To be bored of wood fired pizzas every week?

[ooninooni]

DH got given one of those Ooni pizza ovens for his birthday last summer. Every Saturday right into autumn we would have pizza oven pizza, then tailed off when the weather changed.

It started again around Easter and now - every week without fail - we have one night that is pizza oven pizza.

Thing is, I just don't like it all that much. DH and the kids think it's great but I honestly prefer a shop bought pizza.

I find the pizza oven too stodgy, the sauce gives me heartburn. I can't get excited by it.

My friend has an Ooni oven and raved about it.

What am I missing? Is there something I should be doing toppings wise that will make me enjoy it more?

YANBU, and YABU to the people trying to dictate other people's taste! I love Domino's and dislike fancy, thin, toppings-falling-off watery pizza, ESPECIALLY the ones I've had in Italy. I buy supermarket pizza and add pre-grated cheddar, and it's absolutely delicious!

Then why not just ask him to make them thinner?

I feel your pain. Would rather have cheese on toast, sorted!

YANBU, even nice pizza isn't 'food of the gods' or a treat. I like (some) pizza, but it's 'peasant food' - carbs made (hopefully) tasty.

DH made some tasty pizzas during lockdown. Very thin wholemeal base (needs a silicone mat to roll it out on so it doesn't stick and the kitchen doesn't need to be coated with flour), no complicated or watery sauce but instead just spread on some Bomba paste, then some tasty bits (salami, olives, roasted peppers, maybe some quartered artichokes) and then a mozzarella torn up on top. He nearly always forgot herbs though. It was very good, didn't need a special oven,.. but I don't think I'd want it every week.

Its all a matter of personal taste, of cours. In The Times times this week one of the Michelin-starred chefs said his favourite pizza is an American hot, Romano base from Pizza Express.

I use the 2 chefs recipe. It's a Romana style one.

We use shop bought tortillas for pizza bases. They come out really crispy and light - like a Pizza Express Romana.

to be fair talking about pizza isnt that interesting,no need to be snippy.

You can make so much more than just pizza in it - get yourself some cast iron pans and you can do most meats, chicken (we do chicken souvlaki on metal skewers) fish, home made naan bread and chicken shaslick (sp?!) roasted veg. You just need to work out what you can do in it. We love ours, and yep, it’s a weekly thing 😂I’m a big fan of the pizzas of it too though but not with tomato sauce, I use pesto and have roast veg on mine, bloody love it!

Not sure about the suggestions to roll your dough thinner. Rolling will never get dough as thin as stretching it.

We don't use our Ooni every week, but happily would. Our pizzas are thin and not at all stodgy. Blocks of pizza mozzerella seem to work better than balls of mozzarella as it's a bit less wet.

With our favourite supermarket pizza being more than £5 and local takeaways £9 for just a margarita, our Ooni seems good value. DD2 also whinges about pizza that isn't pizza oven pizza.

We buy lurpak garlic butter to make garlic bread, though DH struggles not to set the butter on fire.

YABU

Now I want one! I tried frying pan pizza in lockdown. It was shit

He is massively disrespecting you. Lots of red flags everywhere. Time to LTB.

I think for the tomato sauce I'd just have passata 45p a carton with some oregano chopped up in it.

I agree the weekly pizza extravaganza would be too much for me. I (sadly) have a list of what we eat each and try not to repeat until week 3 so I don't get bored. So 7 things week 1, 7 things week 2, 7 things week 3 but one or two from week 1, 7 things week 4 with 1 or 2 things from week 1 and 1 or 2 things from week 2. Basically I have about 20 different meals we eat regularly and I try and mix them up.

Pizza probably comes up most regularly but I buy the super cheap supermarket ones and we add our own toppings and extra cheese, cook then for 5 minutes longer than suggested in the oven. So much better than Dominos stodgy, salty rubbish.

I think if I was you I would have a piece of salmon wrapped in foil put in next to the pizzas and served with a side salad and a nice sauce. So you can still have DH cooking for you but not have to eat stodgy pizza each week.

