Pizza oven uneven cooking

[Eclipse]

I just got one of these :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CM3YPBF2? ... asin_title
and it's my first pizza oven. I bought a cheap frozen pizza to test it with and the centre of the topping didn't cook/brown properly
as seen in the pictures.
I really have no idea what im doing here and dont know how to fix this problem so any advice greatly received.

[Count Steer]

I just got one of these :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CM3YPBF2? ... asin_title
and it's my first pizza oven. I bought a cheap frozen pizza to test it with and the centre of the topping didn't cook/brown properly
as seen in the pictures.
I really have no idea what im doing here and dont know how to fix this problem so any advice greatly received.

Don't know what the program does but is the oven and the stone up to temperature when the pizza goes in?

I'd be tempted to thaw one and try it on manual. ie whack it up to temp and chuck the pizza in. That might indicate, if the same thing happens, that the heating isn't even ie may be faulty.

TBH the outer looks browner than I'd expect a pizza to be, for me the cheese should be melted not grilled.

[MrLongbeard]

Try a fresh pizza, a frozen one is going to be thaw out from the edges first and leave the centre pretty cold whilst the rest is getting charcoaled.

And even then just like air fryers this is just a small regular oven, I may be a sceptic but miracles I wouldn't expect

[Eclipse]

Don't know what the program does but is the oven and the stone up to temperature when the pizza goes in?

No it's stone cold (see what I did there?) when I put the frozen pizza in

Try a fresh pizza, a frozen one is going to be thaw out from the edges first and leave the centre pretty cold whilst the rest is getting charcoaled.

Ok will do

Any Ideas on temp and time for a thawed pizza and should it be on the top or bottom shelf ? (no middle shelf)


I havnt yet worked out how the cooker works, I did sausage and chips on airfry mode in it the otherday and they were well above cooked internal temp
but looked like they were uncooked, the sausages had no browning what so ever so I had to switch the cooker to grill mode
and then the top element started to glow and the sausies browned off.

Again I have no idea what its doing in frozen pizza mode.

[Count Steer]

I'd pre-heat to 250 with the stone in - slide the (thawed) pizza in for up to 10 min.

If it'll go to 280 then the same for slightly less time.

I'd go for bottom shelf first for ease of pizza insertion. (Particularly if it's got a fan).

[Eclipse]

Ok will get a pizza out the freezer now and give that a go and report back in the morning

[Count Steer]

PS If cooking from frozen and the program has a thaw phase I probably wouldn't bother with the stone. I think the key benefit of the stone is it's hot when the pizza goes on it.

[MrLongbeard]

Any Ideas on temp and time for a thawed pizza and should it be on the top or bottom shelf ? (no middle shelf)

Not got a clue, I do supermarket fresh pizza's @ 220 for 12 - 15 minutes in a regular oven.
But unlike the count the outer rim looks perfect to me, grilled and slightly crispy cheese, but yes the cheese everywhere else should just be melted (again just my tastes).

Half of the fun of new cooking gadgets is playing and working out what works for the food you want, go and buy half a dozen of the cheapest pizza you can find and experiment.

I keep threatening to add a 'real' pizza oven to my outside cooking collection, but I don't think I'd survive the wife finding out, especially when I think I know something large and egg shaped may be out on the market next year that I've got my eye on.

[Count Steer]

Any Ideas on temp and time for a thawed pizza and should it be on the top or bottom shelf ? (no middle shelf)

Not got a clue, I do supermarket fresh pizza's @ 220 for 12 - 15 minutes in a regular oven.
But unlike the count the outer rim looks perfect to me, grilled and slightly crispy cheese, but yes the cheese everywhere else should just be melted (again just my tastes).

Half of the fun of new cooking gadgets is playing and working out what works for the food you want, go and buy half a dozen of the cheapest pizza you can find and experiment.

I keep threatening to add a 'real' pizza oven to my outside cooking collection, but I don't think I'd survive the wife finding out, especially when I think I know something large and egg shaped may be out on the market next year that I've got my eye on.

As long as you get strings of cheese when you pick up a slice and the slice doesn't droop like a droopy thing I'm a happy bunny.

On pondering to distract myself while in the dentist chair I concluded that, having invested in a pizza oven, cooking frozen pizza kind of goes against the mission

On the subject though, this month's Which? reports on the Ooni Karu 2 Pro woodfired pizza oven. A bargain basement £699. Quote: 'There isn't a better woodfired pizza oven than this. In our test it comes a close second to the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven 00101 (98%, £299, Best Buy), but that's electric'.

(Electric but, apparently you can add 'woodfire' pellets for general smoky ambience....and smoking stuff).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninja-Woodfire ... B0CHS61TTB

[ChrisW]

I'd just add that defrosting a frozen pizza is generally not a good idea - the dough can often turn to goo. They're designed to be cooked from frozen.

Stick to fresh and decent at that. Or just make your own dough - if you get even half-good at this it makes more difference than the oven itself.

[Silly Car]

I wouldn't defrost a frozen pizza for the same reasons as above, maybe defrost a fresh pizza I had frozen though.

