There is absolutely no advantage to wood for cooking pizza,
More so . We get demonized on here for heating our houses with wood . How's the PM2.5 release on a pizza oven.
And you get them for waiting 40 mins for usable heat ?
There is absolutely no advantage to wood for cooking pizza
Thought I was jokey enough with my wording to not rub people up the wrong way, apparently not, I am fully aware that given the time it cooks for no wood flavour is imparted to the pizza.
I enjoy cooking with fire and wood, the OP has no gas adaptor at present so wants to cook it today so I thought it'd be useful to tell them how long the stone takes to get to temperature.
As for the harm of particulates in the air, I balance this by having cycled to work when I did go into the office and having no wood burning stove in my house. I will continue to punish my neighbours with wood smoke when bbqing and pizza cooking though, hate me for it if you must 🙂
Lol, I seem to rub them up the wrong way too, having a wood burner and toon gas! 🙈
Despite same folks having a dozen bikes, 4 cars and a motorbike. 😂
I'm not actually being serious about pM2.5s and a pizza oven...... But I know there will be much tutting going on at my poking fun at pm2.5s
Hah, sounds like we all enjoy what we want how we want to then. Have a good weekend all 🙂
My ambitions are more modest - would a pizza stone help me avoid soggy bottoms (fnarr)? Or are they a useless gimmick?
Pizza stones are good and will sort your soggy bottom DrJ!.
Used one in a standard oven for years before I started buggering about with weber bbq and then the koda.
Go for it.
People reckon you can get pretty good results with a heavy cast iron frying pan and then finished off under the grill also
People reckon you can get pretty good results with a heavy cast iron frying pan and then finished off under the grill also
You can . It's more of a bread than a pizza though.
Used to do this in Angola when all we had for cooking was a braai
Heavy cast flat bottom pan with a lid preheated to as hot as it would go . Not top notch pizza...but better than anything we could buy locally.
And less chance of dysantry...
Or are they a useless gimmick?
It's all about the stone (very high heat from underneath)
If you've got a pyrolytic cleaning oven you can bake brilliant pizzas at 500c+ by hacking the lock mechanism. Might invalidate your warranty though.
Well my first attempt didn’t go great. I did manage to borrow the gas burner adapter but struggled to find anywhere to sell me a bottle of gas. Finally managed to nick one from my mums bbq. With all this we decided to just get the ready rolled bases from tesco... kin ell. Could not get it off the parchment at first, then we just plucked it off and re rolled it. Eventually I stuck one in the freezer for a bit I’m and this was a revelation.
When I came to cooking tho, they were all too soft & doughy in the middle and charred and crispy round the edges. I like the charred edges but nobody else did.
Having said all that tho they were bloody delicious. Just need to refine my technique and definitely make our own dough in future.
I think that ready made based are "designed" for normal ovens so they require a longer, lower cooking time.
Hence burnt around the edge and uncooked in the middle.
Also cooking from frozen will simply not work.
You can get frozen dough balls in some places - just defrost them carefully in the microwave.
It's best to make batches of dough yourself though...obvs.
I do this using 1kg flour at a time then individually wrap the dough balls in cling film and freeze.
The thread is a little hefty now though. So what is the ‘drac’s iPad’ of the Pizza Oven world?
Ooni Koda
I like a charcoal bbq for smoking stuff while cooking it but the convenience of the Koda is really brilliant - I got one because it was the only model available at the time but it's great.
It is easy to burn the outsides even with homemade dough, but I've got much better at not doing it.
Ooni are pushing the price up by all account but John Lewis has some Kodi 16 in for £400 just now.
https://www.johnlewis.com/ooni-koda-16-gas-fuel-portable-pizza-oven/p5049055
How is everyone storing theirs in this damp cold winter.
Mine is in the shed and unlikely to be used till spring. I don’t want to damage it by leaving it in the shed. But if it makes no difference then it can stay.
Oooh I get John Lewis discount too. Jesus....I really can't afford this currently 😂
Just read through some of the thread, very entertaining! Although I've stopped on page 6 as it's got a bit 'troll'.
So to clarify....could I use the Koda in place of a normal oven? We're veggie so don't do steaks etc, but do some nice veggie tray bakes etc....would they still work?
As I posted above, we're living in a motorhome currently,and expect to be in here for 2 years whilst doing a barn conversion. I'm thinking that as time moves on (we're only a month in!) being able to shift more of the cooking outside, especially over the summer, will be a really good thing. The 16 seems a bit spendy though. Is the 13 literally just smaller version, or is it a lower spec?
How is everyone storing theirs in this damp cold winter
Be interested to know too. Ours is in the summerhouse and showing some signs of discolouration. Still being used weekly- have just cooked lunch with it.
