Pizza Hut has to be the worst of the worst when it comes to pizza. I always smile when I recall a story my mate told me when he was taking his team out for lunch and suggested they go to Franco Manca. One of his team objected on the grounds that she was “a pizza snob” and only ate Pizza Hut pizza.
Pizza Oven Advice
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Pizza is one of the foods we seem to be able to get very good examples of pretty much nationwide.
Franco Manca was my introduction to Neapolitan pizza at their Broadway Market location in Hackney. In about 2014 I think. Great to see them all over the place now. I feel like it’s the 2020s Pizza Express where you can just get reliably good pizza every time.
Every town/city seems to have a very good pizza place these days.
Still makes me smile when you see the trip advisor reviews on that style of pizza from people saying ‘Soggy pizza, undercooked… avoid!!!’ 😂
Ernie1 Still makes me smile when you see the trip advisor reviews on that style of pizza from people saying ‘Soggy pizza, undercooked… avoid!!!’ 😂
Haha excellent.
dutchy101 While I loved Pizza Hut as a kid, it put me off any pizza that wasn’t Neapolitan up until recently.
After stumbling across really good Roman pizza during a trip to Rome and then visiting the bakery of ex-celebrity chef Bonci (he’s on Netflix in an episode of Chef’s Table:Pizza), I rarely make or buy Neapolitan pizza these days (although I still love it - particularly a white base with Nduja blobbed on top 🤤).
The Roman’s are fanatical about toppings preferably only using local seasonal ingredients. The base should have a lovely thin crisp/chewy crust while the rest of the base is very airy and light. Not like the stodge/greasefest of Pizza Hut 🤮
It’s part of the reason I want to update my oven to gas so I have more controllability to keep a lower temperature instead of the raging furnace with the pellets!
That Chef’s Table Pizza is a great watch!! Especially the Japan episode.
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Our first introduction to supposedly original American Pizza was When we went to New York. I booked us on a day tour (A slice of Brooklyn pizza tour) Part of the tour we were booked into two pizza places. The one in the picture was supposedly a famous place called Grimaldi, in Dumbo just under the Brooklyn Bridge. You cannot book a table so have to queue for a table. Our tour was able to book so we walked in past the people queuing, we were not very popular. The second pizza stop was at L&B Spumoni gardens in Bensonhurst. Must admit the Pizzas were good. The big black truck with the blacked out windows was our tour bus. We looked like the mafia turning up.
It’s a steep learning curve and it’s easy to lose track of what’s really important. The most important part in my view is kneading the dough well. I still hand knead but may get a Kitchenaid if I can convince my other half..
Forget about poolish, biga and so on . All you need is flour, water and instant yeast. I would recommend the PizzApp for determining the quantities.
Today’s pizza with 70 percent hydration, 6hrs at room temperature, nothing fancy..
Since moving house recently, our Ooni has been sitting neglected on the patio so been forced to rely on bought pizza which, generally, I dislike. Came across Crosta and Mollica range - for bought pizza, they’re much better than anything else IMO.
Son has a friend stopping Tonight so he chose a local Italian restaurant for takeaway pizza
Absolute shite
One slice rest is going in the bin
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
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Amazed how bad pizza can be in UK. IMO cardinal requirements are: wood fired oven, double zero flour, buffalo mozzarella and San Marzano tomato sauce. Luckily, we’ve got a pukka pizzeria who also deliver. I always go for the Margarita and never disappointed.
After a long time on the fence I am going to pull the trigger on an Ooni and come down the pizza making rabbit hole.
My question is - how often do Lakeland run the 20% off deals? I am willing to wait to save a little extra over the 10% discount I can get direct from Ooni.
Niche Zero
Niche Zero
It seemed like a very short deal when I nabbed mine. Seemed to go back up to full price after a couple of days
2 months later
Great 30% discount code for Black Friday for Ooni on their website if anyone’s interested: PRO-OONI-BLACK-FRIDAY
My brother’s just bagged the 16 inch gas oven for £350 with this
Late comer to this discussion. I built an oven about 15 years ago and while I love it, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the small gas or pellet options. I’ve used them at friends’ places and they certainly have aspects that improve upon the “real” thing. Quicker heat up time, easier to control temperature and less environmental impact to name a couple advantages. I’ve also never understood the debate about the flavor of wood smoke in a large pizza oven. The temperatures are too hot for aromatic smoke, not to mention the height of a dome generally eliminates smoke reaching anything on the oven floor.
Of course, a big oven is great for feeding crowds and it’s much easier to roast a whole chicken, make a large dessert or overnight a pot of Italian beans.
Bought a gas burner for my Ooni Pro. It’s convenient to use if you’re baking back to back but it doesn’t get as hot as using wood.
That’s surprising. I would think that’s more of an insulation issue than a fuel issue, but they’re both variables on the same side of the equation. Are the gas burners really small?
The advantage (and disadvantage) of a big brick oven is that the amount of insulated mass retains heat really well. Takes forever to heat up though. I plan on 2 hours of lead time before cooking in my oven, but it will still be warm the next day.
If I had the money I’d get the best of both worlds and get the Gozney Dome - big enough to bake bread or a roast chicken but small enough to heat quickly. Looks cute like a baby full size Gozney too 😂
My friend also had the same issue with the gas burner on his Rocbox not getting up to as high temperatures. Having said that, having used his Rocbox I now prefer a slightly lower temperature to bake at.