My OONI

[old sarge]

The topic of homemade pizza in my house occurred once, maybe 20 odd years ago. I bought a Chef BoyRDee pizza kit. I ate it. Not too bad but never again.  Knowing how much I detest eating in restaurants and ordering take-out, my son gave me an Ooni Karu 12 for Christmas and his future wife gave me the gas burner attachment.  Remembering my fight with dough sticking to my fingers and hand, I figured my foray into pizza with the Ooni would be a shortcut using Papa Murphy's take and bake. Did a small personal pizza with a white sauce for my wife and it turned out really well.  I got their 12 inch with extra pepperoni. Now I did not have a peel; only a spatula and tongs. The personal size for my wife looked like a pizza when it left the oven (no pictures).  Mine, being larger, was a near disaster.  First problem was getting the raw pizza off the oven proof baking pan that comes with the pizza - super sticky.   Then getting it into the oven on the stone and periodically rotating it for the next minute or two till finished and then extracting it in one piece.   Sorry about no out of the oven photo but you can see the poor creature in the oven.  It was good and using the Ooni was a hoot. I plan on getting the proper tools and making my own dough for the future.  This oven is a keeper.  My son is a gem.  He even provided the beer:  Chimay!

[smokeasaurus]

You are going to have lots of fun with your new OONI.

Great minds think alike, Wendy and I have started doing our own pizzas, so much better than take-out.

We have a Papa Murphys in a neighboring town and we grab one whenever we drive by.

Have fun Sarge!!

[Lines]

Nice oven old sarge. My wife has been wanting one of those for awhile now. Thanks for reviewing yours. We may look into one now.

[old sarge]

It is nice.  I have not used it with wood yet.  Going to wait till the weather warms up. With the gas, I had the flame cranked up to the point that it was periodically leaving the oven.  I turned it down.  Also, I was concerned about how sooty the smoke was, sort of like having the wick on an oil lamp adjusted too high.  According to OONI, flame was too big and I did not use the chimney.  I sent photos of the instructions (for the stove and the one that came with the gas attachment).  The instructions conflicted with each other.  The chimney is used at all times. As I said, there was a conflict with the two sets of instructions.  Also, the soot never settled on the pizza.  The 12 may is small compared to the larger 16 inch.  But as fast as you can cook a pizza, average 2 minutes, the 12 is great.  Just keep making and cooking.  And the 12 is about 1/2 the price of the larger Karu. Ooni also has a forum and all the questions I sent to Ooni seem to come from forum members, not Ooni corporate.  Pretty sweet.  Looking forward to warmer weather and lots of pizza.

[Lines]

Awesome! Thanks again for the information.

[Tailgating is my game]

looks great...enjoy

[Pam Gould]

Congrats on the oven...I have the original Unni form about 2010-11. At the Gathering in Augusta Ga. Brad made pizza dough and we practiced making pizzas. They were fabulous. We made bunches of them.
I have a really good pizza dough recipe that can be made in a bread machine...20 minutes or in a food processor or mixer I will share if you would like. Just send me a message.
I see that you need a pizza peel. I got one from Amazon or ebay, eBay is cheaper... pic enclose. It is about 2 ft long with a wooden handle and a metal peel.  Fits perfectly in a Uuni or Ooni. Just throw some cornmeal on it and put pizza and iti will not stick. Then just slide it into the unit and lift a little and pull back...Pizza in the oven.  Once the crust gets hot, just a few seconds, then put peel back in and twirl, you will get the hang of it.
Pizza dough recipe is great. I make bunches of it. it's better if it is used overnight but can be used immediately. I make pizza on the grill...15 the last time i made them on the grill. I made the dough and everyone made their own pizzas.
Last pic is a garbage pizza, everything but the sink. It took me 4 weekends to learn how to do it on the grill, but they are better than any store bought or made.
Email me for the recipe if your interested.
Pam

[Tailgating is my game]

