Nice! I just ordered one as well but backordered on williams sonoma till end of Dec prob from the 20% sale they just had.
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i canceled my WS Karu order because they pushed it by another monthā¦ Amazon was very quick
oh wowā¦ Armenian bro from Boston speaking exactly to my issues!!! reading with 3 eyesā¦ not adding freaking D. Malt anymore. (just made more pizza dough for 4 pies with malt)
Had a feeling itād be that way but it was the perfect excuse to use the $200 GC I had received from a previous bday. Keep us posted with every use.
Fascinating.
It looks pretty good. About the same as Peter Reinhartās I linked to above. Itās not a Neapolitan dough as it is fairly high hydration and uses a high gluten flour. I think it would work well for a New York/Neo-Neapolitan style cooked at around 600 for five or so minutes, but not for a 90 second Neapolitan cooked at 900. Not having tried it that is just speculation.
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The incineration issue is real, luckily Iāve never had an issue as my dough is just flour, water, yeast, salt. And adjusting hydration for the temp of oven makes perfect sense.
However, something thatās never mention enough is the cooking technique after launching your pies.
because of the small space, intense flame, and shape of these backyard ovens I do find you have to be much more active piazolo (not that Iāve ever cooked in a wood fired oven)āBut if you just leave it in one spot you will get uneven cooking and burning. I rotate mine every 25-30 seconds, for even leoparding on the crust but also for the the bottom to be evenly charred. Also when rotating, I dome it a bit as well, again for even cooking on top. Hence I always recommend getting a 6-7ā turning peel and really practice the motion of turning the pizza.
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I worked for a great pizza shop in highschool in Bostonā¦ I didnāt get to make pizzas but I did sometimes have to attend to them in the oven. Seems I still have my rotating muscle memory. We didnāt use a specialized peel, just a regular one. Just pull out and with a brisk motion briskly give it a turn by hand on the crust while pushing back in. Obviously have to nurse them on high heat stones way more.
Iām definitely turning top heat way down to get bottom done moving forward
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THIS. It took me about 2-3 pizza to figure this out but you hit the nail on the head. If you turn your head the pizza is going to burn.
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yeah the regular peel and some strong calloused finger tips will work, but i find it pretty enjoyable once you get the motion of using the turning peel. itās like a dance between you and the pizza 
used to adjust the heat up or down too, but now i just let it rip full blast the entire bake. My max bake was 16 pies in one go and once youāre in a rhythm itās so fun.
Itāll take more than a dozen tries i bet, and if youāre lucky less, but once you dial in your dough, temp, technique youāll prob find you donāt need to adjust the heat.
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YES!!
When we first got our Woodstone ovens at work it took us quite a lot of testing to get the process refined. We certainly had more space to work in than a backyard oven, but itās the whole rotating for even cooking and charring that was important.
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If you have a Roccbox this, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B097653PYJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details, helps to mitigate the uneven heat problem. Using it I still have to turn the pizza, I use @Nemrozās fingers method, but not anywhere near as often. I highly recommend it to @CiaoBob and others who have a Roccbox.
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Interesting. My biggest problem with the Roccbox - the cornichon is getting burnt so fast (no matter how often/quickly I rotate) before I can get the base of the pie cooked through/crispy enough. It seem to happen less at lower temps but still is an issue.
Thanks!
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This diffuser helps a lot with that. Another trick I use is to turn off the flame and let the bottom cook for a time, and then turn it on and dome it to finish the top.
Yes - I have done that too with so-so results.
I will ask Santa to put a diffuser in my (heavily reinforced) stocking.
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Iām sure Santa sees that youāve been a mensch this year. May your stocking be overbrimming with diffusers and yakitori of all sorts.
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turning peel does look funā¦ i cant imagine the bottom cooking fast enough before the crust is burningā¦ so are you preheating the stone longer than 30 minutes? how long is your reheat between pizzas?
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I usually do about 30 minutes preheat. But I actually donāt have a Roc box Or ooni. Itās pizza party oven ardore
It has 1.2ā inch refractory bricks so it retains lot heat and cooks bottom pretty well. At the time, it was only model that could attach to natural gas line so thatās why I didnāt go with ooni or roccbox
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I finally think Iāve got this down. Ooni preheat for 30 minutes.
Lower the heat significantly before putting in the first pie. Turn the pies every ~30 seconds. Cool time about 3 mins.
After the first pie is done turn back on the heat to high for 7-10 minutes to reheat the stone. Turn the heat back down for the next pizza. Repeat.
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I havenāt cooked with any Ooni but reading a lot about (and considering buying one), so I was surprised that you had to cook your pizza for 7-10 minutes. I thought from reading elsewhere that the Ooni gets hot enough to finish a pizza in 2-3 minutes.