All these pictures of pizzas are making me hungry. I love doing pizzas in summer. We’ve got a Monolith Kamado BBQ (ceramic like a big green egg). By controlling the air flow it can run at anything from 100°C (for low and slow BBQ) to 400°C for pizzas. They’re expensive but very versatile.

I’ve even set it up with a temperature controller. It uses an arduino and raspberry pi connected to a fan/servo so that it can control the air flow. This gives PID control to the BBQ, allowing it to hold a set point to within about 5°C. Useful for doing long low and slow overnight runs.

The wife bought me a 12″ Ooni for Xmas and we have been using it most weeks. We’re cheating on the dough buying pre-made but plan to build up to doing it ourselves after the new baby comes (that’s our excuse right now lol). These pizzas look great!

MediumRoastSteam I do have a Webber barbecue, but didn’t know there as an attachment for pizza. Sometimes I roast a whole chicken in it, and the temperature does get really hot with the lid on, around 250C for at least 30 minutes. But I thought surely if I make a pizza there it would be far too smokey? How does that work Jake, do you have a gas one?

thats mine, its on sale to so a bargin.

id say its not as good as an ooni but it does work well, it has little raisers to lift the grill up, ive found lighting charcoal then a log ontop of that, then the grill, put the stone in, and then i use kindling at the back to give the flames at the back of the oven, you do have to let it get going though to keep the flames going, if i were to do it again, and i had the money id go for an ooni. but this is a very good contender.

Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

    oh and the free ooni app gives all sorts of dough recipies

    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

    Got a Kamado BBQ outside which did make excellent pizza, but took quite a while to get up to heat, used a lot of charcoal and took the hairs off the back of my hand to make pizza at those super high temps.

    Far more civilised option now as got the Sage Pizzaiolo indoor electric oven, gets up to 450c in about 15-20m and can do a thin pizza in 2-3mins, it’s even got a circular element in the ceiling to give you a browner targeted outer crust - its a stupid expensive but brilliant bit of gear.

      gotters

      I was at a brewery the other day where I’m almost certain the pizza guy outside was using two of those Sage ovens. I was curious as there was no chimney and he was cooking in a marquee.

      I was incredibly impressed, could’ve easily fooled me for a fired pizza!

          Ernie1

          yeah they are really impressive, I spent quite a while on youtube before dropping the cash, the end product is pizza perfection - my other half won’t eat pizza out, hates it, the only pizza she asks for and will eat (and really loves) is ours made at home.

          I make up the dough and shape into balls and let them slow prove for several days in the fridge in individual tubs.

          Adam Ragusea is a great source of pizza dough info on YouTube, he’s been obsessed with it for a while, as was Alex (the French Guy Cooking channel)

            the thing i linked to gets off the scale heat wise, 600 odd lol

            Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

            gotters a pair of welding gloves (about £5 from the likes of Screwfix) is a solution for keeping the hairs on your hands

              Systemic I switched my Ooni to gas for the reason it was easier doing back to back. I make 5+ if I am doing it, and my prepping the dough, loading to the peel and getting to the Ooni meant I couldn’t keep the fire in check and the pellets topped up. Not sure I noticed a lack of smoke taste, certainly come out charred read somewhere 2 mins isn’t enough, but then again maybe its just my palette not being good enough.

              Part of me likes the idea of wood but my use case can’t make it work. I did see someone selling 30cm tall hoppers for it, which I thought could solve my problem, but never heard anything back.

                  simonc

                  That’s my only criticism of the Ooni Fyra, that single-handedly it’s not easy to keep the hopper refilled and make/cook multiple pizzas sequentially.

                  Usually I’ll exchange a cold beer for an extra pair of hands to be on pellet duty!

                    I made one mistake….
                    I bought an Ooni Karu 12….

                    It’s brilliant - burns wood (or charcoal). and produces a 10-12 inch pizza

                    With a bit of judicial fuel topping up and team work with the kitchen we can knock up 5 pizza back-to-back.

                    When entertaining more (than 5) we’ve occasionally knocked out more - and shared the pizza (rather than a whole one each)

                    The mistake - You can now get a Ooni Karu 16 - which I now NEED!!!

                      Held off getting an Ooni when it launched as I felt the 12 inch oven was, for me, too small. The 16 inch Pro ticks all the boxes - capacity, fuel options etc. Interestingly, it hasn’t increased in price since it launched at £500.00. Had a look at the 16 inch Karu but it’s £200.00 more and 6kg heavier and as I store my Pro in the garage when not in use, the extra weight was a no no.

                      Just treated myself to the Ooni turning peel having gotten fed up trying to use the full size peel to turn the pizzas during baking. Anyone else use a turning peel?

                        Goes off to google turning peel

                        Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                        Systemic

                        Yep - 12″ wood/bamboo peel to put the base on (then add you own toppings)

                        Lob it into the oven (the actual peel is about 1.5-2 inches narrower than the oven opening)
                        then use a 9ish inch metal peel (on a longer handle) to lift and turn the cooking pizza
                        and lift it out onto the plate. The cooked pizza is stiffer than when raw so the smaller surface is OK

                          Have burned my fingers, literally, few times turning the pizza during baking so I thought it was time to get a turning peel - at least that’s how I justified it. Just waiting on Ooni to deliver it.

                          Ooni’s service is excellent - ordered the turning peel on Wednesday - delivered today, Friday.

                          Not cheap - thought about getting a cheaper one which would probably have done the trick but this one is only 7 inches across - cheaper ones are 9 inches which is probably OK if you’ve got a big brick pizza oven but not so good for 12 or 16 inch ovens.