Ooni Pizza Oven Test Drive
Truth be told, there was a time when there was pretty much always a box of Kirkland Cheese Pizzas in my deep freeze. They were really handy to have on hand for a quick dinner for M and I; I’d just throw my own toppings on there, and voila! 12 minutes later, dinner.
But then two things happened: I got turned off by the crust one time (I don’t know if they changed the formula, or I just got sick of it?) and I realized how easy it was to make my own from scratch.
Now, if we’re having pizza for dinner, I just throw a batch of pizza dough in the Kitchen Aid in the morning and by late afternoon, I’m ready to shape the dough and top it. I bake it in our Breville Smart Air oven, and they are delicious.
So, yeah, I upped my pizza game, and I have no regrets. But I just learned that I can take my pizzas to yet another level of greatness, and I wanted to share the experience with you.
(all photos credit Christine McAvoy)
Every few months, my friends Cassandra, Alison and Christine and I get together and cook for an afternoon. The goal of this is always content: Chris takes great photos and then shares them, and we have stuff for our Instagram or blogs. I often use this as a testing ground for recipes, either from cookbooks I’m testing or recipe development I’m doing for myself. This world in which I live, being a writer, content creator and recipe developer is often a pretty solo one, so it’s a treat to hang with my pals and cook up a storm in Ali’s really beautiful kitchen.
A couple weeks ago, a rep from Ooni, this company that sells at-home pizza ovens, came and set one up for us in Ali’s back yard so we could play with it, and let me tell you, I was geeking out on this HARD.
If you’ve ever been to a proper Neapolitan pizza joint, you’ll know that your pie is cooked in a proper pizza oven. Sometimes they’re wood-fired, and sometimes they’re gas, but either way, the oven is hot. Like 800 degrees hot. This allows the pizza to cook really quickly, in just a few minutes. It also helps the dough to rise and gives the crust that distinctive “leoparding” effect.
The problem with regular ovens is that they just can’t get that hot. I love my wee Breville, but it only goes to 500, and even if I did put it up at 500, it would probably set off every smoke detector in the place, so I usually cook my pizzas at 425.
I have never made as good a pizza as the one I made in this Ooni Pizza Oven. The crust was perfect: crisp and lovely. I wanted to really test the oven so I did something radially simple: just dough brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and fresh rosemary (homage to one of the best pizzas I’ve eaten in my life, this one was in Paris). It was so good.
We had some leftover dough and I wanted to test other options, so I also made a kind of dessert focaccia with peaches, a brown sugar butter syrup, thyme and a little fresh ricotta.
Look, I gotta be real with you: if I lived in a house with a yard, I’d be getting one of these, because it was so much fun to play with, but also, the end result was so impressive.
If you’re interested in playing with one of these Ooni Pizza Ovens, you can find them at Rona.
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