9 Ooni Pizza Oven Powerful Tips that Will Make You a PRO!

Ooni Tactics and Tricks from the PROs

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Here are nine innovative Ooni pizza oven tips and some tricks to enhance your pizza baking experience.

Because we understand that dealing with an Ooni pizza oven can sometimes be challenging. But don’t worry we’ve got you covered.

What do you need to know about using this pizza oven? How do you go about baking and serving your first pizza? Let’s find out.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tips and Tricks

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #1

Use the Best Flour

One of the essential pizza oven tips for home production is using the best flour. For instance, Caputo Pizzeria is suitable for temperatures above 700F. 

It will also help if you use flour with high strength properties to easily stretch the dough without tampering with the delicate texture.

An alternative flour would be King Arthur Bread Flour.

Moreover, don’t forget about the need for bold taste and flavors. This pizza flour offers just that and much more to enhance your baking experience.

While there are many flour options in the stores, this one will yield the best results, especially if you’re an amateur.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #2

Go Easy with the Sauce and Toppings

Your final pizza product’s texture and flavor depend on how you add the sauce and the toppings. While you are at liberty to choose your ingredient and tastes, we recommend not overdoing it.

What order should you use when adding sauce and toppings to the pizza?

Please follow this procedure:

Following this order helps create bold tastes and flavors. The cheese coming in between the sauce and the toppings will allow it to bubble and turn brown.

The toppings coming last will expose the ingredients to direct heat, making them crispy. Depending on the pizza you’re making, there are some exceptions where the order of ingredients may change.

In that case, referencing reliable recipes and guidebooks will always save the day.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #3.

Oven Placement

When placing the oven, make it perpendicular or away from airflow, as it can either increase the flame or extinguish it. An overheating oven will likely produce overbaked or burnt pizza.

Conversely, if the oven extinguishes in the middle of the baking process, it will yield mush and semi-cooked toppings. Such a pizza will be hard to ingest unless you like raw vegetables.

The hard work of making a homemade pizza lies in preparing the dough and adding the sauce and toppings.

You don’t want to waste all that at the last moment when you should wait for a few minutes to serve your pizza.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #4

Use Low Hydration Dough at 55% to 60%

Use Low Hydration Dough at 55% to 60% and keep it at room temperature (68-72 degrees F). 

Caputo Pizzeria pizza flour will give you an easy time with dough preparation. It is suitable for low hydration doughs, and you’ll hardly find yourself struggling to balance the portions of the ingredient.

After fermenting the dough, it is time to stretch it out to your desired shape. We recommend stretching at an optimal room temperature to have an easy time.

Some people love to prepare the dough a day earlier and refrigerate it. In that case, you’d want to leave the dough in the opening for at least four hours to gain room temperature.

Kindly note that cold dough is hard to work with as it springs back to itself whenever you try to stretch it.

Conversely, if the dough is too hot, it will sweat as the trapped moisture tries to escape. You’ll end up with a sticky dough that peels as you try to stretch.

Moreover, a hot dough will often stretch too far, outside your desired shape.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #5

Preheat the Oven for 30 Minutes

Preheat the oven for 30 minutes or until the pizza stone center reaches 750F.  Ooni suggests that you preheat the oven for between 15 and 20 minutes. 

We’ve found that preheating it for a little longer gives better results because there is enough time for the stone to preheat evenly.

The pizza stone is the last component that gives your pizza an excellent taste and look. It will help if you preheat the oven for about half an hour and let the pizza stone gain high temperatures of up to 750F.

Most importantly, it ensures that the pizza cooks evenly.

Even so, ensuring that the pizza stone is in the proper condition is essential. Like other oven parts, it can also be inefficient due to repeated use and general wear and tear.

In that case, you’d want to replace it for a better cooking experience.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #6

Be Fast!

Be fast when assembling the pizza.  The process of assembling the pizza is more vital compared to heating it.

There are no automatic settings, which will depend on your hands’ speed. A fast assembly process allows you to handle the dough while still soft and at the right temperature.

It also means you can get the shape together without using excess flour to prevent sticking.

When assembling the pizza, don’t forget to drizzle olive oil on the top to allow the toppings to cook well.

The amount of olive oil that you add depends on the pizza’s size and the number of toppings.

Vegetarians like to go a little extra with fruit and vegetable toppings to replace meat ingredients.

In that case, you need enough oil to cook the vegetables well.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #7

Use a Perforated Pizza Peel

Since you’ll be working around a surface full of flour, using perforated pizza peels will help.

This trick will reduce the amount of flour trapped beneath the pizza dough, especially when placed in the oven.

Excess flour on the dough will always yield brownish and bitter-tasting pizza. The last you want is to serve a pizza that everyone will frown at when tasting.

 You can always use two peels if you find it hard to use a perforated peel.  A wood peel works better for launching the pizza into the oven, and a metal peel to turn it and remove it from the oven.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #8

Set a Timer

Set a timer and turn the pizza at 90 degrees every 15 seconds for about 2 minutes.

Set the timer depending on the type and size of pizza you’re making. Let your pizza cook as you turn the pizza quarter every 15 seconds. 

Hence, it will cook evenly. Turning the pizza frequently allows the olive oil to burn evenly and cook the toppings without overheating.

Ooni Pizza Oven Tip #9

Finish Your Pizza

After your timer ticks off, it is time to get the pizza out of the oven. To protect yourself from heat, kindly use tongs or a spatula to pull the pizza from the oven.

 

Let it settle for a minute; use a clean-cut pizza cutter and garnish. You can enhance the flavor with a finishing salt like truffle salt, Malden salt, or black salt. You can add parsley or basil for color. Serve in desired shapes.

The Last Slice

All the Ooni pizza oven tips shared above will help you prepare a high-quality home pizza that rivals any restaurant around your neighborhood.

We have had a pleasurable experience using the Ooni Pizza Oven, and we believe you’ll also find it amazing.

As you practice these Ooni pizza oven tips, don’t forget to factor in the cooking environment’s outdoor temperature and humidity. These factors will always influence the outcome of your pizza.

Lastly, don’t beat yourself if the pizza doesn’t turn out as perfect as you expected. There is still a next time and room to improve your skills.

Do you have any questions or opinions about the Ooni pizza oven tips above? Also, let us know if you have any other tips we can share with our community; we genuinely appreciate the sharing of your experience.

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Enjoy!

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