Pizza ovens

PARlance

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Definitely there, you must have been naughty!

I really don't think so but it looks like I'm out

Gloomtastic!

PARlance wrote: »

I really don't think so but it looks like I'm out

Rule No. 1. If you don’t ask.....

https://m.facebook.com/groups/226406129063965?view=members

PARlance

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Rule No. 1. If you don’t ask.....

https://m.facebook.com/groups/226406129063965?view=members

Thanks, I tried that earlier... link just directs me to a page saying the group doesn't exist or the link may be broke. So I don't think there's any way of contacting without going through someone else's account and life's too short...

Slightly annoying not knowing what it was. I would have rarely posted on it, a few posts of attempts etc. I can't imagine what I could have posted. Maybe a "humorous" reply taken out of context at worst, but can't remember anything along those line either. I guess I'll have to take it to my grave

paul-2008

My Ooni Karu arrived yesterday and couldnt help myself.. had to fire it up and give it a go. Turned out really well, base could have been more crispy - will have to get an infra red thermometer to make sure oven is hot enough!!

Gloomtastic!

PARlance wrote: »

Thanks, I tried that earlier... link just directs me to a page saying the group doesn't exist or the link may be broke. So I don't think there's any way of contacting without going through someone else's account and life's too short...

Slightly annoying not knowing what it was. I would have rarely posted on it, a few posts of attempts etc. I can't imagine what I could have posted. Maybe a "humorous" reply taken out of context at worst, but can't remember anything along those line either. I guess I'll have to take it to my grave

Hmmm. I get a link to the admin and mods for the group. Have you tried logging out of FB and signing in again?

The Nal

paul-2008 wrote: »

My Ooni Karu arrived yesterday and couldnt help myself.. had to fire it up and give it a go. Turned out really well, base could have been more crispy - will have to get an infra red thermometer to make sure oven is hot enough!!

Looks pretty good to me for a first run out!

Sidford

Just got my new Koda so going to do first pizza tomorrow. I know even saying this is likely to get me kicked out of here but I'm starting with shop bought bases - I know I know but for first couple of times I want to try get used to oven and then do home made dough. Just think that with shop bought there's less to go wrong for first couple of tries.
I've already made the pizza sauce so least that's homemade I suppose.

Any tips for a newbie? Been reading through this thread and saw that I need to lightly flour peel, rotate 2/3 times during the cook and don't overload the pizza with either sauce or toppings. Any other rookie mistakes to avoid?

paul-2008

Sidford wrote: »

Just got my new Koda so going to do first pizza tomorrow. I know even saying this is likely to get me kicked out of here but I'm starting with shop bought bases - I know I know but for first couple of times I want to try get used to oven and then do home made dough. Just think that with shop bought there's less to go wrong for first couple of tries.
I've already made the pizza sauce so least that's homemade I suppose.

Any tips for a newbie? Been reading through this thread and saw that I need to lightly flour peel, rotate 2/3 times during the cook and don't overload the pizza with either sauce or toppings. Any other rookie mistakes to avoid?

With the shop bought bases I dont think flouring the peel will matter too much. my one tip is dont take your eye off it!! haha they cook very quickly

oscarBravo

Shop bought bases are nothing to be ashamed of. I've used Tesco and Lidl varieties in mine, as well as sourdough bases from a bakery in town. I'd actually recommend anyone who's new to a "proper" pizza oven start with pre-made bases before attempting homemade, because it's easier to launch a parbaked base than fresh dough.

The only other gotcha I'd say to watch for is not to spend too long putting the pizza together. Even with a parbaked base, if the sauce soaks through the base and makes it still to the peel, launching is not going to be fun.

But yeah, once you've got the hang, do make your own dough - it's so much better.

Sidford

Ah brilliant, thanks a mill!!

I'm a regular on the charcoal BBQ thread as well and the main thing I love about that and now this is the complete lack of snobbery to newbies and the questions they have etc. Just decent sods answering questions that we all had at some stage, it's appreciated it really is.

Hopefully just like the other thread after the summer il be able to answer questions from newbies as well.

Thanks again!

The Nal

Wooden peels are also much better and user friendly as the base doesn't stick to them like with metal peels which can stick instantly sometimes.

nomoedoe

If anyone is looking for some nice mozzarella there's a place in Dublin thats sells pizza kits but they sell Italian mozzarella separately ive been using it on pizzas the last few months and it's really good,I cant post a link as im a new user but if you google Pizza Bellissima you should find it they deliver across Ireland or can collect in Dublin and its 10% off this week with code SPRING

tangy

I did search because I thought to post a link for you, but the hits were to a Facebook page, which is a PITA.
Here it is:
https://www.facebook.com/pizza.bellissimaie/

Edit: Ah! https://www.pizzabellissima.ie/

BaZmO*

And so it begins.........

