1st run with Ooni Koda 16

Canugghead

@caliking they all look pretty to me. some random thoughts,
- 750-800 floor temp is my go to
- I crank up in between pie prep, turn down when launched
- tried launching with metal peel once, never again because with our climate the metal collects condensation when brought back indoor, no bueno
- metal peel for turning and retrieval only. actually I don't turn in place, instead I retrieve just enough to grab, rotate on peel, push back into oven 
- I usually get away with little flour on the wood peel for launching, have to remember to break the pie-2-peel contact couple of times while prepping. worse case scenario if pie refuses to budge before launching - lift it like a hovercraft with a gentle blow below
- 1/2" copper pipe to clear burnt flour
- elevate the pie or shield its top while cooking if needed

CTMike

caliking said:

Spent some time today trying some things. 

Two similar 48h fermented doughs (one was more like 36h), using  KA’s 00 flour. 

Keeping the temp below 800 isn’t easy, but “the ultra low zone” hack (keeping the knob to the right of ignition or max) helps. 

First with the knob at the lowest setting, stone at about 830F: 

Second, with knob set midway between off and ignition/max. 

Third pie, turned the burner off while I stretched the dough, and assembled the pie. Fired it back up before launching the pie. 

Overall, pleased  with today’s results. Seems like 750F would be the sweet spot. Char, color, leoparding was best on the 1st pie, but the crust didn’t get that crispy. 2nd pie was a tad undercooked. 3rd pie was the best, nicely chewy and crunchy. Good cornicione on all of them today. 

I think I’ll get a perforated peel, so I don’t end up with as much flour on the bottom. Semolina burns worse than AP flour, so no more of that. 

Those slices all have an awesome cornicione, nicely done.  I use cornmeal instead of semolina, works well for me.  

Elijah

The wife and kids were out of town most of the day so I went overboard. I used the 24-48 hour dough and the quickest one from the elements of pizza. Caputo blue. I made progress which is what I was looking for. Some of the char was intentional, some not. I also tried bacon while warming up the ooni. Turned out fine, but probably easier to pull out the griddle and not have to babysit it.



Had the best luck with going on high for 5 or 10 minutes and then dropping to lower than low for the cook. By the end I tried to find a setting that I could stick with, but I don't think there is one. The closest I got was 650 back left and 450 front right. That didn't cook the cooler side quick enough to be able to turn it when needed. I cooked 10 total. For science. 

caliking

Thanks for the tips, @Canugghead. I'm gradually honing in on "best practices",  but it helps to have some listed in one place. 

caliking

@Elijah - I like your style

That pepperoni + peppers one looks mighty fine.

danhoo

Good looking pies @caliking and @Elijah

Its too windy and wet to try pizza this weekend.

Elijah

I have a 5 year old that could live off of cheese and a daughter that could live off whatever he is having 😁

Ozzie_Isaac

You might find this video interesting:

https://youtu.be/tI-cMLJ_0LU

caliking

@Ozzie_Isaac yes, I've seen that video. The tip about lowering the heat after launching the pie was helpful. Next time, I’ll try turning off the burner after launching, and turn it back on after a minute or less, as @Canugghead mentioned above. 

Also, I found an easy way to stretch the dough out, by draping it over an overturned bowl (after the initial shaping). Something about radial forces, or whatever. 

 

Corv

I bet a round-bottom wok would do well there. Thanks for the tip!

gonepostal

I have always been a fan of thin and crispy, so I have been focusing on that the last couple of weeks. The thing that I’m struggling with the most is consistency. But the journey has been fun so far. 

The hack that I have used is to quickly cut off the flame and allow to bake for a few minutes with a rotation every 30 seconds or so. And then turning the flame back on low to finish. Have also been using a pan on these super thin pizzas. 

The next step is to launch these with the peel. Which will probably be with the next cook. 

Right now we are still dialing in the locally available cheeses, sauces, and toppings. And figuring out what works best for us. Unfortunately for the two of us, we are 180 degrees apart with our preferences. But that makes it fun. 

Who knows, maybe I’ll swing for a table one of these days. 

Botch

gonepostal said:

Right now we are still dialing in the locally available cheeses, sauces, and toppings. And figuring out what works best for us. Unfortunately for the two of us, we are 180 degrees apart with our preferences.  

Your top photo kinda raised that suspicion...   

caliking

gonepostal said:

I have always been a fan of thin and crispy, so I have been focusing on that the last couple of weeks. The thing that I’m struggling with the most is consistency. But the journey has been fun so far. 