Definitely preheat the oven and the stone, that way the base will start thawing and cooking from the second the pizza hits it and the oven will have a fighting chance of cooking the top at the same time.

Time wise, just watch it, I often use the pizza setting on my Ninja mini oven airfryer, preheat, set timer for around 15 mins but check it after 5/6 mins, spin it around, check again a few minutes later. I only ever buy thin crust pizzas as I find thick crust too doughy.

[Eclipse]

Ok so had another go at cooking a frozen pizza, I know it was suggested to thaw pizza's out but this one says raw dough
so I though it would be best to do as they said and cook from frozen.

I pre heated the oven with stone in at 200 for 10 mins
then turned it down to 180 for 15mins but it was no where near done so kept adding 5mins at a time
until it got to 35mins and it looks like the 2nd picture down.
The crust and toppings were fine and the cheese stringy so happy with them but the pizza base which is very thin
was crunchy and snapped when you took a bite, which was not nice at all.

I still don't know what I am doing with this thing so any input is helpful.
Do I cook it at a higher temp for less time or something else ?

[Count Steer]

Really don't know about frozen but, generally the thing seems to be high heat, short time with fresh. You see 280º quite often.

I'd bag a fresh one eg from M&S for starters and cook as per instructions. (I suspect they partially bake the base so they're then baked at home at a lower temperature than raw dough, home made but not certain about that).

If you want the convenience of frozen I was going to suggest getting fresh and freezing them then thawing before cooking BUT, apparently, M&S say 'don't freeze' so that may be true of others.

I'd be inclined to get an oven thermometer too just to check it's hitting the temps indicated.

[Silly Car]

35 mins at 180 degrees would have cooked out the base until it became a biscuit as you've found.

I would test the oven by cooking the above pizza and by following the cooking instructions on the box, i.e. set the pizza oven to 200 degrees and whack the same pizza in the oven on a baking tray instead of the stone for 16 mins and see what the outcome is like. Most supermarkets do round pizza trays, typically with holes in them.

If that was successful, then I would try a fresh pizza but with the stone in but whack the temperature up as high as it will go, let it preheat for a good 15 minutes once the oven is up to temperature rather than from cold. Keep an eye on the pizza, turn it once you see the cheese start bubbling / the crust starts to brown.

Once you've got it cracked, posh cheese on toast will never taste better!

[MrLongbeard]

I've always found supermarket pizza's, frozen or otherwise, cook just fine on the oven grates, no trays or stones required.

[Count Steer]

I've always found supermarket pizza's, frozen or otherwise, cook just fine on the oven grates, no trays or stones required.

If I buy supermarket pizza, that's what I do. (Mainly because I can't be bothered to get the stone and put it in the oven. ). I bought my 'pizza stone'* - which is about half an inch thick - when I was in a bread making groove but would use it if I made pizza from scratch. I've always thought of supermarket ones as reheating rather than baking tbh.

* it's what it says on it, in German and it came with a pizza paddle. I think they're supposed to recreate an element of the wood-fired brick pizza/bread ovens thing. It certainly has thermal mass!

[Mr. Dazzle]

I suspect the key difference with supermarket bought stuff is that base is already 90% of the way there....it has to be, otherwise you'd have a big soggy lump of dough you'd never get out of the packet. Fresh pizza made at home of course uses totally raw, stretchy, wet dough where the stone makes a real difference.

Also stops the wet dough falling through the grate

[gremlin]

I was in Naples some years back and asked one of the hotel staff where she would go for pizza. She pointed me and the Gremlinette to her favourite pizzeria, which was superb and bloody quick to the table. I got talking to the pizziaolo and owner. His two unquestionable rules for pizza were:

First rule: No longer than 90 seconds in the oven. If it needs longer your dough is too thick or your oven not hot enough.

Second rule: A thin smear of tomato sauce, some mozzarella and basil and maybe, if you asked nicely, a couple of slices of prosciutto when it comes out of the oven. Nothing else. Ever. On pain of death.

I jokingly asked him how he felt about pineapple on a pizza. He wasn't impressed...

Anyhow, as you were.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm with him in spirit on the second point, but maybe not THAT pedantic.

My Mum is awful for putting far too many toppings on when she makes Pizza. They have a fancy wood fired oven in the garden, but they still haven't figure out if you put Domino's levels of toppings on your beautiful sourdough base you either have to have burnt bread or a soggy wet mess of toppings.

[Count Steer]

I was in Naples some years back and asked one of the hotel staff where she would go for pizza. She pointed me and the Gremlinette to her favourite pizzeria, which was superb and bloody quick to the table. I got talking to the pizziaolo and owner. His two unquestionable rules for pizza were:

First rule: No longer than 90 seconds in the oven. If it needs longer your dough is too thick or your oven not hot enough.

Second rule: A thin smear of tomato sauce, some mozzarella and basil and maybe, if you asked nicely, a couple of slices of prosciutto when it comes out of the oven. Nothing else. Ever. On pain of death.

I jokingly asked him how he felt about pineapple on a pizza. He wasn't impressed...

Anyhow, as you were.

I'm on board with the 'don't overload your pizza' but I'm mainly impressed you knew the Italian for pineapple.