3 ms·

> No way do I want to try to compete with the artistry of brown spots from 600+ F wood-fired pizza ovens, etc If you make pizza a lot, consider also the middle

> No way do I want to try to compete with the artistry of brown spots from 600+ F wood-fired pizza ovens, etc If you make pizza a lot, consider also the middle way of gas-fired "portable" ovens, the likes of Ooni or Roccbox. My experience was very positive.

AlbertCory 4y ago
Disclosure: very much a beginner at this and I'm happy to be corrected on any of it. My Ooni experience has been very bad. I have an IR thermometer, so I can check the temps: at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up. If I weren't so stubborn I'd have gotten rid of the Ooni already. Furthermore, the lack of height means you can't use gravity to slide the pizza off the peel, like you can with a kitchen oven when you slide the rack out. So the pizza tends to stick to the peel and not want to go in. (I know: lots of flour on the peel. I do that.) I've had much better results with the kitchen oven at 500, preheated for an hour, and a steel. This article also neglects the art of gluten formation, which lets you stretch the dough without tearing it, AFAIK. Which raises a question for y'all: rolling pin, or hand-stretch? The owner of my local pizzeria, which has been there for 50 years, says rolling pin.
- cheath 4y ago
  I don't have this issue with the Ooni. I wonder what is going on. One thing to consider trying, heat it up at high heat and then when you put the pizza in, try turning the temperature down to a medium or low. I am wondering if it is possible that the high temperature reading is directly from the flame and by turning it down during the cook, you'll have a more consistent temperature.
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    thanks. I'm aiming the laser dot at the stone, near the flame but not AT the flame.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
  > My Ooni experience has been very bad Sorry to hear that, but maybe you can still work at it. > at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up. I think that it will be as hot as it is going to get, after about 30 mins. I get a touch over 500c at the back corner (maybe 950F) and a bit over 300C (600F) at the front lip. This should be right, with a centre at 350 to 400C > rolling pin, or hand-stretch? I hand-stretch, but also autolyse. > lots of flour on the peel. Semolina. Put your friend Semolina on the peel. It's a very coarse flour, as opposed to pizza flour, which is very fine. It makes the pie slide like it's little dry ball-bearings. Semolina. If you can't get Semolina, use coarse cornmeal. The next time you have pizza in a relatively authentic Italian place, run your finger along the underside of the pizza. You should feel a slightly rough, sandpapery texture that isn't present on top. That's from the semolina. Just before launch, give the pizza a back-and-forth shake on the peel first, to be sure that it's moving, and get it moving if need be. You should know that it's not sticking to the peel, because you've seen/felt it move a bit. Do you use the same peel to launch and to extract? Typically this is not recommended as the extraction can make that peel hot and moist, which would affect the next launch. Launch off wood or aluminium. Extract with aluminium or other metal peel. Look for the "ultra-low zone" trick for turning the flame down very low after launch. You will get these tips in https://www.reddit.com/r/ooni https://www.reddit.com/r/ooni You can see techniques demo'd on youtube. e.g. ulttra-low zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGmW4SI4PU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGmW4SI4PU and shake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk&t=27s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk&t=27s Don't give up, there are tricks and techniques to learn.
