cook: pizza in my new ooni

I bought a pizza oven! I dithered a bit between the Koda which is only gas powered and the Karu which can cook a pizza fueled either by gas or charcoal and wood. I chose the latter and am chuffed that my dad's cast iron fits, and so we can sear steaks too. I invited Cecilia over for lunch after which we unboxed and assembled the oven. Pretty easy peasy. And I managed the day before to have my clay mate, Cathy pick up my pottery wheel to make room for the oven in my patio.               

 

On Friday night, we inaugurated the oven for pizza night. I think Cecilia must've made 3 pounds of dough. Patrick started the oven for me until my pyromaniacal tendencies took over. And then the frenzy of making pizzas and sliding them into the oven ensued though my first pizza was like a first pancake—pretty squashed and looking burnt sad.

 

Cecilia was very deft with the baking. Pizza cooking got easier, and we got more attuned to when to take the pizza out to rotate and return to the oven.

 

Even though the crust is black on the edges, it didn't taste burnt.

 

One of my favorite toppings was of Italian sausage, Castelvetrano olives and mushrooms.                      

A couple lessons learned: drain the crushed tomatoes or whip them with olive oil to emulsify and make them a bit thicker and less liquid so that the middle of the crust doesn’t get soggy or spray the edges of the pizza with water to slow the browning and prevent burning; use less toppings or if it’s gonna be a loaded pizza, move the toppings all the way to the edge of the crust and rotate the pizza a lot while baking.