Sidford

Most of the recipes I've seen have just fresh mozzarella for the cheese. I have 2 young kids who would be used to mixture of cheddar and mozzarella from likes of say Bits & Pizzas etc assume no issue using mix of both?

StupidLikeAFox

Make sure its the mild cheddar - if you mix mature cheddar and mozzarella it might explode

Muahahaha

PARlance wrote: »

Thanks, I tried that earlier... link just directs me to a page saying the group doesn't exist or the link may be broke. So I don't think there's any way of contacting without going through someone else's account and life's too short...

Slightly annoying not knowing what it was. I would have rarely posted on it, a few posts of attempts etc. I can't imagine what I could have posted. Maybe a "humorous" reply taken out of context at worst, but can't remember anything along those line either. I guess I'll have to take it to my grave

Did you mention putting pineapple on pizza maybe? Thats an immediate red card :pac:

Im perplexed now too as to what you would have to do to get yourself kicked out of a Facebook pizza group

oscarBravo

I've had bad experiences with cheddar on pizzas. It seems to split and shed a lot of oil, which leads to smoking and sometimes flames.

I've found a mix of grated mozarella (for stringiness) and emmental (for flavour) works quite well.

The chan chan man

Cheddar has no place on a pizza. Leave it in the fridge beside the pineapple

RonnieL

Pre-grated cheeses tend to burn because of the starch they use to stop it sticking in the bag. I do use the aldi grated mozzarella for garlic pizza bread (you get that stringy cheese effect that my kids like), and I have to be extra careful not to leave it on too long.

Blizzard

Sidford wrote: »

Just got my new Koda so going to do first pizza tomorrow. I know even saying this is likely to get me kicked out of here but I'm starting with shop bought bases - I know I know but for first couple of times I want to try get used to oven and then do home made dough. Just think that with shop bought there's less to go wrong for first couple of tries.
I've already made the pizza sauce so least that's homemade I suppose.

Any tips for a newbie? Been reading through this thread and saw that I need to lightly flour peel, rotate 2/3 times during the cook and don't overload the pizza with either sauce or toppings. Any other rookie mistakes to avoid?

My Koda 12 arrived over a week ago and I made a dough and left it to proof in the fridge for 24 hours. As it was my first time making and using the bases ever, I found it a little tricky trying to stretch the pizzas (and I did leave them out to get to room temp as recipe advised), however, I couldn't get the base as big as I wanted and the bases were a little thicker than I would have liked as I was afraid of making holes in them but they were still fantastic for a first attempt.

Well, on Monday I made more dough using the Ooni recipe and left it in fridge til Thursday (72 hours). I took it out of the fridge about 5 hours before cooking. I found the dough to be A LOT easier to stretch and the bases turned out a good bit thinner and cooked perfectly in the oven. Even bigger thumbs up from everybody this round and one commented that it's as good as any pizza he'd ever gotten on holidays!

Even though I've only used the Koda twice now, I can totally agree with the tips I've gotten here --so thank you everybody! Thought I'd post some of my feedback as it might be helpful for other newbies like me:
- My wood peel arrived (an Ooni one) and I found it WAY easier to launch the pizzas in the oven than during my first go with the aluminium peel; I did flour the peel and constructed the pizza as quick as I could once the base was on the peel.
-I also got an 8" pizza peel to turn/rotate the pizza while in the oven but that's going to take a whole lot more practice so I haven't really used it as I didn't have time or the pizzas would have burned.
- I got a 12" aluminium peel which we're using to rotate the pizzas when in the oven and to remove them when done; you need to keep an eye on the pizzas when you put them in because they cook so quickly so be ready to turn them when you see the crust rising & cooking; if left too long the crust will charr. When I remember, I have the oven on at high when the pizza goes in and then I turn it down a bit while it's in there as it does help with not burning the crust.
- I'm using an infrared thermometer to check oven temp and ours heats up very quickly, definitely in 15 minutes but I haven't timed it exactly.
- Last thing, the cover for the Koda 12 arrived from Ooni and I have to say it's brilliant and fits so well, definitely worth buying. I'm not going to leave the Koda outdoors all the time but this will be so handy when storing in the garage.

