Thoughts on outdoor pizza ovens | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Thoughts on outdoor pizza ovens

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nashusky109

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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?
 
CTMike said:
I'd love to hear more details...
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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
 
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!
 
Fan4ever said:
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.
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Absolutely stellar advice

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CTMike said:
I appreciate this because it's honestly the first bad thing I've heard about the Ooni ovens.
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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
 
@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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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Drumguy said:
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?
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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.
 
Drumguy said:
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?
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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
 
bobbyinaz said:
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
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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?
 
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.
 
Deepster said:
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.
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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
 
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August_West said:
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
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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
 
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.
 
Interested in the Ooni Koda but an concerned that the legs could get extremely hot. Would I need to get a stainless table? Thanks.
 
I have a Koda 16 on a granite slab table....gas...no patience for wood. Purchased from Amazon.

...The Koda 16 stone is thickish and large
....I buy Tipo 00 flour...the Delllalo Pizza dough kit in packs of 10 on Amazon...
....A "turning peel" is essential...cooks in a couple of minutes and U must rotate
....We make them thin...and we make them chewy, depending on mood.
....San Marzano tomatoes used for sauce base
....toppings kept simple

I have just fired it up again after a prolonged absence ...We had two neighbor couples on the porch and drank wine and ate pizza...the Koda will put out three pizzas in a hurry....
 
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It's leaf pick up day today, so that means I need a ton of calories to keep the energy up.

At 11, I started to get hungry and grilled a pizza on my Weber and I'm really happy with the results. Crispy crust, gooey cheese. Can't name drop any top notch brands due to my gluten intolerance, but good nonetheless!
 

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Hey Adrien! said:
It's leaf pick up day today, so that means I need a ton of calories to keep the energy up.

At 11, I started to get hungry and grilled a pizza on my Weber and I'm really happy with the results. Crispy crust, gooey cheese. Can't name drop any top notch brands due to my gluten intolerance, but good nonetheless!
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I wanted a Rocbox/Gozney, but money wise, it was better for us to get a Camp Chef burner, 14", that holds a pizza oven, grill box (substitute for gas grill) as we already have a BGE. The burner also lets us make paella outside in a larger pan than our stove can handle.
 
MTHusky said:
Interested in the Ooni Koda but an concerned that the legs could get extremely hot. Would I need to get a stainless table? Thanks.
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The legs don’t get hot, but the undercarriage does. I have mine on a glass table outside with a piece of 18”x18” tile on it.
 
BRS24 said:
I wanted a Rocbox/Gozney, but money wise, it was better for us to get a Camp Chef burner, 14", that holds a pizza oven, grill box (substitute for gas grill) as we already have a BGE. The burner also lets us make paella outside in a larger pan than our stove can handle.
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How are the pies on it? Got a Camp Chef Woodwind this summer that I love and I have the side burner, been eyeing the pizza attachment... as much as I like the idea of an Ooni, I’d probably give this a shot first.
 
CTMike said:
How are the pies on it? Got a Camp Chef Woodwind this summer that I love and I have the side burner, been eyeing the pizza attachment... as much as I like the idea of an Ooni, I’d probably give this a shot first.
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As long as you watch the temp, don't pile ingredients on dough, and clean off the stone b/w cooking pies, it works well. It's probably not as efficient as the Rocbox, but for the # of times per year we make pizza, it was a good choice for us. If we were making za once a week, I might splurge on the Roc. The other consideration for us was space, as our lanai is not that large.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Looks great, @MTHusky and crap, I miss Montana.
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I miss it also, well, except for shoveling snow. Lived there 15 years and loved it. Moved to the So. Oregon coast which is beautiful also, but healthcare is pretty much nonexistent. Just returned from a 1 month trip to Mayo for a # of things including radiation for Prostate cancer.
 
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