122/18: Ooni Pro – Greek Pizza
I had a good first run with the Ooni Pro, learnt a lot and was ready to have another go. This time I wanted to cook something a bit different so went for Ooni Pro – Greek Pizza.
This was the previous cook:
My notes from the first cook were:
1- Cook with the closed door on as the fire ran better than with the pizza door on.
2- Don’t use the chimney starter to light the charcoal, try flamers.
3- Use wood chunks rather than logs or kindling.
4- Use the Pizza Bible recipe with 265g dough balls (about 12 inch)
5- Use the wooden peel.
The Book:
The dough recipe is from The Pizza Bible Book:
The Pizza Bible: The World's Favorite Pizza Styles, from Neapolitan, Deep-Dish, Wood-Fired, Sicilian, Calzones and Focaccia to New York, New Haven, Detroit, and More
£22.50 £16.60
THE INGREDIENTS:
Flour: Molino Grassi 00 flour
Lupa Molino Grassi Italian Flour For Pizzas and Focaccia, 1 kg, Pack of 10
Yeast: Saf-Levure Dry yeast
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Tomatoes: San Marzano Plum Tomatoes
Zia Rosa San Marzano Plum Tomatoes 400 g (Pack of 12)
THE KIT:
6 litre food grade container with lid: I use this to bulk ferment the dough once it’s mixed
Whitefurze Plastic Food Storage Canister with Handle 6.0L
Food grade pizza dough trays (x3): I use these to cold proof the dough balls
7 Litre Plastic Stacking Food Grade Domestic Commercial Pizza Dough Bakery Euro Trays – 400 x 300 x 75mm Stackable HDPE Dough Proofing Proof Containers (3)
(as of September 18, 2024 21:27 GMT +01:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)No Jam Funnel, No Fan, No Wooden Peel – Pro time!
The Dough:
Page 21 onwards in the Pizza Bible, it’s my favourite dough at the moment. Made two days in advance and cold proved. Left to warm up two hours before the cook started.
The Sauce:
Frozen leftovers from the last cook – New York – New Jersey Tomato Sauce from the same book. The San Marzano tomatoes, tomato puree, oregano, salt and oil blitzed with a hand blender then hand crushed tomatoes were also added.
The Fire:
Oxford Charcoal Oak Lumpwood placed in the tray, 2 flamers underneath, lit and left for 10 minutes.
Flamers Firelighters - 200 Units Natural Fire Lighters for Wood Burner Firepit Bbq Pizza Oven Fireplace Chimenea Barbecue Fire Starter - Firestarter for Kiln Dried Kindling Log Coal Charcoal Briquette
Two Oak chunks on top of the lit charcoal:
BBQ Smoking Oak Wood Chunks
The Ingredients:
Tomatoes, olives, red onion, feta cheese, roasted peppers and not in the shot was some leftover chicken gyro meat from this cook:
The Cook:
Before making the first pizza I dropped two new oak chunks into the fire. By the time the pizza was ready to launch the fire looked like this:
The Pizzas:
First Pizza: My eldest daughter put the toppings on the first one. Olives, chorizo and mozzarella.
It cooked really well, I was very happy with this one. Fingers crossed I could maintain this level!
Second Pizza: Slightly odd shape on one side, looks like some sticking issues but I don’t remember any! Same toppings as number one, slight charring on one side but still a good pizza.
Nice leoparding.
Third Pizza: The Greek Pizza! Feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, red onion, chicken gyro meat and roasted peppers. Topped with salt, pepper and garlic oil.
This was the best tasting pizza I have cooked so far, I was blown away by it! The feta tasted really nice on the pizza, mozzarella doesn’t have much taste so the feta was a nice touch. Combination of flavours was great and the salt, pepper and garlic oil only enhanced that.
Fourth Pizza: Running a bit low on ingredients!
Bit charred in a couple of places but really tasty!
Fifth Pizza: Slightly off round shape at the top but it came out well.
Very nice!
Pudding: There was one small dough ball left so I made a chocolate calzone. Got distracted and spotted flames – uh oh!
Summary:
I really enjoyed this cook. Very easy to light the charcoal with the flamers, safer too as the chimney sprays hot coals around when you move it. The flamers did the job easily and quickly.
The wood chunks were spot on, maintained a good heat with plenty of flames. Key here is to top them up after you take a pizza off so by the time the next one goes in there are new flames going.
The dough was fantastic, really easy to work with but didn’t go too thin and rip. 265g on that recipe is spot on for smaller pizzas. Would be good to get a larger wooden peel and go bigger.
Wooden peel was spot on for launching, no sticking. The Pro peel is great for taking the pizzas out and spinning them.
Enjoyed this cook so much, felt very relaxed as the charcoal/wood combination was very easy to start and maintain. The pizzas came out really well so I think the Pro will be getting a lot of use now!
THE BOOK:
The dough recipe is from The Pizza Bible book:
The Pizza Bible: The World's Favorite Pizza Styles, from Neapolitan, Deep-Dish, Wood-Fired, Sicilian, Calzones and Focaccia to New York, New Haven, Detroit, and More
The Ooni Pro Pizza Oven:
Available on Amazon for £499.