The Official Pizza Discussion thread (was: Cooking Neapolitan Pizzas with the Uuni 3)

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We’ve been “volunteered” to cater a party on the weekend. Looking at making around 10 pizzas in the Ooni. I’m keen to shortcut things as much as possible beforehand given I can see this taking at least 90 mins. Has anyone got any pre prepping tips?

Have all the toppings ready in bowls/plates, all the dough ready, create a conveyor belt.
Few mins creating each pizza, few mins cooking each pizza.
Dont bother waiting for everyone to get a pizza else they will be cold, out the oven, someone to slice it up, help yourself.
Dont let people make their own, takes ages faffing around.
Just churn out a load of different pizzas.
But yeah. will be creating and cooking for at least 40-50 minutes I would expect.
 
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Thanks chaps. Bear in mind I’ve got a wood fired Ooni so I was factoring in some time for flames dying down, reheating etc.

I wonder if charcoal would be better for a longer cook time but it’s a bit late to experiment!
 
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Thanks chaps. Bear in mind I’ve got a wood fired Ooni so I was factoring in some time for flames dying down, reheating etc.

I wonder if charcoal would be better for a longer cook time but it’s a bit late to experiment!

I just keep topping mine up with pellets. I'm careful not to go too hot though as that is a risk..
 
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We’ve been “volunteered” to cater a party on the weekend. Looking at making around 10 pizzas in the Ooni. I’m keen to shortcut things as much as possible beforehand given I can see this taking at least 90 mins. Has anyone got any pre prepping tips?

Are people expecting to all eat at the same time? If so, it might be worth par-cooking the bases and sauce, then have people assemble their own pizzas and you can just cook them for like a minute each.
 
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Did 6 pizzas the other week for 5 of us plus a kid and I thought I'd do them all one after another, but in the end I just cooked them over the course of about 2 hours and everyone tucked in to the cut up pizza as/when they came out! Few not as good as others when the heat died off, but guests don't mind as they all think they taste good and kids love watching them cook.

I Just had dough out ready to roll and toppings all set up and ready to go on the side.
 
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but guests don't mind as they all think they taste good and kids love watching them cook.

This is definitely something that I struggle to remember when cooking pizza for others. My standard of what constitutes a 'good' pizza is far higher than the people I cook for. Normal people don't stress over dough hydration levels or pizza stone temperatures or having just the right kind of topping. As long as it comes out the oven in one piece they're usually delighted!
 
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If you have two peels and another person, rattling 10 pizzas off in 15 minutes is not unachievable. 20 minutes maybe. Rather than give each person a pizza, slice each one up so everyone can make a start at the same time.

One person stretching the dough and adding toppings, the other cooking. Easy. If the prep station is near the oven the two pizza cooks can work even faster.
 
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This is definitely something that I struggle to remember when cooking pizza for others. My standard of what constitutes a 'good' pizza is far higher than the people I cook for. Normal people don't stress over dough hydration levels or pizza stone temperatures or having just the right kind of topping. As long as it comes out the oven in one piece they're usually delighted!

Exactly this, you may be disappointed and I'm no pizza expert yet, but unless they're a connoisseur or Italian I suspect they won't care. Got some friends who always say they dont want to invite us over for dinner as we'd be disappointed and always tell them I wouldn't as it's a night off cooking which always makes food taste better! :D
 
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Not far off finishing building my wood fired oven. Can anyone recommend any tools for cooking pizzas?

I use the peels from Alphin pans. They've been very good.

https://alphin.co.uk/product/wooden-pizza-peel-12-blade-36-overall-length/

https://alphin.co.uk/product/pizza-peel-9-x-9-blade-22-5-long-overall/

and a turning peel here

https://abell.co.uk/clementi-pizza-turning-peel_p32338788.htm

I don't use anything else apart from a piece of copper pipe used as a blowpipe to clear ash off the bricks.
 
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Not far off finishing building my wood fired oven. Can anyone recommend any tools for cooking pizzas?

Things I've bought so far for making pizza (not all of these are entirely necessary though) -

  • Wooden peel (great for launching, less likely to stick)
  • Turning peel
  • Scales that can do .1g increments
  • Scales that can do .01g increments (for yeast)
  • IR thermometer gun
  • Dough proving tubs
  • Serving boards
  • Rocking pizza cutter
  • Stand mixer
The peels and the IR thermometer are probably the most useful bits of kit, with peels being pretty essential.
 
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Soldato
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I got 4 sets (tub + lid) of these:

https://www.solentplastics.co.uk/6-9-ltr-small-euro-plastic-stacking-container/

400x300mm - went for that size as they take up to 6 dough balls (usually put 5 in) and will fit nicely into our second fridge.

Though they are out of stock at the moment. I found them on eBay and Amazon (from the same company) but it worked out cheaper to buy them direct and pay P&P, rather than get "free" P&P on the other sites.
 
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Things I've bought so far for making pizza (not all of these are entirely necessary though) -

  • Wooden peel (great for launching, less likely to stick)
  • Turning peel
  • Scales that can do .1g increments
  • Scales that can do .01g increments (for yeast)
  • IR thermometer gun
  • Dough proving tubs
  • Serving boards
  • Rocking pizza cutter
  • Stand mixer
The peels and the IR thermometer are probably the most useful bits of kit, with peels being pretty essential.

Thank you.
 
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