  - peteradio 4y ago
    > Do you use the same peel to launch and to extract? Typically this is not recommended as the extraction can make that peel hot and moist, which would affect the next launch. Launch off wood or aluminium. Extract with aluminium or other metal peel. Alternatively, scrub the peel with cornmeal between launch and next pizza.
    - SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
      > Alternatively, scrub the peel with cornmeal between launch and next pizza You would have to make do like that if you only have one peel, but in general you'll be better off with separate Launch, turning and extraction peels. They do different jobs and so have different designs. The turning peel is typically quite different to the other two, but as mentioned, you'll do better with 2 different ones for launch and extraction. Wood is great for launch, terrible for extraction - you can't keep it in a hot oven for any length of time. And a metal peel that has warmed up during doming and extraction would be worse for the next launch. Also, the launch peel can be prepped for the next launch by someone else, while the current pizza is cooking.
- ilyt 4y ago
  > This article also neglects the art of gluten formation, which lets you stretch the dough without tearing it, AFAIK. Which raises a question for y'all: rolling pin, or hand-stretch? The owner of my local pizzeria, which has been there for 50 years, says rolling pin. Food processor. Mine is shit so it needs some helping but otherwise comes up nice and stretchy. Ain't nobody got time to knead for 10 minutes like some recipes/YTbers want. I put a bit of flour, water and yeast in separate cup and leave alone for some time (till it smells yeasty), mix rest of flour with salt and then add the yeast and remaining wated to it. My reasoning is that it's easier to spread yeast around that way but dunno if that's right, seems to work. Then mix in food mixer till it is nice and uniform uniform, leave for an hour, then mix again. I occasionally manually reposition dough in food processor a bit but again, that's coz mine is a bit shit. Then cover and leave overnight in fridge
  - graycat 4y ago
    > gluten formation, rolling pin, or hand-stretch, food mixer. For my ingredients listed above: First, I put the yeast in the water to soak and get soft, sometimes for 1+ hours. Right before combining with the flour, add salt to the water and yeast and mix. There are rumors that if had the salt in the water and yeast for 1+ hours, the salt would kill the yeast. Then add ~2/3rds of the four to the water, yeast, and salt. Mix with a cooking spoon. Add the rest of the flour and mix roughly. Cover and let rise for 1+ hours. Dump onto a floured pastry board and knead: Press and flatten, fold in half, and repeat. Use enough loose flour to keep the outside surface not very sticky -- don't have to have sticky dough on fingers. Knead until dough "springs back". 8 minutes is plenty long enough. Return to the bowl, cover, and let rise again for several hours. This time will get a lot of CO2 and volume. Dump onto pastry board again, stretch into a log and cut into 8 pieces -- or fewer if want larger individual pizzas. Put each piece in its own covered plastic container. Freezing works well -- can thaw in microwave quickly or in refrigerator overnight. For a pizza, just press flat and round with finger tips. Since I press the dough on a round sheet of Teflon, I don't have to think about how to handle the dough once flat, round, and topped with sauce, cheese, etc. So, no machines, rolling pins, tossing, or hand stretching. Supposedly the kneading does "develop the gluten". The kneading does make the dough very different from the dough for pie crust. There are rumors that letting the dough rise in a refrigerator generates good, additional yeast flavor. Also, there are many varieties of yeast, and some make more and/or better flavor than others.

