A warm, sunny weekend in the garden means it’s time to get the pizza oven out!
We’ve had a Woody pizza oven for a couple of years and use it often during good weather. I make dough using a recipe for Classic Pizza Dough on the Ooni website, I cheat a little and rather than make by hand, I throw all the ingredients into my breadmaker and set it to the dough function. I usually make a couple of batches (each batch makes enough for 4 pizzas) and put it in the freezer once it’s finished in the breadmaker but before it has it’s second rise. I also make the tomato sauce, again using a recipe from the Ooni website – but rather than using tinned plum tomatoes as the recipe states, I use Mutti chopped tomatoes but that’s just my preference.
The pizza oven can be used with bbq gas (the attachment is sold separately) or with kindling, pellets or charcoal. We’ve not been brave enough to use it with anything other than gas yet and I like the fact that the temperature is more controllable with gas. It takes around 15 mins for the oven to reach 500 degrees and then about a minute or so to cook a delicious pizza.
We initially bought the oven as we were having a garden party with around 30-40 guests and wanted to be able to feed people something other than buffet or barbecue food. I made some of the dough the day before and some on the morning of the party and also made a big batch of tomato sauce which was kept in the fridge overnight. We encouraged people to create their own pizzas by having a topping station – tubs of chopped onion, peppers, mushrooms, ham, basil, mozzarella, pepperoni, sweetcorn etc. It was a great success and we were able to cater for dietary requirements (and fussy small children) without too much effort. We had some vegan guests plus some with gluten & dairy allergies, so I also had vegan grated ‘cheese’ and I used gluten free flour to make some of the dough. I’ve not really perfected the art of making a perfectly shaped pizza but the shape doesn’t affect the taste!
Since the party, we’ve used the oven many times to cook pizza for family & friends and sometimes just for me & Mr Fixit when we chill in the garden on a sunny weekend. It never disappoints and the smell and taste of hot, freshly cooked pizza is amazing and that is why I love my pizza oven!
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