Thoughts on outdoor pizza ovens

[nashusky109]

I've been eyeing down an outdoor pizza oven for a while now and fortunately won an instagram giveaway for a $500 Ooni gift card and a bunch of pizza ingredients. I ended up getting the Ooni Karu but was wondering if anyone here has an Ooni or any other pizza oven and what your thoughts are on it. Anyone have any good dough recipes and tips that they wanna share?

 

[nashusky109]

I had the Ooni and hated it. Sent it back. No heat control, no longer includes a peel, and imparted a bad smoky flavor.

My advice is to buy a Pizza Steel on Amazon for about 50 bucks, and a pumice block for cleaning it (works great). A steel is similar to a stone, but it heats faster and its easier to slide on and off. Bad part -- it's heavier.

Which Ooni did you have? Did the smoky flavor come from maybe not heating up the wood/coal correctly? Curious because i plan on using wood and coal and want to know how to avoid issues that you had.

 

[Waquoit]

I was forced too many times to the in-laws party house after the guy installed a big brick monstrosity. Never saw a good pie come out of the thing in 5 years.

 

[husky429]

A lot of factord go into crappy brick pizzas. Mostly on the chef in my experience.

Dome angle and size, type of brick (particularly underneath the pie), placement of the fire. Biggest hiccup for me was finding the right bricks so the dome could be 900 or so and the floor would stay at 725 750ish.

 

[bobbyinaz]

We have an Ooni Karu and love it!

As well as using wood and charcoal we got the gas attachment too. It does take a little practice but, being able to make fresh pizza in a matter of a few minutes is amazing.

We use the simple Ooni dough recipe. They also have a cool app that will provide ingredient weights based on different variables.

Here is a simple sausage pizza we made Sunday at lunchtime while watching football

 

[CTMike]

A lot of factord go into crappy brick pizzas. Mostly on the chef in my experience.

Dome angle and size, type of brick (particularly underneath the pie), placement of the fire. Biggest hiccup for me was finding the right bricks so the dome could be 900 or so and the floor would stay at 725 750ish.

I'd love to hear more details...

 

[August_West]

Heres a secret. and it shouldnt be..... Go to seriouseats.com

They have a comprehensive dough line up and methodology.

 

[mussels]

Heres a secret. and it shouldnt be..... Go to seriouseats.com

They have a comprehensive dough line up and methodology.

You referenced this site some time ago on this board, and I have be frequenting it ever since. Thank you.

 

[August_West]

You referenced this site some time ago on this board, and I have be frequenting it ever since. Thank you.

one of the best sites on the web. Im talking top 5 (if you like food)

 

[husky429]

I'd love to hear more details...

Tbh I don't have many. I just know when I was researching ovens, I realized I need a blueprint or this is going to go horribly haha.

Neapolitan ovens like I have are built with a shallower roof so they get hotter. A lot will depend on your style of pizza and temperature you cook at

The first bricks I got burned the bejeezus out of any pizza (and I'm a pretty good za cook). So I had to do sone research and found people recommended a type of brick that retains less heat for the floor

Tons of great info out there if you dig deep enough. Building the oven was a blast with my friends. One long Saturday and a 30 pack got it done

 

[Fan4ever]

Built my oven ~15 years ago, brick by brick. There are definite opening to Dome ceiling ratio's you have to adhere to else you get too much air (or not enough) going into the chamber. If either of these conditions occur, your oven may take too long to heat or lose heat very quickly.

One of the best lessons learned was to use a wood peel to drop the pizza into the oven, and steel peel to move/retrieve the pizza. Must be a heat related matter where the steel peel will start to cause the dough to stick to the peel regardless of how many pounds of semolina or flour you use!

 

[August_West]

One of the best lessons learned was to use a wood peel to drop the pizza into the oven, and steel peel to move/retrieve the pizza.

Absolutely stellar advice

 

[bobbyinaz]

Here are 3 that we just made while watching football in the Karu. Plain, pepperoni & roasted peppers & kalamata olives

Fun, fast & easy

 

[mussels]

Here are 3 that we just made while watching football in the Karu. Plain, pepperoni & roasted peppers & kalamata olives

Fun, fast & easy

View attachment 59125

You can’t be an Eagles fan or you wouldn’t have that kind of appetite right now.

 

[dogpause]

I appreciate this because it's honestly the first bad thing I've heard about the Ooni ovens.

I was shocked at how awful it was, because there had been hundreds of reviews on Amazon that were 4-stars, which I now wonder about. But then Amazon stopped carrying that model, the Ooni 3, which cost $275. The link is even dead now.

The Ooni cooks a pizza in 2 minutes. During those TWO, you need to turn it 90-degrees, 3 times in a very tight space that's said to be about 900-degrees hot. IMO, this requires nearly superhuman ability. Or at least more ability than I could muster. And that's the easy part. Sliding the unbaked pizza off the "peel" and into the mouth of the dragon makes walking on hot coals seem like child's play. My advice: Don't waste your money. Also, too much pizza is not real healthy.



