm assuming 5kg will be good, how long would that last as a rough guess?

*Hadn't crossed my mind until just now but we use a gas supplier at work for our fabrication work shop for their welders etc. I'll see if they offer patio gas and maybe get it through them!

5KG will be a very good start that is for sure Depending on how many pizzas you cook in one batch etc and how often, I guess 5KG should last you quite a few months if you do a decent batch. I guess where you can fall foul is if you say do one pizza one day then another another etc. You will use quite a lot heating up the oven just for one pizza.

My routine is make enough dough for say 6 pizzas, we will have 3 on the day we cook and I might make up say a few garlic bread or Marinara. The marinara, is pretty low in calories and fat, and pretty tasty, so I just slice it up, freeze it and then thats lunch sorted for one day.