Rolling will never get dough as thin as stretching it.

DHs, rolled on a silicone mat, were the thinnest I've ever had.

You seem to have forgotten that an AIBU means you are asking if people disagree with you. Many of us do.

How hard it is to a) ask him to make a pizza differently for you or b) eat something else? 🙄

I agree about them being a middle class fad. DH is Italian and neither he nor his family (who all live in Italy) would entertain the idea of home made pizza . Best left to the experts imo. A bit like BBQ very few people can do those properly either.

LTB

Sounds like he's making it wrong. Easily done, we suffered through weeks of awful doughy stodge when we first got our ooni.

Key points:

• Use 00 flour. This stretches better so you can get it really thin. I like the Caputo stuff. Hand stretch it really thin to get a nice crisp pizza that is actually cooked all the way through with lovely poofy crusts.
• Thick pizza sauce stops it being sloppy. Mutti pizza sauce is amazing, if you use the cheap chopped tomatoes you will have sad slop.
• Grated mozzarella also prevents it going sloppy. Normal mozzarella must be squeezed out first. Goats cheese is a good option too as it doesn't slop.
• You might want to look at your pizza dough ratios. Wet dough done well is better but a less sticky dough is easier to work with. You can also buy frozen dough balls and save the faff.
• Semolina to stop it sticking. Just a sprinkle so it slides.
• The pizza oven has to be incredibly hot to cook proper pizza. You want to see that shimmer over the chimney and the flames should be licking roof right the way to the door when you open it.

If you get ooni pizza just right it is amazing. If you get is just wrong it's massively disappointing. The high of getting it just right is amazing because it is so faffy.

Personally I'd stick to a decent takeaway pizza.

I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who loves pizza and all things Italian.

Going back a really long time ago, when I first started going to Italy, I saw people would order one pizza for a table of 4, as an alternative to plain bread, as a starter. It was also just passata, basil and mozzarella.

I think that it's gone so far away from how it was originally intended and they've got so much bigger with all the toppings that it's no wonder it makes people feel bloated, heartburn and sick.

I have Italian family too and while they wouldn’t make a wood-fired affair or oven equivalent, deeper pan pizza made in a tray in the oven is quite popular with them. I quite like it, but not as much as the pizzeria type.

Ha ha ha ha fuck me, pmsl, what on earth about my post suggests to you (the almighty expert) that I am eating in a pizzeria and not a restaurant when you weren’t even there?

just because the fabulous restaurant in York said it’s not possible doesn’t mean it isn’t. Since when has York been the centre of Italy, and I know I like near York.

having just returned two weeks ago from the Almalfi coast I would say you are talking out of your bum.

Buy an uncoated cast iron pan (doesn’t have to be an ooni branded one) and make something else- steak, fajitas etc. If he’s doing it properly the dough should take at least 24 hrs and be very thin (1 minute to cook the pizza) with thin toppings- this isn’t a deep pan American pizza. Ours cost about a pound per pizza with proper Italian pizza flour, sauces, cheese and meats etc so it shouldn’t be silly money.

We have a traditional pizza oven (not Ooni). We roll the dough really thin and I make a tomato sauce with tinned tomatoes, garlic, onion, herbs, bay leaves and tomato paste (and a pinch of sugar) - simmered down for 40 mins and then blended. Then cheese and very few toppings. I can’t get buffalo mozzarella where I live so I use grated ordinary mozzarella and I add a tiny bit of cheddar to the cheese - certain types of full fat mozzarella can be overwhelming and make the whole thing too rich and strangely oily. Don’t overload it with toppings or you get soggy pizza. I am a bit out-pizza’d to be honest but I never order pizza anywhere now because it is never as good as ours. My favorite is cheese, olives, garlic, mushrooms and some basil leaves.

When we have curry we make naan bread in the pizza oven... so good. Maybe mix it up?

What? You're the one who can't work AIBU. You haven't asked an "AIBU to..." question. You asked "What am I missing? Is there something I should be doing toppings wise that will make me enjoy it more?" - you should have posted on the Food and Recipes board. YABU for that.