For all those who have a pizza oven. I am about to pull the trigger. I want just a propane fueled one. I am looking at the Ooni 12"/16" and the Roccbox. A couple of questions?
Would you go Ooni or Roccbox? Or is it Chevy vs Ford?
Where did you get your go-to recipes for:
- Dough
- Sauce
I have the Roccbox and, well, it roxxs! It's prolly a Dodge/Chevy thing between the Ooni and R-box. I like using Baking Steel's 72 hour dough recipe but use Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour at 60% hydration. Simple red sauce of a couple of minced garlic cloves quickly sauteed in a glug of olive oil, a 28oz can of Cento San Marzano whole tomatoes hand crushed, a little oregano, and cooked down to the consistency you like.
You can't go wrong with either unit and the learning curve is not too steep, but you need to adjust recipes to the high temps these little buggers run at. And always make an extra dough ball for the next morning's breakfast pizza.
If your budget and space permits, get a 16 inch oven. Not sure if Roccobox makes one but Ooni makes a few. I have the Ooni Koda and my only regret is not waiting for the 16 inch - it was backordered when I bought the Koda 12.
Dough/sauce is all preference. It you want to make a Neapolitan pizza most dough recipes are fairly consistent. Caputo 00 flour is worth searching for. Results are great and the dough is easier to handle too. I aim for 63% hydration, 3% salt and 1-1.5% yeast
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jlazar I agree with with rickgregory on Kenji's Recipes. One of my favorites is his New York Pizza Recipe. I've read too many different recipes so I also agree with those who say to get a recipe or two and work on technique. Pizza is always fun to make. Good luck!
I'll have to disagree slightly with the Chevy/Ford thing and backup shify on the Koda 16 for the size benefits. You'll not likely regret having the extra space to work with. I've got a full write up on my Koda 16 experience on here, just do a search to find it if you have the interest
About the dough - one of the links I posted was specifically about a guy who does pizza in a regular (restaurant sized) wood fired oven for work and his expereince adapting his dough to one of these ovens.
He found that adding the sugar, oil and diastatic malt used in NY style doughs in an Ooni caused it to actually burn (not char) when run all out (at very high temps, 750+). Interesting read.
When you read the book by Ken Forkish pay close attention. There is a note about adjusting the hydration level for the higher temps that you can get from a pizza oven. I made an extra column on the recipes to accommodate that.
Since I don’t own a pizza oven I’ll speak only about the dough.
For years I used Peter Reinhart’s focaccia/pizza dough formula and loved every pizza made from it. Peter is a bread making deity in many circles and teaches artisan bread making at Johnson & Wales Culinary School. Recently I was turned onto Vito Iaccopelli’s Poolish dough and I’m a convert. Hydration for both is around 65% so you’ll have a slightly sticky dough to work with.
I don't know if you've pulled the trigger on an oven yet or not, but regarding pizza cookbooks, the suggestions on here have been outstanding. I would also add Joy of Pizza by Dan Richer, and The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani.
Regarding pizza ovens, a couple years ago, I went with the Carbon oven, because I liked the idea of a flame under the stone. It's worked well for me, but the heat can runaway a bit if you don't keep an eye on it. Also, if you want to fall down the rabbit hole of pizza oven options and pizza recipes, pizzamaking.com has a lot of information about both. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it has a lot of good information. They have both home cooks and pizza shop operators on the site.
Ultimately, though, I agree with some of the sentiments above that you can make a really good pizza in a home oven. I had started with a steel in mine, and got to the point where I was getting pretty solid results. My problem was that I was getting flour all in my oven when launching. My wife didn't love that, so I moved my pizza making outdoors.
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I’ve said it before here…. American Pie by Peter Reinhart. I’ve cooked my way through this book countless times. Not every sauce, but every dough. And I responded to follow this thread about pizza ovens. I do ok cooking inside, but looking to expand.
Another excellent book on the topic! I also enjoy Peter Reinhart's Pizza Quest podcast. He has had an old friend of mine on it a few times over the years.
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A shoutout to SheilaAnn re American Pie. Picked it up used, great read, especially first part re his pizza
hunt.
Have an Ooni 16, propane (can't keep models straight). Like the space, and simplicity
I started out with sourdough, mastered the learning curve {kinda}, but too much frequent maintenance for me,
back to regular dough. Main lesson, long fermentation, less is more re toppings.
yakima when it comes to dough, I’m with you regarding sourdough. I like to make a dough 24-36 hours out. I love the cold rest. Glad you like the book! If you choose to make that sauce that is no cook (page 142), make it at the same time as a dough that will rest overnight. The sauce benefits from the time to get happy!
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