AlbertCory 4y ago

Disclosure: very much a beginner at this and I'm happy to be corrected on any of it. My Ooni experience has been very bad. I have an IR thermometer, so I can check the temps: at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up. If I weren't so stubborn I'd have gotten rid of the Ooni already. Furthermore, the lack of height means you can't use gravity to slide the pizza off the peel, like you can with a kitchen oven when you slide the rack out. So the pizza tends to stick to the peel and not want to go in. (I know: lots of flour on the peel. I do that.) I've had much better results with the kitchen oven at 500, preheated for an hour, and a steel. This article also neglects the art of gluten formation, which lets you stretch the dough without tearing it, AFAIK. Which raises a question for y'all: rolling pin, or hand-stretch? The owner of my local pizzeria, which has been there for 50 years, says rolling pin.

cheath 4y ago
I don't have this issue with the Ooni. I wonder what is going on. One thing to consider trying, heat it up at high heat and then when you put the pizza in, try turning the temperature down to a medium or low. I am wondering if it is possible that the high temperature reading is directly from the flame and by turning it down during the cook, you'll have a more consistent temperature.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  thanks. I'm aiming the laser dot at the stone, near the flame but not AT the flame.
SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
> My Ooni experience has been very bad Sorry to hear that, but maybe you can still work at it. > at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up. I think that it will be as hot as it is going to get, after about 30 mins. I get a touch over 500c at the back corner (maybe 950F) and a bit over 300C (600F) at the front lip. This should be right, with a centre at 350 to 400C > rolling pin, or hand-stretch? I hand-stretch, but also autolyse. > lots of flour on the peel. Semolina. Put your friend Semolina on the peel. It's a very coarse flour, as opposed to pizza flour, which is very fine. It makes the pie slide like it's little dry ball-bearings. Semolina. If you can't get Semolina, use coarse cornmeal. The next time you have pizza in a relatively authentic Italian place, run your finger along the underside of the pizza. You should feel a slightly rough, sandpapery texture that isn't present on top. That's from the semolina. Just before launch, give the pizza a back-and-forth shake on the peel first, to be sure that it's moving, and get it moving if need be. You should know that it's not sticking to the peel, because you've seen/felt it move a bit. Do you use the same peel to launch and to extract? Typically this is not recommended as the extraction can make that peel hot and moist, which would affect the next launch. Launch off wood or aluminium. Extract with aluminium or other metal peel. Look for the "ultra-low zone" trick for turning the flame down very low after launch. You will get these tips in https://www.reddit.com/r/ooni https://www.reddit.com/r/ooni You can see techniques demo'd on youtube. e.g. ulttra-low zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGmW4SI4PU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGmW4SI4PU and shake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk&t=27s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk&t=27s Don't give up, there are tricks and techniques to learn.
- peteradio 4y ago
  > Do you use the same peel to launch and to extract? Typically this is not recommended as the extraction can make that peel hot and moist, which would affect the next launch. Launch off wood or aluminium. Extract with aluminium or other metal peel. Alternatively, scrub the peel with cornmeal between launch and next pizza.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
    > Alternatively, scrub the peel with cornmeal between launch and next pizza You would have to make do like that if you only have one peel, but in general you'll be better off with separate Launch, turning and extraction peels. They do different jobs and so have different designs. The turning peel is typically quite different to the other two, but as mentioned, you'll do better with 2 different ones for launch and extraction. Wood is great for launch, terrible for extraction - you can't keep it in a hot oven for any length of time. And a metal peel that has warmed up during doming and extraction would be worse for the next launch. Also, the launch peel can be prepped for the next launch by someone else, while the current pizza is cooking.
ilyt 4y ago
> This article also neglects the art of gluten formation, which lets you stretch the dough without tearing it, AFAIK. Which raises a question for y'all: rolling pin, or hand-stretch? The owner of my local pizzeria, which has been there for 50 years, says rolling pin. Food processor. Mine is shit so it needs some helping but otherwise comes up nice and stretchy. Ain't nobody got time to knead for 10 minutes like some recipes/YTbers want. I put a bit of flour, water and yeast in separate cup and leave alone for some time (till it smells yeasty), mix rest of flour with salt and then add the yeast and remaining wated to it. My reasoning is that it's easier to spread yeast around that way but dunno if that's right, seems to work. Then mix in food mixer till it is nice and uniform uniform, leave for an hour, then mix again. I occasionally manually reposition dough in food processor a bit but again, that's coz mine is a bit shit. Then cover and leave overnight in fridge
- graycat 4y ago
  > gluten formation, rolling pin, or hand-stretch, food mixer. For my ingredients listed above: First, I put the yeast in the water to soak and get soft, sometimes for 1+ hours. Right before combining with the flour, add salt to the water and yeast and mix. There are rumors that if had the salt in the water and yeast for 1+ hours, the salt would kill the yeast. Then add ~2/3rds of the four to the water, yeast, and salt. Mix with a cooking spoon. Add the rest of the flour and mix roughly. Cover and let rise for 1+ hours. Dump onto a floured pastry board and knead: Press and flatten, fold in half, and repeat. Use enough loose flour to keep the outside surface not very sticky -- don't have to have sticky dough on fingers. Knead until dough "springs back". 8 minutes is plenty long enough. Return to the bowl, cover, and let rise again for several hours. This time will get a lot of CO2 and volume. Dump onto pastry board again, stretch into a log and cut into 8 pieces -- or fewer if want larger individual pizzas. Put each piece in its own covered plastic container. Freezing works well -- can thaw in microwave quickly or in refrigerator overnight. For a pizza, just press flat and round with finger tips. Since I press the dough on a round sheet of Teflon, I don't have to think about how to handle the dough once flat, round, and topped with sauce, cheese, etc. So, no machines, rolling pins, tossing, or hand stretching. Supposedly the kneading does "develop the gluten". The kneading does make the dough very different from the dough for pie crust. There are rumors that letting the dough rise in a refrigerator generates good, additional yeast flavor. Also, there are many varieties of yeast, and some make more and/or better flavor than others.