Pizza ovens

For those of you interested in the Uuni 3 gas burner, I noticed that while they were changing the name to Ooni, they've also upped the price from 50GBP to 65. I was planning to get one anyway, so ordered one on ebay at the old price.

Also, having burnt my pizzas to a crisp the first couple of times out with pellets, I had a successful run at the weekend. An infrared thermometer is a must (I think they should actually come with one) - the stone needs to be about 450C I reckon. If it's too hot, placing a frying pan on it for 30 seconds gets the temperature back down nicely.

Donegal Overlanding wrote: »

Small update : We got the gas burner for the Ooni, wow wow wow what a difference. Never used the pellets again after that, its just so much easier with gas.

Agreed, massive difference, you can concentrate on the pizzas now!

Yeah thats the oven that me and others here bought on Amazon way back for £43. They are good but Ive found mine has lost a bit of temperature over time. It still makes great pizza and flatbreads although they dont seem to puff up as much when the oven was brand new. Theres lots of mods on youtube about them to add an element and reflection dish to make them even hotter but Ive never gotten around to it.

Can't help you on the pellets - I gave up on them pretty shortly after buying my ooni as I found it too tricky, and I've been using the gas attachment happily since.

However, I have seen a lot of people posting on ooni groups on facebook about using hardwood kindling instead of pellets, with some good results. I did it with some kindling I had lying around, and got the oven up to temperature quickly, and it seemed to stay there fairly well, without any of the black smoke/soot that I'd experienced with the pellets. Just add a couple of bits of wood every so often.

Gas is still really handy, so I haven't actually cooked any pizzas with the wood approach, but if I ever bring the oven away with me I think I'll give it a try (save me lugging a gas canister).

Muahahaha wrote: »

Yeah my intention is to get the gas attachment but for now just going to go with pellets. Regarding the gas can you get smaller bottles other than those yellow Calor ones? And where stocks them

It's the propane ones you want - the calor ones are blue. The calor.ie site shows that they have a 6KG version which might be handy. They list stockists there too.

You could sourcing pellets from a firewood supplier

Softwood is a big no no when cooking, has to be hardwood

What price and kg are the Staffords pellets in Woodies?

Muahahaha wrote: »

What price and kg are the Staffords pellets in Woodies?

Cheap. I think 8-10 quid for 15 kg.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Sounds like a bargain compared to around €25 for 10kg for Oonis own pellets. I had asked in Woodies for wood pellets but was told they dont do them, I must have asked some part time summer jobber who says that to everyone when they dont know where a product is :rolleyes: Will try again, thanks.

Pellets are not stocked in Woodies during the summer (they are stocked for heating demand) I usually get a few bags in the winter and does me all year.

Store them in a dry location. Damp is a killer and will make them useless.

So the pellets sold for heating are fine for cooking? Had seen 'food grade' pellets advertised before, is this just a marketing trick or can the heating pellets give food off flavours?

So are these pellets are just compressed wood with no added chemicals?

Thanks, got the Staffords pellets in Woodies in the end. Havent had a cook with them as yet but sure they'll do the trick.

Im gonna upgrade to the gas at some stage anyway, just hoping they knock the price of the gas attachment as its pretty steep at €70

Can I resurrect an old thread and ask have people got the value from the ovens that they thought they would? I’m mad to get one but I don’t have the space just yet!

PARlance wrote: »

Not the answer you're looking for but I would recommend a pizza stone if you don't have space for the oven.

I blast the oven up to full (300°) and leave the stone in there for another 20 mins or so, to ensure it's extremely hot. Pizza's are generally done in 4-5 mins.

Yeah, I agree, I have a 16 inch pizza stone but the oven only does 270 and even at that I’d say the seals are dodge because the drawers next to it are slightly melted... thanks though!

Pete123456 wrote: »

Can I resurrect an old thread and ask have people got the value from the ovens that they thought they would? I’m mad to get one but I don’t have the space just yet!

Had the original pizza oven mentioned at the beginning of the thread. It was great while it lasted but after 18 months became unusable as it kept tripping the switches. There is a way to fix it but I never bothered.

Got the Unni and although its expensive its a great bit of kit. Its stainless steel so should last a long time, no electrics or moving parts to go on it either. Its obviously outdoor cooking too so only really a summer time thing for me anyway. But if you want to make pizza true Italian style with an oven that gets up to 500 degrees then its a great thing to have. It also does tandoori chicken and naan breads really well, roast veg at those temperatures get a really great char too.

