008/18 – Uuni 3 Pizza:
Uuni were kind enough to send me a model 3 pizza oven to cook with as I have been cooking on the 2s to date. This was the first batch of Uuni 3 Pizza but I did cook flank of goat and lamb in a cast iron dish a few days before this:
I changed quite a few things on my pizza prep on the last cook including:
- Making the Dough
- Proving the Dough
- Shaping the Dough
- Lighting the Uuni 2s
- Fuelling the Uuni 2s
Making the Dough:
I kept the same basic method of making the dough this time but I wanted to cold prove it for 2 days so halved the yeast from before:
| Item | Weight | Notes |
| Molino Grassi 00 flour | 510g | Dough was slightly wet last time, notes said to add 10g flour |
| Water | 300g | 104.9g Boiling / 195.1g Cold Tap – Combined Temp: 41c (left for 5 minutes to drop to 38.8c) |
| Oil | 21.1g | Rapeseed Oil |
| Salt | 10g | Maldon Sea Salt |
| Saf-Levure Dry yeast | 3.5g | Left for 10m after added to the water. Water temp dropped to 32c (halved the yeast for cold proving) |
The notes last time said the dough was slightly wet so add 10g. I did that and it was still wet, maybe it needs mixing for longer. I will test next time!
The water had slightly less boiling water in the mix than last time but was hotter! I left it to cool down to 38 ish before adding the yeast. I left the yeast for 10m again.
Half the yeast as I was cold proving.
Once mixed I put the dough into the same container as before and popped it in the fridge for 2 days (with the lid on!).
Lucinda from Uuni recommended a 3 day cold prove so I will add an extra day on next time!
2 hours before it was time to cook we took the dough out, seperated it into 160g balls, smoothed them out as before and placed them in the grey trays. 3 on one, 2 on the other.
Lighting the 3:
The 3 is a little different to the 2s. The pellets are off the back of the oven and sit in a tray with a square hopper on top. I will cover the differences between the 2 in more detail after I have done a few cooks.
I found this video on the Uuni site which explains how to light it:
Watching it again I noticed I put the firelighter at the front of the tray rather than the back. It did take a little while for the fire to get going so I whacked the looftlighter up the back to give it a turbo boost!
Within 10m the stone was over 550c so it was time to get cooking!
When I cooked on the cast iron at the weekend I noticed the oven was running very hot and was munching through pellets so I adjusted the hopper slide a bit to close the gap and try to calm it down a bit.
Stretching the Dough:
As per the last cook, all stretched by hand working outwards from the centre then spinning the dough and stretching it. A few of them stretched quite thin, I was worried about them splitting when I moved/cooked them.
The dough did feel really soft, it was very easy to work with. Probably easier than before, maybe a benefit from the cold prove?
The Cook:
5 dough balls, grated mozarella, salami slices and we made the New York style Pizza sauce recipe by Kenji again.
1st Pizza had some sweetcorn on as my eldest daughter always asks for it! The pizza cooked well, very quick and easy to cook. It looked good too!
I topped up the pellets to the screw mark in the hopper and took Pizza #1 indoors. By the time I came out the stone was over 500c already! Pizza #2 – no sweetcorn. I charred this one a bit but no major damage!
Pellets topped up again and Pizza #2 delivered indoors. The Uuni was back over 500c by the time I got back. Pizza #3 was less charred but looks like it should have been stretched more before cooking.
The pellets were topped up and Pizza #3 was taken indoors. The Uuni was over 500c again so Pizza #4 went in. This one cooked really well, the cheese melted and bubbled, bit of char on the crust but no major damage!
The pellets had dropped down a fair bit by the time I topped it up so it took a few minutes to get back up over 500c. The dough for Pizza #5 stretched well but looked a bit thin in the centre. I scoped extra sauce on to empty the pan – mistake! As I put the pizza in the oven the base must have split and leaked sauce so it caught slightly, you can see from the odd shape of it!
Bit of a shame as it tasted nice!
Summary:
Really interesting. First thoughts on the Uuni 3 – very easy to get up to temp and to keep it hot between each pizza cook. Certainly found it easier to maintain temp than on the 2s and the whole cook duration was much quicker tonight. However, it feels like I got through a lot more pellets. I need to calm it down a bit and not run so hot, maybe less pellets in? I will need to read up on how to calm it down a bit but keep the temps high enough!
The dough was great. The cold prove gave the dough a softer, lighter texture but it had a stronger taste as well. It had a slight taste of yeast at times, maybe it needs a bit less yeast next time? I will try a longer cold prove next time to see if it improves it further.
Some of the pizza bases were quite thick, I need to try and stretch them out further without tearing the middle. I need to thin the edges more. I am wondering if I need bigger dough balls to get some bigger pizzas too, one to try.
Cheese melted well, limited taste in mozarella though, I will look into adding some stronger cheese as well. The pizza could have done with a bit more salt either before or after the cook. Bit of pepper too.
Salami was ok but I need to get back down to East Coast Cured to replenish supplies!
Looking forward to more pizza cooks on the Uuni 3, another great bit of kit!