Mini pizza ovens

Mini portable pizza ovens. I always thought they looked a bit of a joke whenever I saw them in the bbq stores.

We got the Ooni Koda 12 inch as a family Xmas present. It's so small that it doesn't look very impressive when you open it, but I was surprised to find the stone base really did reach 500+ deg C with ease, as advertised, with the stainless steel roof lining glowing a dull red!

First attempt was a disaster with the pizza spontaneously combusting due to the oven being waaaay too hot, much to the amusement of all present.

Tonight, after a couple of days of YouTube research and experimentation, we made some adjustments to the temperature (lowered the stone temp to 440 deg C and reduced the flame size as the pizza was placed inside), prepared the dough 1/2 day ahead (instead of being a last minute effort like the first time). The result was a pizza base and crust that was far better than anything I've ever had before. Light, crispy, and soft all at once, and the toppings having a flavour you just can't get in a regular home oven. Simply amazing.

Anyone else tried one?

This is what I'm talking about...

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kk said..
I've got a wood fired more conventional style but the results are the same by the sounds of it, nothing beats a fresh well made pizza!

That youTuber you linked to is pretty good but I ended up unsubbing, he got too annoying.

The dough is where it's at in my opinion, there is a pizza app, who knew! I like to make it 24hrs before and keep it at about 17 deg for the "fermentation" period. The highest protien flour you can find helps with long fermentation and flavour, Light house pizza flour from coles and woolies. Or for the best I've found checkout KegLand.com... You know, pizza and beer.

Also 440 may be too hot, or my temp laser thingo may be wrong... Above 400 the bricks are near glowings on the floor.

Yeah, I can see how he could get on people's nerves , but that video sure gave me a quick leg up.

I'd say your temp probe is correct. The 440 C seems to be very hot. I think there's a couple of things going on here. First, you're proper oven would have loads more thermal inertia in the bricks in comparison to the little oven I have which only has a little square stone that is relatively thin so the temperature would drop when the pizza is added. Second, seems the higher temperature is for the particular Naples pizza style that cooks in 60 seconds. It's kind of nuts, but it really does cook that fast, blink and it's burnt. I guess you're cooking a 'normal' style of pizza at a lower temp and takes a while longer. I'll be trying that soon enough.

The dough sure does seem to be where most of the art and effort is. I'm using i'l Milino at the moment, but I saw the Lighthouse next to it on the shelf, so I'll try that next time. And the 24 hour fermentation, thanks for the tip. Do you use the 'poolish' pre-ferment that Vito does in the video I linked? Also, I can't wait to be able to handle and stretch dough like he can... the shapes I'm getting are sometimes more like kids dinosaur biscuits than round pizzas.

I've got a New Wave electric pizza maker. At under $100 it's hard to beat. It churns out decent quality pizzas with very little preparation or effort. Cleaning is a wipe with a damp rag while it's hot and/or a bit of scrape with the included little pizza paddles.

We haven't had store bought pizzas for 10-15 years.

I generally go for a crispy thin crust pizza. It's possible to do the thick crust and bubbled surface thing but it takes more messing around.

I use wholemeal flour for the bases so the pizzas are "healthy" and have a nice crispy texture and a rich flavour. I have recently started adding about 30 grams of gluten to 220 grams of flour. That makes for a thicker base. Sometimes I add 30-40% plain white or tipo 00 if I can be bothered.

I have few tricks. One is to make the dough a little more moist than usual. It makes for a lighter pizza base, but it's more prone to tear when stretching. I just use a roller with 3mm depth rings on them to get an even base with no holes.

The main trick is once the base is rolled I put it on the pre-heated pizza maker and let the bottom cook a bit and any bubbles form. You can close the lid if you want to toast the top a bit. I then add the sauce and toppings, close the lid and cook it for 4-5 minutes.

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kk said..
I think one of the best explanations of the dough is in the attached video, I just use 1/4 teaspoon of dried yeast, because fresh is too hard to get where I live. I also do most of the mixing with a dough hook and finish off on the bench.

For the temperature control I use one of these and an old beer fridge www.ebay.com.au/itm/254579136731?hash=item3b461958db:g:wrAAAOSwY-pgq0Bx

Thanks, that's a great breakdown of technique!

I'm using dried yeast too and it works just fine. The hardest thing is deciding 24 hours ahead that you're having pizza, but still get pretty good results with only 3 - 4 hours notice. Our kitchen oven has a dough proving setting that can be set as low as 25 deg C, so that part is easy.

One thing that has amazed me is the importance of forming the dough balls the correct way. If you do it wrong, the dough seems to remember it's shape and you can't press it into nice round pizza at the end.

Having some good results with additional toppings lately. I think the key is not to chop things finely, but instead keep them chunky and avoiding the temptation of adding too much. I'm really loving being able to add nice sized chunks of juicy pineapple and quality ham to a Hawaiian, in comparison to the frugal sized pieces of pineapple you'll often get from a pizzeria.

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hilly said..
Pineapple on pizza is a sin

True, but we all like to sin occasionally.

How about banana on pizza? A colleague of mine swears by banana and bacon pizza. He's South African, it seems to be more of a thing there.

I've had banana, Nutella, and strawberry pizza, but I'm not really a fan of dessert pizzas. Although, maybe homemade will be better.

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psychojoe said..
The wife went to a pizza party. The Italian host said don't waste your money on Ooni, the Jumbuck from Bunnings are just as good. And now we have a Jumbuck. Fantastic pizza, literally the best I've ever tasted.

Yeah, I saw the recent Jumbuck and Aldi versions. They both looked pretty good....an almost identical copy of the Ooni for a fraction of the price.

Nice to hear your getting good results. I've did a BBQ Ham and Pineapple last night and it's my new favourite. Very chunky pineapple and quality thick sliced smoked leg ham that you'd never get from a pizza restaurant....awesome!

How are you going with your launching?

Googled it.
Wife is using flour, no problem.
Italian mate uses semolina, which is the traditional way, but I don't like the flavour the semolina brings.

If'n you're going down the Hawaiian route, and pineapple is on there anyway, try adding some mango and some japanese/kewpie mayo. And if it turns out that you have decent taste buds and the mango and kewpie mayo takes your hawaiian pizza to the next level, throw some anchovies on it (and/or chili flakes). Anchovies balance out the sweetness beautifully.