Congrats on the oven...I have the original Unni form about 2010-11. At the Gathering in Augusta Ga. Brad made pizza dough and we practiced making pizzas. They were fabulous. We made bunches of them.
I have a really good pizza dough recipe that can be made in a bread machine...20 minutes or in a food processor or mixer I will share if you would like. Just send me a message.
I see that you need a pizza peel. I got one from Amazon or ebay, eBay is cheaper... pic enclose. It is about 2 ft long with a wooden handle and a metal peel.  Fits perfectly in a Uuni or Ooni. Just throw some cornmeal on it and put pizza and iti will not stick. Then just slide it into the unit and lift a little and pull back...Pizza in the oven.  Once the crust gets hot, just a few seconds, then put peel back in and twirl, you will get the hang of it.
Pizza dough recipe is great. I make bunches of it. it's better if it is used overnight but can be used immediately. I make pizza on the grill...15 the last time i made them on the grill. I made the dough and everyone made their own pizzas.
Last pic is a garbage pizza, everything but the sink. It took me 4 weekends to learn how to do it on the grill, but they are better than any store bought or made.
Email me for the recipe if your interested.
Pam

That Pizza looks amazing Pam

[HighOnSmoke]

I remember that August trip. We had pizza coming out of our ears.  But it was so delicious! Pam I sent you an email. I am just getting into doing pizza on my grill. I bought the GMG Pizza insert for my Recteq. It works great! First ones we made were with a store bought pizza dough. It was okay, but nothing to write home about. We are looking for a great dough recipe.

[old sarge]

Thanks Pam.  Your garbage pizza looks terrific. Thanks for the tip on the peel.  Will look into it.  Your offer of the dough recipe will be accepted.  Quick question:  Can the dough be made in batches then frozen for later use? I am a real rookie at this. Thanks again.

[Pam Gould]

Thanks Pam.  Your garbage pizza looks terrific. Thanks for the tip on the peel.  Will look into it.  Your offer of the dough recipe will be accepted.  Quick question:  Can the dough be made in batches then frozen for later use? I am a real rookie at this. Thanks again.

YES. It can sit in frig for a few days also, it will ferment, but that's fine, extra taste. It's so fast to make don't know why you would freeze it.  Enjoy.

[MJSBBQ]

One of my neighbors has a 16 inch gas only. He loves it, but was telling me about the learning curve. He uses a laser temp, and said that 900 degrees was way too hot, and everything burned. He turned it down to 550 degrees, and said even though the cooking time was now 4 minutes, it was much more controllable and the taste was better.

[pmillen]

He uses a laser temp, and said that 900 degrees was way too hot, and everything burned. He turned it down to 550 degrees, and said even though the cooking time was now 4 minutes, it was much more controllable and the taste was better.

I confess that I've never made my own pizza crust dough but I've read time and again to always bake pre-made crusts at the temperature the maker recommends because the water content affects the rate it cooks at.  I think I can resurrect detail information on this subject if anyone is interested.

[Pam Gould]

One of my neighbors has a 16 inch gas only. He loves it, but was telling me about the learning curve. He uses a laser temp, and said that 900 degrees was way too hot, and everything burned. He turned it down to 550 degrees, and said even though the cooking time was now 4 minutes, it was much more controllable and the taste was better.

I found that using a 14" cast iron pizza pan works well if you have something under it, like another pan or cookie sheet, turned upside down as an insulator in case it get too hot. I have also used the ceramic pizza pans or stones.  Preheat well and go for it. I cook them in the oven at 450º also. Can you tell we  like pizzas?

[akruckus]

Congrats! We love ours and the I use the gas in the winter time because I was burning through wood trying to keep it hot.  My sweet spot is 750-800 for temp, and less is more for toppings.  When you do do the wood, I make a hot bed of lump charcoal to get it started then add wood throughout the cook.  I usually add a bunch of wood right when I am about to make the pizza that way the big flames die down a bit and doesn't burn the pizza.  Quick learning curve but once you get a good rhythm it's easy to work.  I never use the chimney with gas, and I don't think you should either, as the gas only models don't have a chimney, just can't use the front door with no chimney.

Dough is a back and forth for me.  I mix mine 2 days in advance, let it sit out for an hour or 2 after mixing in a mixer, then fridge until I go to bed the night before I plan on making the pizza.  The morning of pizza day I ball up the dough first thing in the morning.  270g-290g is the target for the ball size.  Flour, water, yeast, salt is all I use, maybe some sourdough starter if its ready.  https://www.stadlermade.com/pizza-calculator/ is what I use for my dough calculator, neapolitan.

Enjoy!