Order detailsOrdered on May 6, 2020 (1 item)
Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven, Pizza Maker, Portable Oven, Outdoor Cooking, Award Winning Pizza Oven
Ooni
Sold by: Adventure Lane

 

[ColchVEGAS]

@dogpause That will be the case with any oven that gets to those temps. Unless you get one with a rotating table you inevitably will have to watch and turn it frequently at high temps. That is not an Ooni specific issue.

I see you had the Ooni 3 and will say I passed on that one because it was just too small. You can get pizza steels and make just as good of a pizza in your house by using some tricks. I just like making the fire and the feeling of control over the oven rather than pushing some buttons. The only real negative I see in the Ooni is the wood pellet attachment is too small. When making multiple pizzas you really have to keep stoking it and pay extra attention.

 

[Deepster]

Here are the cliff notes of this thread.

1) You can build your own brick oven. Takes time and skill. Need to build it correctly or it will be too hot or not hot enough.

2) You can buy an Ooni or something similar. They may have quirks. Yes. Mine is small and it's hard to rotate the pizzas sometimes until you get the hang of it.

3) You can buy a stone/steel and do it in your oven. I didn't care for a stone. Folks seem to really like the steel.

4) You can order take out.

 

[Drumguy]

This thread has piqued my interest in the ooni, thinking about the as yet to be released 16" propane model (I am somewhat lazy, so propane is appealing for ease of use). I love pizza but rarely order it as I'm always on a diet. Do you cook anything else in it, or is it really just a pizza oven?

 

[Deepster]

This thread has piqued my interest in the ooni, thinking about the as yet to be released 16" propane model (I am somewhat lazy, so propane is appealing for ease of use). I love pizza but rarely order it as I'm always on a diet. Do you cook anything else in it, or is it really just a pizza oven?

So, I have the pellet only version. To be honest, it's tricky to get lit. You fill the base with pellets and some type of starter. I used fatwood and it smelled like pine and I was afraid it'd make the pizza taste funny (it didn't). Once you get it lit (again, wasn't that simple), you need to fill the hopper periodically and, if you add too many pellets at this time, you can suffocate the flame.

Once it gets going, the digital thermometer skyrockets quickly. I don't know what difference propane would make in that regard, maybe someone can comment there. It would certainly be much easier to light though.

 

[8893]

4) You can order take out.

Which, in CT, is likely to be better than 99.99% of the pizza on the planet, including the one you make in your house.

 

[bobbyinaz]

This thread has piqued my interest in the ooni, thinking about the as yet to be released 16" propane model (I am somewhat lazy, so propane is appealing for ease of use). I love pizza but rarely order it as I'm always on a diet. Do you cook anything else in it, or is it really just a pizza oven?

They make a gas attachment for the Karu which we got. As i said in an earlier post, it's a little easier to control the temperature with the gas attachment.

We've made steak and chicken in our Karu. Cooked is a cast iron skillet the steak take about 90 seconds per side at a screaming 900 degrees

 

[nashusky109]

They make a gas attachment for the Karu which we got. As i said in an earlier post, it's a little easier to control the temperature with the gas attachment.

We've made steak and chicken in our Karu. Cooked is a cast iron skillet the steak take about 90 seconds per side at a screaming 900 degrees

With the gas attachment are you able to turn the flame down all the way or is it only a limited range between low to high flame? I bought both the karu and the gas attachment (on backorder) but want to be able to do a slow cook to get a crispier base. You think thats possible or is the "low" setting on the attachment still too hot?

 

[bobbyinaz]

The difference between the low and high flame is pretty significant.

I heat the oven on the high setting to get the stone up to temperature then turn it down to low to launch the pizza. The bottom crust gets crispy for us.

Anxious to hear from you when you get your Karu. We've had ours for about 3 months and love it.

 

[August_West]

So, I have the pellet only version. To be honest, it's tricky to get lit. You fill the base with pellets and some type of starter. I used fatwood and it smelled like pine and I was afraid it'd make the pizza taste funny (it didn't). Once you get it lit (again, wasn't that simple), you need to fill the hopper periodically and, if you add too many pellets at this time, you can suffocate the flame.

Once it gets going, the digital thermometer skyrockets quickly. I don't know what difference propane would make in that regard, maybe someone can comment there. It would certainly be much easier to light though.

When you burn pellets you should always burn them for 10 -15 minutes way past temp you want to cook at , then bring it down. That takes fatwood ( which will be molten ash by then) and other residuals Out of play

 

[bobbyinaz]

When you burn pellets you should always burn them for 10 -15 minutes way past temp you want to cook at , then bring it down. That takes fatwood ( which will be molten ash by then) and other residuals Out of play

I also have a Traeger and that's what it does when it starts. It will go 50 or more degrees higher than the set temperature in the initial heating phase and then comes down and keeps a consistent temp for cooking

 

[Exit 4]

I have been making my own dough and cooking it on the grill for about 1 minute, then pulling it off - adding the toppings/sauce and then finishing on the grill. No sheet, just straight to the grill. I think it works out well - better than my regular oven - as long as you don't go heavy on the tomato sauce. OO + Pesto + fresh mozz pies do really well.

My grilled pizza is still well short of a good CT pie, but nevertheless I have fun giving it a go. I'm never not in the mood to try making homemade pizza ....its like golf to me; keep trying.