Johnjoe Smith got in touch to see if I wanted to try one of his Johnjoe Hopper Extenders on my Ooni 3. I have seen these a fair bit on the Ooni UK Facebook page and was keen to try them, they look like such a great idea.
The box:
The extender with some warnings and disclaimers.
I lit the Ooni 3 in the usual way with a flamer in the pellet drawer, left for 10 minutes then I put the hopper extender on top. The extender fitted on easily and was rock solid once in place.
I added loads of pellets then whacked the fan on.
View from above.
This is not actually a good picture. Through most of the cook there was a cracking set of flames lapping the roof of the Ooni. Looks a bit tame here but that’s not how I remember it!
I am a bit cack handed so when I was topping up the extender I was spilling a few. I had a brainwave to add the jam funnel on top which made it easier to top up without spilling.
The dough & sauce recipes and all the kit I used can be seen in this previous cook. I have been using a dough recipe from the Pizza Bible book for months now as it’s easy to make, easy to shape/stretch and tastes fantastic!
First pizza – grated mozzarella (shock horror!) and some chorizo.
Second pizza – same as the first.
Third pizza – same as the first!
Fourth pizza – out of chorizo so time for truffle and porcini.
Fifth pizza – same as the last one. Good shape to that one.
Sixth and final pizza – same as the last two.
Summary:
I enjoyed cooking with the Johnjoe Hopper Extender. It is a quality bit of kit, substantial and feels well made. It fits onto the Ooni 3 like a glove and takes a considerable amount of pellets which makes the cook a lot easier.
During the cook I got into a routine of firing up the fan whilst I prepared the pizza and sticking a kebab skewer down to knock the pellets down. Once the pizza was ready to go in I would turn the fan off and the flames would be roaring throughout the cook.
I took the temperature before I started cooking and it was over 500c. After that I could tell it was hot (still over 500c). Even though it was burning hot I don’t feel like I used more pellets than when I use the jam funnel which is good.
The Johnjoe Hopper Extender is currently £26.99 if you buy it on Ebay but you can get it for £22.99 if you contact Johnjoe direct (avoids the Ebay fees).
If you cook on your Ooni 3 with pellets I would recommend this, it makes things a lot easier as you don’t have to top up so often.
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