…

That looks farkin’ righteous!! It’s probably the middle ground for pizza that everyone on this side would be happy with. Deets, please. 

Cutting off the fire, and letting it bake for a bit on the stone first, is going to be my next trial. 

And, truck bed is the ultimate  flex workspace. You don’t need no goddaamn table!

gonepostal

Thanks Cali! 

Just to be clear, I'm a fan of all pizza. With thin and crispy being my go to through the years, I just wanted to see what results I could get for when I had that craving.  So I have been throwing one or two on lately during my practice sessions. And just wanted to include a pic of them within this thread.  After looking at your most recent pies, I spent part of the day yesterday watching Cornicione videos.  That is the eventual target for me.  Your pies looked Amazing. 

Right now, I'm not weighing ingredients, although I know the rabbit hole sometimes runs deep. The thin crust experiments have simply been with a cheap bag of KA AP flour and the NY style dough recipe. 48-72 hrs and sometimes longer. I rotate between shredding my own mozz to using fresh to using both together. I'll probably start making my own sauce again, but for now I'm just using crushed tomatoes. And I can see a future large OO flour order very soon!

QDude

gonepostal said:

I have always been a fan of thin and crispy, so I have been focusing on that the last couple of weeks. The thing that I’m struggling with the most is consistency. But the journey has been fun so far. 

The hack that I have used is to quickly cut off the flame and allow to bake for a few minutes with a rotation every 30 seconds or so. And then turning the flame back on low to finish. Have also been using a pan on these super thin pizzas. 

The next step is to launch these with the peel. Which will probably be with the next cook. 

Right now we are still dialing in the locally available cheeses, sauces, and toppings. And figuring out what works best for us. Unfortunately for the two of us, we are 180 degrees apart with our preferences. But that makes it fun. 

Who knows, maybe I’ll swing for a table one of these days. 

That pizza looks awesome!

blind99

whats up brother - wish we were closer and could cook together.  i've been using mine for a year or so.  cooking top and bottom perfectly simultaneously is impossible.  I target a deck temp of about 650; launch; turn heat down.  fairly routine rotating during the cook, while also shielding the top as needed  with my turning peel to prevent toppings from burning.  (haven't read the whole thread - if you don't have one, a turning peel is key.)  After the top is done, turn the burners off.  pie stays in about 2 more minutes.  push to the back if needed to get bottom darker.  My flour (KA AP) burns at 750.

BTW my middle son asked for margharita pizza.  my dad put dried basil on instead of fresh.  son was NOT happy about that.  spoiled.

caliking

blind99 said:

whats up brother - wish we were closer and could cook together.  i've been using mine for a year or so.  cooking top and bottom perfectly simultaneously is impossible.  I target a deck temp of about 650; launch; turn heat down.  fairly routine rotating during the cook, while also shielding the top as needed  with my turning peel to prevent toppings from burning.  (haven't read the whole thread - if you don't have one, a turning peel is key.)  After the top is done, turn the burners off.  pie stays in about 2 more minutes.  push to the back if needed to get bottom darker.  My flour (KA AP) burns at 750.

BTW my middle son asked for margharita pizza.  my dad put dried basil on instead of fresh.  son was NOT happy about that.  spoiled.

 Hey, dude! Good to see you pop in.

Shielding the top is not something I had thought about, so thanks for the tip. 

The plan is to try cooking with residual heat more, as you and some others mentioned. For the next run, I may try to block the front opening to keep more heat in when the flame is off. I think a deck temp of 650-700F may be the sweet spot.

And, yep, the kids are spoiled. Our fault. caliprince wants prime rib and king crab for his birthday dinner (again). 

blind99

you should be able to hit 650-700 pretty well.  i'll often preheat the stone in my gasser or in my indoor oven to bring it up to 350-400, then pop it in the ooni while prepping dough/ingredients.  i do a fair # of pizzas in cold weather months but can still get the deck to 650+.

for the record, i didn't want the ooni, the wife did!  so i bought it for her for as a gift.  she says it's the best present ever because now i cook her fresh pizzas. the family agrees - ooni pizza trumps any carryout.

caliprince has good taste!  happy birthday!

caliking

blind99 said:

...
for the record, i didn't want the ooni, the wife did!  so i bought it for her for as a gift.  she says it's the best present ever because now i cook her fresh pizzas. the family agrees - ooni pizza trumps any carryout.

caliprince has good taste!  happy birthday!

please let Mrs. blind99 know that I said "Well played, madam!"

