Pizza

Biga was really good.
This may be new default. Have to double check some quantities as it felt a little dry and tight, but great crust.

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Favourite non-meat topping is capers, olives, parsley, and lemon zest at the moment. Inspired by nNea pizza in Amsterdam.

Their frozen pizzas have been getting me through this winter.

frozen pizzas

Heretic, now on ignore

Haha, it's not what it looks like I promise officer.

They're one of the best pizza places in Amsterdam and rather do disappointing, soggy delivery pizzas throughout lockdown, they spent a couple of months working out how to cook a pizza just enough so that they could then freeze it for finishing at home (not my photo).

Not too shabby.

is there a heat read gun that people recommend for the ooni, was one from alibaba discussed?

I bought a cheap ebay one a few years back and it's totally fine. The price rocketed a few months back when everyone bought pizza ovens and wanted them, but they seem back to normal and you can get one that goes up to 600c for about £15.

I've followed this thread for a while, had some success with the frying pan/grill method but nothing to compare with some of the results on here. Anyway, saw some family at the weekend and took delivery of a much belated joint birthday/christmas present - of an Ooni karu. Very excited to be chucking my first pizza in this evening. I'm going to try wood-fired only, which I know gets mixed reports re consistency/hassle factor, but I've got a temp-gun, lots of kiln-dried hardwood and prepared for it to be finickety. I have made the Ken Forkish 48 hour dough mentioned up-thread, but had to guess with the water temp and I don't think it's looking as lively as other examples I've seen, but hopefully will be edible. Planning on popping to a deli and getting the best quality tinned toms for no-cook sauce, and drying out some thin mozz slices on kitchen paper before using (not time to order fior di latte just yet) - anything sound wrong with this plan / are there any other tips/recommendations for a first timer that people wish they had known? I've got a peel, the problem areas I imagine will be shaping the dough the first time, the success of the dough in general, and dexterity manoeuvring the pizza onto the peel/spinning in the oven etc...

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Don't overthink it too much, just enjoy yourself and get ready for new levels of gluttony

Sounds a pretty solid plan. Less is more on toppings and watch a couple of videos on shaping (it's dead easy). Also before you attempt to launch your pizza give it a quick jiggle on the peel to make sure it slides and isn't stuck.

Fantastic, cheers - and @mrJL too, just nice to have some reassurance that nothing massively overlooked! Do you shape on a floured board and then slide the peel underneath? I thought I might have remembered some people using semolina on the board/peel for increased slippyness?

I normally shape on a floured / semolina board (either is fine) and then once it's the right size and shape I lift onto the peel (which has also been very lightly floured). Once on the peel you can adjust the shape a little to get it back to being as round as possible. Then sauce and top as quickly as you can and then launch.

Lifting to peel (presumably more like lifting a side to allow peel to slide in?) then topping is something I hadn't considered but makes a lot of sense!

Watch some videos on shaping on YouTube, it’s all about pressing the air out to the crust that you don’t really touch.

The dough is normally stretchy and flexible enough that you can pick it up gently and lift it to the peel. As Chris said videos really help. Scott's Pizza Project on Instagram is decent. He's an awful presenter and really dry but his content is useful and his tips videos show how to ball up, shape and transfer.

Be quick when you make your pizzas up. The second you put tomato sauce on the pizza, the moisture will start making its way through the dough and can make the pizza stick to the peel. Prepping your toppings in bowls, ready to go as quickly as possible can make a big difference. There's nothing as heartbreaking as a pizza sticking to a peel and going everywhere just as you load it into the oven, or ripping a hole in the middle of the pizza and it disintegrating as you take it out.

When I'm shaping a dough, I'll take the ball, flour it lightly, flour the surface i'm going to stretch it on, and work it until I'm happy with the shape, then lightly flour the surface of the peel and chuck it down and build the pizza. Once it's made up, give it a quick test to see if it's moving on the peel - the whole thing should easily slide back and forth. If it's sticking, gently lift the edge nearest the sticking and gently flick a bit of flour under and try again to get it sliding. Adding more flour like this isn't really ideal as it'll often burn and add a bitter taste, but it's better than the pizza collapsing as you load it.

Don't underestimate how frustrating the building and loading process can be. Especially if the dough starts sticking.

From my experience, Forkish's recipes are pretty high hydration, which can make hard to handle doughs, especially when they've been mixed by hand. When I make pizza now, I usually stick to 65-70% hydration as any increase beyond that doesn't yield any benefit but makes the handling of the dough harder.

You'll be amazed at the results either way. Having a proper hot oven is an absolute game changer - enjoy!

I’m about 3 weeks ahead of your journey, having just got a Roccbox for my 40th. I used the Pizzapp recipe posted upthread by someone with some very impressive results. This has worked well for me but there’s lots to learn about things like kneading the dough. (Too much and it’s too springy to shape, not enough and it rips). I can’t yet get a restaurant standard 12” round pizza without 70% of the pizza inflating like a balloon but I’ve got some ideas for next time. Basically it all starts to reveal itself when you start doing it. I did launch 1 pizza right across the garden to splatter on the shed when it fell to pieces due to weak dough but you’ve probably got more patience than me.

I used the Peddling Pizza / Gozney no cook tomato sauce recipe and it’s brilliant. I would avoid buffalo mozzarella, it’s really wet and you lose a lot of its amazing flavour when you cook it.

but you’ve probably got more patience than me.

The pizza stress is real. I remember almost losing my rag when I was doing pizzas for the inlaws (as I do every christmas/boxing day now), as they insist on using spelt flour for everything and the dough was being a pain in the arse.

@StevePeel @nefarious @chrisbmx116 and @Saffronspokes thank you all! This is exactly the help/advice I was hoping for. Going to take on all the above and give it a shot, hopefully from the three balls of dough something delicious shall result. I think my weakest spot right now is likely to be the dough, I didn't get the 3x growth yeasty reaction the recipe suggested, maybe x2 and nowhere near as bubbly as the pic I was working from, but the dough feels OK now and I'm reasonable confident something edible will result. Pics to follow...

Yep. First time catering for 17 family with poncy new ooni it was a bit windy and didn't get fully up to temp. First couple were complete disasters and I spat the dummy at my sous-chefs for not flouring the launch peel well enough, while my brothers chuckled at my ineptitude. For shame.

As long as there's any amount of activity, the dough will go mad in the oven, trust me!

I've done many family functions. Couple of weddings (pre and after parties, not catering the actual weddings!). Running out of gas midway was a good one, although was back up and running in about 30-40 mins thanks to homebase being open til 8.

Once you can manage the stress of the pizza making, I find it much less stressful than having to interact with extended family, and everyone's grateful for pizza!

My only addition is to start stretching by pushing your doughball straigh into a pile of flour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vutoVquyuRI

Oh another thing I found quite important but hadn’t considered to start with - get your dough ball out of the proving tray in one without mullering it otherwise it’s hard to shape. It’s useful to have a wide spatula / paint scraper to remove it fully formed and undisturbed.