Why Christy Alia Loves Her Ooni Koda 16

Plus: A Secret Setting You Should Know About

Friends, hello!

Welcome to the first installment of Pizza Every Friday. First: thank you! I’m so happy you’re here. In this first post, I’m sharing a video, during which my friend Christy Alia (@realcleverfood on Instagam) and I bake four pizzas from Pizza Night in her favorite Ooni oven: the Koda 16.

To be clear, this post is not sponsored by Ooni. Christy is an Ooni ambassador, which simply means she’s a brand enthusiast. Some of the links are affiliates.

One thing I found challenging about writing Pizza Night was how to handle the topic of cooking pizza in an outdoor oven. I have an Ooni Koda 12. I have a Gozney Dome. I’ve spent time at my aunt’s house using her large wood-burning Fontana oven.

What I’ve learned is that all of these ovens behave a little differently — each takes a different amount of time to heat up, each retains heat differently, each has its hot spots. In other words, these ovens have their quirks, and becoming proficient at cooking pizza in one requires practice — it requires getting to know your oven.

That said, I do have a general process I love. In sum: heat your oven for 45-60 minutes; launch your pizza; then lower the flame and cook your pizza (ideally in the range of 650ºF-750ºF) anywhere from 2.5 to 7 minutes, depending on the style of pizza you are making.

Because I mostly use my Gozney Dome, which I will review at some point here, I thought it would be helpful to enlist others to share their tips and tricks for using their various ovens, staring with Christy, who, as I’ve noted, is a complete pro with the entire line of Ooni ovens, but who particularly loves the Ooni Koda 16. In the video she shares why, and I sum up her thoughts below as well.

Video Key Moments

Should you wish to skip ahead or refer back to any moment:

• 0:54 Why Christy loves the Ooni Koda 16

• 1:24 How to turn on the Ooni Koda 16

• 1:39 Checking the temperature with and infrared thermometer

• 1:57 First pizza: Brussels sprouts and pancetta (Neapolitan-style)

• 2:38 When to make the first turn of your pizza

• 3:43 Removing the Brussels sprouts pizza

• 4:00 Finishing the Brussels sprouts pizza with whipped ricotta and syrupy balsamic

• 4:36 Cleaning the oven with a brush between bakes

• 5:05 Second pizza: caramelized leeks and potato with chive cream (thin-crust dough)

• 5:12 Secret Setting: How to get the flame especially low (Hot Tip 🔥)

• 5:40 How to make the first turn of a larger, more heavily topped pizza (Hot Tip 🔥)

• 7:05 Removing the potato pizza

• 7:53 Third pizza: classic Margherita (Neapolitan-style)

• 8:05 Making the first turn

• 8:29 Removing the Margherita

• 8:58 Fourth pizza: pineapple, bacon, jalapeños (thin-crust dough)

• 9:16 Making the first turn

• 9:37 Removing the pineapple pizza

• 10:17: Sneak peek: The Pizza Sandwich

Notes

• The oven heated for roughly 1 hour before we started.

• We started all of the pizzas at roughly 800ºF, but then lowered the flame to allow the pizzas to cook a little more slowly, which helps create a crisper (but still pliable) crust.

• The Neapolitan-style pizzas (Brussels sprouts, Margherita) cooked in roughly 3 to 4 minutes.

• The thin-crust pizzas (potato-leek, pineapple) cooked in roughly 6 to 7 minutes.

Why Christy Loves the Ooni Koda 16:

• Portability: Easy to cart around.

• Size: Big surface area.

• Ease: Gas-powered makes it easy to control the flame and regulate the temperature.

• Price point: It’s more affordable than some outdoor pizza ovens.

My Thoughts

As I’ve noted, I have a Gozney Dome, which I love, but I do find the Koda 16’s portability appealing. The Koda 16’s cooking area is roughly the same as the Gozney’s — it’s possible that the Gozney Dome’s is slightly bigger, but I have never been able to cook two pizzas at once in my Gozney Dome. It’s simply not big enough. The Gozney Dome has the ability to use wood, which I have done a few times, but honestly, I prefer using gas for ease. Finally, I’d say regulating the flame in the Koda 16 is roughly the same as the Gozney.

Next Week

In next week’s video I’m going to share how to roll out thin-crust pizza dough to ensure the edges are extra-thin and crispy. We’ll top it Rubirosa tie dye-style… stay tuned!

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Questions? Any topic you’d like covered? Shoot! See you next Friday 🍕🍕