Pizza ovens

Earlier in the summer, someone posted a link here to an oven very similar to an ooni, but cheaper (it was gas powered, with flames on three sides). I think they had ordered one, and I'm interested in hearing how they got on. I've tried to go back through the thread, but I can't seem to find the original post.

That's it! Shame your purchase didn't work out. It looks like a good oven - I don't "need" a new oven, because my unni 3 is going grand, but I do think the design of that oven with flames on 3 sides is probably even better than the ooni. If anyone does get one, keep us posted here!

You’ll be fine. With pre-baked bases you don’t need to put semolina on your peel. They should come off by themselves.

Don’t overload them.

If you don’t want them to incinerate, 30 seconds, out and turn, 20 seconds, out and turn, 20 seconds to finish.

That’s interesting - I didn’t realise the Dough Bros did lots of just dough balls?

I think they will both do the same job, i.e get up to 500 degrees and cook great pizza. I think the Roccbox is something like 500 quid whereas the Ooni 16 is around 320. Im not really seeing where that extra 180 quid is going, maybe if you really prefer the looks of the Roccbox it might be worth paying the extra but the result in the pizza wont be any different. Also dont forget Ooni normally give 20% off on Black Friday so you should be able to get the 16 for around 260 so almost half the price of the Roccbox. The savings will help you spend more on accessories that you will need like a couple of peels, an infra red thermometer, boxes for proving dough, etc.

oh sorry my bad, was getting the price of the 12 mixed up with the 16. In that case it seems to be 500 for Ooni vs 450 for the Roccbox with the Ooni potentially being available at 400 (20% discount) on Black Friday, so either way the difference is only 50 euro. The Roccbox comes with a 5 year warranty compared to the Oonis 3 years which is an advantage though given they have no moving parts and are made from stainless steel that shouldnt rust Id wonder what can really go wrong with them (except for the stone cracking but they can be replaced cheap enough). The Roccbox claims it is restaurant/commercial grade but the sales blurb doesnt seem to go into any detail on what that actually means, from what I can see both of them are made with 304 food grade grade stainless steel. Maybe the Roccbox has better insulating properties or something but for domestic use the Ooni is more than adequate.

The Roccbox does come with a pizza peel though which the Ooni does not. From the specs the Roccbox is 315 x 340mm cooking area which is smaller than the 16 inch Ooni so thats a consideration too. The Roccbox has the option of adding a wood burner (extra 100 euro) which the Koda does not, if you wanted to ever use wood you'd have to get a Karu instead for the option to use wood.

Given the prices are reasonably similar Id say your choice comes down to mainly aesthetics and which one you prefer the look of. For me the Ooni wins there, it just looks like a nicer design. Whatever one you go for though they are both going to get up to 500 degrees with both delivering excellent pizza. So I think Id go with the Ooni, especially if you can get it for 400 on Black Friday

Looking at a Ooni Frya for christmas, everything ive seen there doesn't seem to be much of a downside to the pellets vs gas, is this true?

I got my Frya last November/December.

Go for it, it's great fun and learning how to make good bases is too.

Ah yeah that’s fair enough. I will say you can get a small 5kg bottle - I would say if you’re gonna lug the oven somewhere with a peel etc it shouldn’t be much more hassle to bring the gas but I get what you mean. They’re not light by any means!

We have a karu, so slightly different. Personally I prefer the taste when we use wood/charcoal to cook but it does take minding and we'd mainly only use it if it was for ourselves and we were in no rush between pizzas. Gas however is far handier in terms of not having to mind it. If your cooking a few pizzas that you want out quickly like if you have a few friends over or whatever gas is definitely the easiest.

What temp does it get to?

Im sure itll work but if it doesnt get hotter than a normal oven then just use the oven!

I have a Karu with gas attachment. My experiences of gas and wood are different to yours. I find the wood more convenient, easier to use, and much more reliable. I don't find the gas gets hot enough either. Tops out at 400-420 for me at the centre of the stone (which Ooni say is as design)

Ooni are putting their prices up for the US market, they said they are not planning it for the EU market at the moment but fair warning that it could happen at some stage. The price of shipping and matierals is what they are blaming it on

At least they are giving notice of the price rise to allow people who planned to buy an Ooni to avoid it. Still they're getting expensive, the Koda 12 is the entry level for most people and thats heading up to $399 in the US

It depends on the yeast. What one did you use. There is fast action, instant dry, etc, etc. What does the packaging say?

Use fine semolina when launching instead of flour,and flip the stone over each time you start it up that helps too.

Gotcha. There's a gap behind the stone in the fyra where it can go. As mentioned above I use semolina as well which tends to be more like dust on the stone and easier to scrape away. It tends to catch fire too so maybe it would burn off if scraped towards the gas flame

Have been moving away from Neapolitan style pizzas and have been trying a few NY style ones. Tried to replicate Lucalis pizza in my latest attempt. Neapolitan still a winner for me but it was nice for a change.

Managed to get a quick snap before the kids pounced.

I find that when I take a pizza out with my preforated peel that the peel itself can get a bit "dirty" and this can get transferred to your fresh dough on the next launch. A quick whipe of the peel with a dry towel removes it.

The only other thing I can think is that the stone is getting hotter on your subsequent launches.

But it's enevitable that the stone is going to be less clean after the first launch.

Thanks, it's certainly different than the normal Neapolitan. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole when it came to trying to replicate it (Lucali's supposedly the best Pizzeria in NY, plenty of YouTube videos out there but no definite recipe).

500g Caputo Pizzeria

280-300g Room Temp Water (I've started to use bottled over tap)

20g / Small glug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1g instant yeast

15g salt

Dissolve salt into water and then add the EVOO, add about 10-20% of the flour and mix until like a pancake batter. Add yeast and mix with fingers for a minute or so before adding remaining flour gradually. Dough should be a relatively dry one.

Once all combined I kneeded for 5mins, let rest for 15mins. And repeated that process another 2 times.

Lightly oil a bowl, cover and let bulk rise for 2 hours at RT.

Individually ball and leave at room temperature for 6 hours. (I was going to put it in the fridge for 24hr at this point but....pizza needed to get in my belly)

He rolls out his dough with a bottle of wine so, as strange as it felt, I got the rolling pin to the dough and rolled it out very thin and then worked it with hands for the final bit.

Cooked in the Ooni 16, I turned off the flame as soon as I launched pizza for 90 seconds and then put the flame on low for another 90 seconds.

Above recipe does 3 X 300g balls and they were rolled out to just under 16 inch pizzas.

(I spent 5 hours simmering the sauce as per their supposed method, it was nice but ott imo)

Three cheese, 1 block of Tesco low moisture mozzarella finely sliced 70%, shreeded buffalo mozzarella 30% and then parmesan once out of the oven.

Pic added of Lucali pizza, think I got close enough in appearance but who knows if it tasted any way similar.

Edit: corrected water amount

Just use the peel to loosen any debris and blow it towards the back of the oven - it will burn away into dust.