What food did you last make

I am seriously looking at saving up for a bit longer and going for the Ooni Volt. Whilst I love the idea of pizza cooking outside with the westher we get here and I am not under cover It would get used very little. Plus I have seen the running costs of the Volt compared to an Ooni gas and the volt works out a lot cheaper especially when you look at te cost of gas bottles. Yes I know it is dearer to buy initially Ooni are selling it at £709, the Koda 12 £299, the Karu 12G £349, the Gozney £399. but the fact I would or could use it as many times a week as I want ALL year round for me counter balances that.

All the reviews I have seen show how versatile it is, how adjustable the temp control is for top and bottom heat and reaches temp in only 20 minutes and cooking a pizza in just 90 seconds. Oh, and of course I can cook outside with it too, because I have outdoor electrical points and one right near where I would use it.

Anyone else have any thoughts on that?

I have a massive wood fired brick oven that I built in my backyard. I love the ritual of chopping the wood, building the fire, managing the temperature and executing a day’s worth of cooking (sometimes overnight too).

I’d rather have an electric oven.

Okay, in fairness, I’d like to have both. One for outdoors in the warmer months and entertaining crowds, one for indoors the rest of the year.

You’ve hit on a couple of the most important issues, such as year round use, ease of temperature management, efficiency of electric compared to gas/wood. There are other issues as well. The exposure to particulates from wood/gas cooking is garnering more and more negative scientific consensus. I also live in an area that has been prone to massive wildfires–further increasing my exposure to particulates.

The frequent negative is that an electric doesnt doesn’t cook the pizza the same way. Utter hogwash. A pizza crust cant tell if the temperature was created by any particular means. I have heard that electric ovens create a drier environment, but I’ve never tested this out nor seen it. As for taste, at 500C, burning wood or charcoal are not smoking or imparting taste. And, the fact it can be used indoors means it will get double the use of an outdoor oven. I’ve also struggled at planned events if I screw up the temperature management or the weather turns bad.

One of my favorite pizza makers in the world switched to electric decades ago as it provides greater control, quicker heat times and greater efficiency. His crust is the best I’ve ever tried.

But, it’s a personal decision. It’s a big purchase, might as well get what you will enjoy the most.

I still use my oven, I crank it up to 250°c which takes 6 minutes to cook a pizza. I kind of like the idea of a pizza oven but the weather is rarely good enough and it would be marginal gains over a normal oven.

Cuprajake I have never seen anyone carry your luck Jake

The first one I received the stone was broken in half. I think it’s just Neanderthal ‘somebody else’s problem’ shipping/handling staff.

Hopefully you can get a replacement sorted quickly and easily.

Picking mine up today but to complete my indoor/outdoor setup this arrived yesterday….

A portable halogen hob. Will be darn useful in the kitchen too, even more so now I’ve changed all my cooking pans to stainless steel. My gas stove and oven is becoming more redundant each day. Hopefully next year will refurb the cooking area in the kitchen and replace the double oven gas cooker with a built in steam/bake combi oven at eye level. But the choice out there is quite overwhelming…. Not to mention some of the prices!

Pompeyexile what is the power rating on that?

2100W. Rated frequency 50-60Hz and transmission power <17.9dBm

Well I have finally got it and as Arkwright would say, after a bit of jer…jer…jiggling stuff around I managed to find a spot for it in my already gadget laden kitchen. Put it on high for 20 minutes to season it as instructed.

Now to make the pizza dough and let it ferment in the fridge overnight and see if it as easy and as good as all the YouTube videos I have seen claim it is.

Disclaimer… if they are naff it will be the chef not the apperatus.😁

Cuprajake Then found out we had no semolina flour to put on the peel.

Well… you have already shown us the Niche can grind green coffee… next time, grind some pasta?

(Disclaimer: I’m joking. Please don’t get any ideas.) 😉

I typically use the overnight levain recipe from Ken Forkish’s “Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast.” I’m not sure how many hundred pizzas I’ve made with that recipe, but if you like using a sourdough starter, it’s excellent. Needs at least an six hours in the fridge, but 2-3 days is probably better. Nothing like torturing a sourdough starter for a couple of days to bring out the best flavors and textures. Basic schedule is mix dough in evening, give it three or four folds, leave out overnight, shape in the morning, pop in fridge for 6 hours to 3 days. Take out about 45 minutes before baking.

Harvey’s recipe above looks almost identical to what I use with instant yeasts. Also the warning about the strength of the flour is important. I use some pretty high protein flours for long ferments. If you have low protein flour, a long ferment breaks down the gluten too much and you get flabby dough.