Plutonium

Here’s last nights. Came out great. Costco bread flour and used the Ooni cold-prove dough recipe. I used a little more water. Preheated at max temp, cooked at min flame. For both I finished a few seconds at max flame. 

https://ooni.com/blogs/recipes/cold-prove-pizza-dough?display=v1&type=1674259200194

One jalapeño and bacon, using my homemade cold smoked maple pepper bacon. One pepperoni and cheese. Great color on top and bottom. 

caliking

Fantastic, @Plutonium !

When you say min flame, is that the lowest setting on the regulator, or between the off and ignite positions?

Plutonium

caliking said:

Fantastic, @Plutonium !

When you say min flame, is that the lowest setting on the regulator, or between the off and ignite positions?

Lowest normal or designed setting. 

JohnInCarolina

Pretty good set of 29 pizza recipes from Serious Eats:

https://www.seriouseats.com/pizza-recipes

caliking

JohnInCarolina said:

Pretty good set of 29 pizza recipes from Serious Eats:

https://www.seriouseats.com/pizza-recipes

Lots of good ideas there. Thanks for posting it. 

JohnInCarolina

caliking said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Pretty good set of 29 pizza recipes from Serious Eats:

https://www.seriouseats.com/pizza-recipes

Lots of good ideas there. Thanks for posting it. 

I knew that you would dig it.

caliking

Tip of the hat to @Eggpharmer (his pic, and method below)...



"I use the dough recipe from the Ooni site (https://ooni.com/blogs/recipes/classic-pizza-dough) but bump up the hydration to 62-63% (theirs is 60).

Use this flour: 
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/anna-napoletana-tipo-quot-00-quot-extra-fine-flour-2-2-lb/1686502

Mix/knead in KitchenAid about 5-7 minutes and then let proof for a couple hours. Divide into dough balls and into the fridge for about 24 hours.

Removed from fridge about 4 hours prior to cook. Usually only a 1-2 hours but house pretty cool right now.

Rao's marinara for sauce (https://www.heb.com/product-detail/rao-s-homemade-marinara-sauce-32-oz/275378) fresh mozzarella from HEB deli, Boars head pepperoni (https://www.heb.com/product-detail/boar-s-head-pepperoni-traditional-6-5-oz/1007433) and leftover salami (not sure of brand) for that pie

Heat oven on high for about 30 minutes.

Extra low flame (the past high trick) until set with couple partial turns. Maybe 2 -2.5 minutes total. Turn up heat to low until toppings done to desired level. Probably another minute with several partial turns.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions."

CTMike

If you don’t already have some, get a bottle of Calabrian chili oil (or as an alternative buy the chilis and infuse the oil yourself to your desired heat level). 

It’s a great way to add some heat to your pies. 

JohnInCarolina

CTMike said:

If you don’t already have some, get a bottle of Calabrian chili oil (or as an alternative buy the chilis and infuse the oil yourself to your desired heat level). 

It’s a great way to add some heat to your pies. 

Mike's hot honey works pretty well too!

CTMike

For a killer pie that hits all bases:

- Make a basic white sauce and add honey and gochujang to taste

- Make some beef bulgogi (typically includes onions in a sauce that is on the sweet side). Costco some times has this in their ready to cook food section. 

- Squeeze as much moisture as possible out of some kimchi (hot, mild, whatever works for you)

- Sauce your dough and add cheese (I use fresh mozzarella)

- Add the bulgogi and kimchi to your liking

- Bake till it looks good to you

You can thank me later. 😎

caliking

CTMike said:

For a killer pie that hits all bases:

- Make a basic white sauce and add honey and gochujang to taste

- Make some beef bulgogi (typically includes onions in a sauce that is on the sweet side). Costco some times has this in their ready to cook food section. 

- Squeeze as much moisture as possible out of some kimchi (hot, mild, whatever works for you)

- Sauce your dough and add cheese (I use fresh mozzarella)

- Add the bulgogi and kimchi to your liking

- Bake till it looks good to you

You can thank me later. 😎

Oh damn! I'll need to come back to this once I have a few more kinks worked out.

I think I have some Calabrian chiles paste in the fridge. Love the flavor of them. I imagine Calabrian chile oil would be delicious.