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Making pizza dough can take some time to get the hang of. I have been making pizza for my home oven for over 3 years. When I got an Ooni I wanted to tweak the recipe to work better for this new way of cooking.
This homemade pizza dough recipe was made after a few trial and errors to get the perfect blend of easy to make and delicious to eat. Now this is my go to Ooni recipe for the perfect crust.
How to Make Ooni Pizza Dough
With 5 simple ingredients you can make this delicious Neapolitan-style pizza recipe. The trick with making pizza dough for an outdoor pizza oven is that you want it to be easy to slide in and out of the oven. If you have a dough that is too wet it can stick to the pizza peel very easily and be hard to transfer.
On the other end of that, you want the pizza dough to have a good amount of moisture so it has a nice chewy interior with a crispy crust.
My consensus was to use a little less water and skip on the olive oil. Since these pizzas cook so fast they have less time to dry out compared to cooking them for 10+ minutes in a regular home oven.
How to Keep the Dough From Sticking
When transferring the pizza dough to the pizza stone you don’t want it to stick to the pizza peel. A nice way I have found to keep this from happening is to sprinkle some cornmeal on the pizza peel before stretching the dough.
I use a dredge shaker to add the cornmeal to the peel. Another tip to getting the pizza not to stick is to make the pizza right before you are adding it to the oven. If the pizza, with all the toppings, sits on the peel for too long it will start to stick.
It is important to make the launch as easy as possible. The pizza oven and stone get to extremely high temperatures so once it is in the oven it is hard to move.
Tips for Using the Ooni Pizza Oven
Using an Ooni pizza oven or any other outdoor pizza oven has a little bit of a learning curve. You need to figure out how to heat the oven and understand how quickly the pizzas will cook in the oven. Here are a few tips when using your Ooni.
- Check the temperature before adding the pizza. I like to use an infrared thermometer. This way you can try to cook your pizzas at a similar temperature.
- Turn your pizzas half way through. The back of the pizza will cook much faster than the front. Turn it around using a pizza peel or use metal tongs to grab and rotate it.
- Make extra dough. This recipe make 4 pizzas which it typically more than we need but just incase one burns or gets dropped, it’s nice to have extra on hand.
- Make a margarita pizza first. The first time you use your pizza oven go for a simple pizza that doesn't have too many toppings. It is easier to launch and move around. This will get you in the hang of using it.
The method of cooking will depend on the type of Ooni oven you have. If you are using a wood fired pizza oven check out this post for more tips for using your Ooni pizza oven.
What Pizzas Should You Make With This Dough
You can add any toppings you’d like to this dough. My favorite toppings are a classic margarita with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella or a veggie pizza. This is a Neapolitan pizza dough so remember it is fairly thin so don't over load the toppings. If you want some inspiration, try one of these pizza recipes:
Tools to Make it Easier
After making pizzas many, many times, I have found that some tools make the process much simpler.
- Kitchen Scale: I like using a scale to weigh the ingredients. It gives you an exact amount and it is easy because you don't need any measuring tools.
- Stand Mixer: I love to add everything to my stand mixer and let it do the kneading for me. It makes if so much easier.
- Airtight Container: When letting the dough rise, I like to use a glass dish that has a lid. This makes it easy to set aside and the dough doesn't dry out while rising. I use these ones from Ikea and here are similar ones from Amazon.
Enjoy these delicious pizzas at your next pizza night! I hope this makes cooking with your Ooni a little simpler.
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