@Tom-b the normal koda is just smaller I think
You can use it like a regular oven but it's hot - probably minimum 200c ish once it's going. Also quite small vertically. I've done great roasted veg in mine, not tried much else yet apart from using pizza dough to make garlic/zatar flatbread 😋
How is everyone storing theirs in this damp cold winter.
Outside, under a porch, hooked up to a gas bottle getting used 1-2 times a week.
Yes Koda is just a smaller version it’s what I have it’s very good I’ve cooked for 6 people on it before with no issues. Yes you can turn the temp down easily as it’s has adjustable flow on the back. It would a very handy oven in your situation.
We had no kitchen for 6 weeks in the summer.
Koda worked fine as the oven to supliment the camper hobs/microwave and our BBQ
For us and the builders (family)
It's definitely on the Spring shopping list....I think that I'll get 25 percent off at John Lewis so need to wait for it to come into stock there!
Something like a Weber go anywhere might be better for outdoors cooks, unless you want just one thing rather than 2. Other brands of portable BBQ are available of course.
Ooh I'll check it out. Fairly sure we could take the smaller Ooni Koda away with us in the motorhome for ultra middle class top trumps, so that's obviously a consideration 😂
I didn't appreciate quite how difficult it would be to get gas. Had my koda for a couple of weeks after a black Friday purchase and one thing is stopping me firing it up. The guy in the local garage almost laughed when I told him I needed a bottle as well as gas.
Ah yes! Haven't they stopped selling bottles nationwide? Luckily we've got a decent stash and variety here. I'm still pondering rigging up a 43kg butane bottle for the mojo whilst were parked up. Works out at around £1.50 p/kg rather than £4.50 p/kg that we pay for our 6kg bottles to be refilled. We're getting a month out of a 6kg bottle currently though so not sure it's worth the hassle.
As above, if you're near to Congleton, I can probably loan you a bottle.
Get a used bottle off eBay, I got a gaslight one for a tenner.
Late to the party, and haven't read the previous pages.
I have an Ooni Koda, (the smaller one) and gas powered.
Its great, gets up to temp in 15 mins, easy to use, just need a little practice whipping the raw pizza in, and turning it.
Takes no more than 2 minutes to cook.
Recommend.
You do need gas, and Calor have had an embargo on for the last year, however other companies exist and I have FloGas canisters (I got one, and when i thought it might be running out, i bought another, so have 2 on the go, when one is empty i refill but still have the spare)
Not sure you can get them refilled anywhere, but they do a free delivery service and have been swift when i used them
Loads available again now caravan parks have shut and BBQ season has ended.
Aye, no issue with gas now.
out of interest, how easy is it to clean a koda if you have a disaster? (or are you all artisan pizza makers now?)
we still have the odd er.... mishap, usually when my wife (not me, natch) takes too long to put the toppings on or puts too much base sauce onto it and it starts sticking to the peel (even with polenta underneath). you never know with those how its going to go until you try slipping it onto the plate, and we've had a few right calamities 😀
ive got a firepod, which has a removable lid which has been invaluable for such situations, just wondered how the oonis fared in that respect?
Mid cook let the scraps burn push the lumps back with the launcher. After cooking flip the cool stone over and it’ll burn of the next cook.
My Ooni Koda 12 just arrived!
we still have the odd er…. mishap, usually when my wife (not me, natch) takes too long to put the toppings on
Educate her that less is more - and don't put topping right up the the edge of the pizza.
Less really is more when it comes to pizza toppings.
Spilled stuff does burn off pretty easily at max temp but I also got the Ooni wire brush/scraper which works pretty well.
My Ooni Koda 12 just arrived!
Congrats!
might be a daft question. when cooking with gas do you leave the door off when initially heating up the oven?
not on mine, there are venting holes in the top.....
Educate her that less is more – and don’t put topping right up the the edge of the pizza.
haha that made me smile, theyre the exact words i use to her every time. always the same answer, "leave me alone, i like loading mine up" 😀
might be a daft question. when cooking with gas do you leave the door off when initially heating up the oven?
There is no door on an ooni buddy, it's the stone your heating.
mines a Karu 12. it comes with an impressive looking insulated door. it does say in the bumf that its to be left off when coking with gas - but i wasnt sure if it should stay on during the initial heat-up?
Ah, sorry, no experience of those! Youtube is your friend.
Christened the koda 12 last night. Just wow! Wish I could be bothered to post a pic as they looked as good as they tasted. First mouthful my wife took and she just said "oh my god that's good". Used the dough I'd frozen that I'd previously done in the oven. I'm sure somewhere in this thread somebody asked why not just cook them in a hot oven and save yourself a couple of hundred quid. I can't believe how wrong they were. Best purchase decision I've made in a long time. Thanks for everyone on here for inspiring me.
