I have a top-of-the-line oven that produces bakery-quality baguettes, puff pastry and fresh-crust loaves to envy. But when summer—long awaited and not guaranteed—finally arrives in Vermont, I ditch everything inside and head outside for a piece of gear I adore: Ooni Pizza Door.
What is an Ooni?
of Ooni Pizza Door is a benchtop oven capable of high temperatures (up to 900°F) and live fire roasting. With models varying in size, design and fuel source, an Ooni can do it all Neapolitan pizza to roasted vegetables or even bagels baked in the hearth. Between the fire-kissed flavors and the fact that dinner can happen without heating the house, I might not even use my indoor oven this summer.
Image courtesy of Ooni
What makes Ooni unique?
Ooni is a game changer on many levels. First, let's talk about the heat. The Ooni firebox generates high BTUs relative to the size of the furnace chamber. The intense heat, created by small pieces of wood or a gas burner, depending on the model, goes from cold to blazing hot (900°F) in just 20 minutes. Compare that to preheating the baking stone for an hour in my home oven and the withdrawal is obvious before you taste anything. Want better pizza, faster? This is your ticket.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by liz neily
The quick preheat is also perfect for last minute meal planners like me. Without much forethought, quick dinners such as roti topped with salad greens, yogurt and Ooni-roasted chicken can be dreamed up and through the oven in no time. With hot sauce and fresh herbs, a meal like this doesn't feel like a shortcut.
Martin Philip
But it's not just about speed. Ooni unlocks flavor territories normally inaccessible to home cooks and bakers. High, searing heat produces everything from 90-second pizzas with plenty of leopard print to five-minute salmon fillets with crisp skin and tender meat.
But how does it differ from a grill? It's all about heat placement – on a grill, heat only comes from one direction (underneath the cooking surface), whereas the Ooni cooks from both the bottom (the preheated masonry grill surface) and the top (the live fire ).
Why is Ooni so great for pizza?
In addition to its quick heating, portability and high baking temperatures, there's another reason the Ooni is perfect for pizza (and so much more). Let's talk about heat transfer.
Martin Philip
Heat transfer, a catch-all for the action of conduction (when your pizza sits on the baking surface), radiation (heat radiating from the top of the pizza oven to the toppings and crust), and convection (hot air moving in currents across the surface, absorbing moisture and stirring everything) makes for the best baking. The Ooni, with its live fire, masonry baking surface and small baking chamber, excels in all three of these aspects of heat transfer, mimicking the qualities of the world's best wood-fired ovens. While good pizza can be taken from the home oven, if you want Race– quality pies, the tool is Ooni.
More than pie
It might be obvious that Ooni is great for pizza – it's literally in the name. But I use it at least as much on vegetables and meat as I do on bread or pizza. From charred greens for a warm salad, to fried fish, to roasting stone fruit to serve over ice cream, the various heat levels (ranging from high to medium to low) can be used to cooked as needed.
Last night I mixed some Golden Pie then made quick pickled peppers and went for a walk while the dough rose and the pickles soaked in the brine. When I got back I divided the dough, formed dough balls and turned on the oven. While it was heating, I tossed the salmon pieces and dressed them with coarse pepper, salt and lemon juice. Once the oven was at about 700°F, flip the pita over and bake. As soon as they came out, I quickly cooked the salmon skewers and served them in the reception pita with peppers and herbs: simple, light, tasty.
Martin Philip
Martin Philip
Martin Philip
Small but mighty
With legs that fold up for storage and a footprint barely bigger than a half sheet pan, my 12” Ooni Karu is nothing short of a space hog. While it lives on a high table on the deck, I can easily fold up the legs and put it somewhere else for a night or even all winter.
The small size also means a smaller fuel footprint. How much gas does your home furnace burn during preheating for an hour? Little Ooni, drinking gas or running on small sticks and twigs I have collected from the yard, is miserly in his use of energy.
Take it to go
And speaking of its movement, let's talk portability. Have you ever taken your pellet grill to a friend's house for dinner? No, you didn't. But with Ooni, it is possible. Show up, light up for 20 minutes, wow your friends with your pizza, then leave before the cleanup begins. It's a good plan, trust me.
What is not possible in Crocodile? Maybe fried chicken? (But don't challenge me). Seriously though, more than offering limitations, Ooni expands options, heating up my creative approach to every meal (and snacks, too). from bagels THE focaccia, South Shore Bar Pizza, I asked, even baguettes (yes, I'm going to try them this summer!), I'm starting a punch list that doesn't include housework. I hope you will join me on deck.
Cover photo courtesy of Ooni.