For any other newbies, I've used the following on my pizzas so far:
- nice balls of mozzarella in Dunnes that I've put on the pizza, as well as the Dunnes shredded Mozzarella which the kids love and melted perfectly on the pizza, and the Dunnes parmesan which I've grated myself;
- Dunnes Pepperoni Salami was very good - it's a great size, sliced thin and not greasy at all, it cooked perfectly;
- someone here mentioned the San Marzano tomatoes (in tins) from Dunnes (Simply Better tin with black wrapping) -- I blitzed these so they were smooth and used them the second time we made pizza and there was a huge difference
- Fresh basil on a mozzarella pizza really adds to the flavour (didn't have this the first time we made them)
- one request for a ham and fresh pineapple which turned out perfect too (sorry, I know pineapple is really a 'no no' here)

I'm sure we'll all master it in no time and these little ovens will be used a lot over the summer & beyond here!

Gloomtastic!

^ Great post, well done!

I haven't practised rotating pizzas with a peel but if I was, I'd use 2 pre made bases from the supermarket, one on top of the other to give it a bit of weight and an unlit oven.

For the mozzarella topping. I think it was discussed earlier in this thread but mozzarella balls have too much liquid in them and grated mozarella is not great at all. :rolleyes:

The solution suggested was to slice your mozarella balls and place them between several layers of kitchen roll and weighed down to remove as much liquid as possible. Works for me.

Drier mozzarella balls are available in some supermarkets I believe but I'm sure they will be more expensive than normal.

oscarBravo

I have a small round peel for turning. It takes a wee bit of practice, but there are a couple of approaches: the noddy way is to shove the peel in from one side of the opening, get it under the centre of the pie, lift, rotate until the handle of the peel hits the other side of the opening, and withdraw - you get maybe a 45 degree turn that way, so you end up making more small turns at shorter intervals.

The "right" way is to get the peel under one side of the pie, lift and spin around to the other side. I haven't mastered this technique yet, largely because I don't think I have enough room in the wee Koda to do it properly without pushing the pizza into the flames or against either side. I'll keep trying. Practicing in a cold oven sounds like a plan.

Drying moz balls on kitchen roll is a good idea. I pull them apart rather than slicing (no particular reason), but I try to remember to do it early in the day and leave the shreds drying in the fridge until I need them.

BaZmO*

I haven't made a pizza yet but what about turning sticks?



Surely it'd be easy to bodge something up with an old broom handle and bent forks?

edit-

This is quite a good demo of how to do it the traditional way

The Nal

BaZmO* wrote: »

Surely it'd be easy to bodge something up with an old broom handle and bent forks?

Like with any new market boom, such as pizza ovens at the moment, theres a huge cash grab. Theres no need for anything but a cheap wooden peel. Get it under the pizza, pull the pizza on the peel with you hand and turn.

No need for an 8 minute instructional video on how to do it.

BaZmO*

The Nal wrote: »

Like with any new market boom, such as pizza ovens at the moment, theres a huge cash grab. Theres no need for anything but a cheap wooden peel. Get it under the pizza, pull the pizza on the peel with you hand and turn.

No need for an 8 minute instructional video on how to do it.

I thought I had the video to start at the specific point. 2:40 to 2:50

That said, saying that there is no need for an 8min instructional video, would also mean that there's probably no need for a 120 page thread on pizzas either!!! :pac:

The Nal

BaZmO* wrote: »

I thought I had the video to start at the specific point. 2:40 to 2:50

That said, saying that there is no need for an 8min instructional video, would also mean that there's probably no need for a 120 page thread on pizzas either!!! :pac:

Haha very true, sorry, wasn't trying to be snotty.

Muahahaha

Blizzard wrote: »

I'm sure we'll all master it in no time and these little ovens will be used a lot over the summer & beyond here!

They really are fantastic and a permanent fixture in the garden now. At this point Ive only bought one take away pizza in the last year and a half and that was from Apache. Sitting there eating it I was thinking the pizzas from the Ooni are a far nicer. The fact youre eating fresh pizza out of the oven a minute after it has come out is a big advantage over it being 20 minutes old by the time a takeaway gets delivered. Pizza dough is really at its peak immediately after cooking it.

Id also imagine Oonis will have great longevity and pay for themselves many times over. With no moving parts and it being made of good stainless steel it should last for years and years. A baking stone replacement for 20 quid at some stage is all it will ever need.

magicbastarder

Muahahaha wrote: »

The fact youre eating fresh pizza out of the oven a minute after it has come out is a big advantage over it being 20 minutes old by the time a takeaway gets delivered.

those takeaway companies obviously have recipes to account for that travel time - during lockdown last year, we ordered in from a wood fired pizza place (rua in phibsboro) which we'd eaten in several times before, but on delivery the crust was chewy and the experience was not a patch on the eat-in experience.

Muahahaha

What could they put in the recipe to help with travel time though? Ive never had a sit in Apache (my local has a few seats, most dont I think) but Id imagine it would be nicer straight out of the oven than being in a box steaming itself for 20 minutes after cooking.