Made a batch of dough for the freezer this morning - great to be able to knock up a perfect garlic pizza to go with the pasta in just 15 mins.
Nice one @wait4me - one of my best toys also 🙂
First mouthful my wife took and she just said “oh my god that’s good”.
🤭
@wait4me superb, know what you mean about the pics, tbh the first few pizzas you make are a blur!
You're not wrong Nobeer, it all felt a bit frantic. At one point I thought it'd gone horribly wrong.
And the amount of times I've told Mrs W4Me not to talk with her mouth full Grum 😂
Our local baker is selling frozen ready made pizza dough. Tried it last week 10x better than mine. Top result. Just need a local mozzarella farm and I’m sorted.
made some dough that seemed alright. the rest of the experience was a disaster tho. most of it get hoyed in the bin... lots of lessons, lots more still to learn.
i really hope the next cook is successful or i fear it may be the last!
What went wrong mahalo and maybe we can help? Stick with it it's worth it!
well it started raining so the operation had to move inside which was a ball ache and elevated stress levels. then id read the base should be almost transparent, so we rolled the first very thin, but could not get the peel under it! then we assembled one on the peel but couldnt get it off into the oven... we finally got one to work with a ton of flour but in frustration completely forgot cheese (so the kids had a burnt base with barely melted cheese) while i was outside dicking about with that the mrs had rolled out an applied toppings to the rest of the dough indoors but obviously they were glued to the worktop too. ripped to shreds trying to get the peel under em!! just lobbed the lot in the bin!! even managed to find some Nduja which was wasted too!
i have ordered a couple of wooden paddles which they seem to use in all the vids. this should make the supply chain easier. and im told flour flour flour, even more than you'd think?
then id read the base should be almost transparent
Na, thats pish, ignore.
All the other stuff is sorted by having a wee system, Just do one pizza at a time though, it's not like making pizza in oven, it's too quick to be trying to sort the next pizza while one is cooking.
I use an alu peel, don't use much flower on the base, it just burns. Keep it moving to stop it sticking, and don't hang about. Sounds like you may have went for a high hydration too, don't do that, get used to something a bit easier to handle first, then try higher hydration once confident.
i have ordered a couple of wooden paddles which they seem to use in all the vids. this should make the supply chain easier. and im told flour flour flour, even more than you’d think?
Ok, it's pretty simple TBH
1) if rolling the dough out do it on a floured surface and make sure you can lift it - if it's too thin you'll get holes which is bad. Experiment.
2) use a wooden peel (cheap is fine) and make sure you either flour it (rub the flour in to the wood) or sprinkle it with semolina before putting the base on. I think the latter is better - think of the semolina as ball bearings that the base will sit/roll on.
2) don't put anything on the base until it's on the peel
3) don't add a load of toppings and wait until you're ready too cook it- too much pizza sauce will make the base soggy and it will stick to the peel.
4) when launching the pizza into the oven put the peel quite a long way into the oven (so that the pizza is fully in the oven) then give it a forwards then backwards shake and the pizza should move forwards onto the pizza stone...... then pull the peel out gently leaving the pizza behind.
5) change to the metal peel and after 20 seconds slide it under the pizza and pull it out(don't be shy... by this time the base will have cooked a bit so shouldn't fold up), turn it 180 degrees and put it back in for another 20 seconds* - repeat twice but turn by 90 degrees then 180 degrees so all sides have been cooked.
Remove from the oven and slide back onto the wooden peel.
* keep an eye on the pizza all the time - this time could be less.
Don't put oil on the pizza before cooking - it will burn quicker.
If you're doing garlic pizza [with garlic butter] - it will cook really quickly, so consider turning the gas down to reduce the heat from above.
EDIT: Don't even think about doing something else while cooking the pizzas - they'll burn!!
We find a wooden peel works for making the pizza and launching then the metal to remove from oven. When we just had the metal peel they were harder to remove without too much flour
Yeah good advice above but just to reiterate don't try and make them too thin at first, and remember to really go easy on the toppings. Are you using good high protein pizza flour?
Thin n crispy is so 2019, it's all about the neapolitan now! Sourdough even better!
To the person who asked if you can run butane on a Ooni.
I am not a gas engineer, but I've been running butane fine for a few months. You just need a different regulator.
so were finally getting the hang of it now.
but we have had to give back the borrowed burner. new burners are like rocking horse shit online. has anyone any idea where there might be one available? Also there appears to be 2 models, the 'gas burner' and 'gas burner for ooni pro' the latter ones are widely available - has anyone used this with an oven thats not an ooni pro?