Pete123456 wrote: »

the oven only does 270

there are other factors besides temp, an aifryer only gets to 200C so I did not hold out much hope for it doing pizzas, but it is amazing for them, cheese is perfectly brownd, but most are very small. I do very wide slices of commercial pizzas one at a time.

Pete123456 wrote: »

Can I resurrect an old thread and ask have people got the value from the ovens that they thought they would? I’m mad to get one but I don’t have the space just yet!

The first thing I'd say is don't buy one of the BBQ style ones they've been doing in aldi the last few years - they're rubbish. Fundamentally flawed design where the fire is below the stone, so it's either WAY too hot, or not hot enough.

Like others on here, I bought an unni and I love it. We use ours all year round (as long as it's not too windy). I'd say I average twice a month. Perfecting the dough is half the fun. The only problem now is we've turned into pizza snobs, and nothing else compares.

If you decide to go for an unni, I'd suggest getting one with the gas attachment (some of the newer ones are gas only). Some people enjoy messing around with the pellet burning, but it's pretty hit and miss, and makes the whole experience too stressful.

Hope this helps.

PS: I've got dough in the fridge on a 48 hour cold prove, for pizza night tomorrow. Useful these days (if you can find yeast!).

The Nal wrote: »

I was looking at doing something like this.

My longer term goal has always been to build a proper one too (although I'd say I'll keep the unni, because it's ready to rock in 20 minutes, and you'd be talking 90 for a proper oven to get up to temperature, from what I've read). There's lots of material out there on DIY ovens. The most impressive ones I've seen start with a gym ball, to get the dome right.



I've also read that the size/height of the opening relative to the height of the dome is very important. Just in case you do go for it.

RonnieL wrote: »

The first thing I'd say is don't buy one of the BBQ style ones they've been doing in aldi the last few years - they're rubbish. Fundamentally flawed design where the fire is below the stone, so it's either WAY too hot, or not hot enough.

Like others on here, I bought an unni and I love it. We use ours all year round (as long as it's not too windy). I'd say I average twice a month. Perfecting the dough is half the fun. The only problem now is we've turned into pizza snobs, and nothing else compares.

If you decide to go for an unni, I'd suggest getting one with the gas attachment (some of the newer ones are gas only). Some people enjoy messing around with the pellet burning, but it's pretty hit and miss, and makes the whole experience too stressful.

Hope this helps.

PS: I've got dough in the fridge on a 48 hour cold prove, for pizza night tomorrow. Useful these days (if you can find yeast!).

Thanks a mill, yeah I’ve got a few dough recipes that I find reliable, I reckon if I had the space i would love a full-size one. Probably a bit of a waste getting an electric jobby, was also going to get the BBQ one in Aldi yesterday till I read through this thread.

timmaii wrote: »

I got an Ooni Karu via Kickstarter recently, it's brilliant! I think we've used it every weekend since getting it a few months ago. It's wood fired (not pellets, just hardwood) and/or charcoal lump wood and starts up very quickly.

I’ve seen that one, I think if I went for it I’d want the gas attachment also for convenience.

Is there anything special about the Koda do ye know? Would love the Koda 16, but the regular one seems better value

timmaii wrote: »

I got an Ooni Karu via Kickstarter recently, it's brilliant! I think we've used it every weekend since getting it a few months ago. It's wood fired (not pellets, just hardwood) and/or charcoal lump wood and starts up very quickly.

That looks class wasn't aware there was new model. Have been tempted to get the Ooni 3 but had seen the pellets can be tricky to keep burning and susceptible to wind. This looks much handier being able burn wood and charcoal.

Have just got a Weber kettle and was going to get a pizza stone and peel or one the kits to convert the kettle to an oven like this It does look good and I can imagine it's a big help not having to take the lid off. Anyone got one or something like it? Still probably better saving my money and getting the Ooni Karu. Would be handy for camping too.

Pete123456 wrote: »

The more I look at videos and reviews, the more I want the koda... I see someone has a ooni 3 on adverts for 200 with cover, peel, thermometer and pellets, but I reckon I would need to buy the gas burner and all in it would still be €220 - €250.

New, the ooni 3 is now 200 whereas the koda with bits new is about 350 - 370

Decisions decisions......

Here's a Koda for €279

https://eu.ooni.com/products/ooni-koda?variant=18861716144195

Nice design

Ye talked me into it... just bought the Koda

slight delays due to COVID but a week or two will give me extra time to work on my doughs

EDIT: If you sign up to their mailing list, you get a 5% discount code which seems to work with any item. Just make sure you are on the EU store, as I accidentally got a code for the US site first