I think the pro one doesn't fit a normal ooni.
i think that too, just wondered why or if anyone had tried/bodged it...
I did somewhere that had them In some stores, it may be Dobbies let me check out the Facebook group where I seen them.
Yes it was Dobbies do a search on local stores.
awesome thanks
well that was a waste of an afternoon and half a tank of fuel. still, nice to get get out!!
No luck?
Did you do click and collect on the dobies site before going ? Showing stock to local store for tomorrow for me
First use of the ooni on Friday and everyone raved about the pizza. I bought some Caputo gluten free flour and can recommend it for anyone who has the same requirements. I slightly mis-read the instructions and piled all the ingredients into the mixer but should have mixed the flour and water for 5 minutes, then added the yeast, oil and salt and mixed for a further 2 minutes. The mix was a bit on the wet side but good enough to roll out by hand with some extra flour and by the end I had managed to get a raised crust around the outside, but on the last pizza the dough was slightly under although the topping and crust looked well done.
I also bought a fold up aluminium table from Argos which worked really well. Big enough to hold the oven plus plenty of space for flour and plates. It folds up really small so can be stored alongside the oven.
Does anyone use a temperature gun?
Did you do click and collect on the dobies site before going ? Showing stock to local store for tomorrow for me
it said click and collect was available to collect the next day for me too, at 3 local stores (marple, Alty and Preston) but i wanted it that same day. i all phoned 3 stores hundreds of times but nobody answered. i called the HQ but she didnt know which stores had what stock of anything. so i just drove down to Marple. they had none. i showed them the click and collect thing but they still had none. i went over to the altrincham store, same story. CBA going to Preston.
we ended up christening the fuel tray and got a wood fire going. amazing. bit of a faff but im in less of a rush for the gas burner now...!
Unlikely stock is held at any of the local stores if it's for order collect tomorrow. That'll be a warehouse dispatch.
Anyway. Made a batch of dough Friday so have had a few pizzas this weekend. Nice making them in the day light . Easier to judged cookedness
Made off the scale amazing rump steaks in ours at the weekend. Lovely crust and rare inside. Sadly the grill pan melted a tad!
Late to the party but I made this oven back in spring 2016 from an old hearthstone I had dug up, some spare bricks from a neighbour and puddling clay acquired from the local canal works for a donation.
https://flic.kr/p/2kFKReC
Fitted a Vitcas thermometer to the door (old worktop backed with masterboard left over from wood stove installation)
https://flic.kr/p/2kFKiar
I made a stainless steel peel from some spare sheet cut to 1/2” narrower than the doorway and welded to some 1” od tube, with the handle wrapped in bar tape.
Makes a difference when used with polenta/semolina under the dough.
https://flic.kr/p/2kFKVe1
Total cost was about £45 including the cement for the bricks. Pizzas cook in about 90 seconds.
That’s well cool.
Yeah steaks and the likes are outstanding done in the oven but make sure your cast iron pan is sufficient for the temps.
Wife’s birthday present finally arrived yesterday (I ordered it about a month ago).
We eat quite a lot of pizza and think we might eat a lot more now 🙂
First one out of the oven for last nights dinner.
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Looks great, much better than my first efforts!
I'm gonna crank mine up shortly for the first time in a while. 🙂
We fired up the pizza oven a few weeks ago for the first time this year. Eventually got round to building a door, so the morning after, I plonked a pork leg in the there and left it for 9 hours... It was falling apart.
Same the following week but with a chicken, again, well worth it for Sunday dinner after Saturday night pizzas.
Before we cooked some pizza, 1 kg of tomahawk steak... It was awesome
Ok - so I’m doing well after 8 months of ownership with the Koda. Dough is really good and I do a 72hr prove. I’m in a routine. I’m going to be testing myself soon.
Has anyone either a) taken ingredients and dough with them and cooked away from home? If so, any tips being away from the kitchen? Or b) taken theirs camping? We have an upcoming trip with friends and I’ve been asked to bring it along. If so, what type of dough would suit? I’d worry about keeping it all cool in summer.
I’m also intrigued by ready made dough/bases too. It’s not in the spirit of things but if I took it along post ride somewhere - it could work well if I can find any to a good standard.
Anyone had a good result playing away from home with your ovens?
So, my Ooni Koda 12 just landed....25% off from John Lewis too....thank you staff discount!!!
A question.....will I be able to swap out the supplied regulator to run it off the 6kg Calor Red propane bottles that we use in our motorhome, or does it have to run on patio gas?
