# Pepperoni pizza I made



## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

Ooni Koda oven dough was

First Street high gluten flour 58% hydration
20% Sourdough starter
2.7% salt
2% olive oil
2% sugar
.18g IDY
2 day cold fermentation
Stanislaus 7/11 Ground Tomatoes No. 10
Dietz & Watson Pepperoni stick sliced 2mm thick in my Breville Sous Chef food processor.
Galbani  WMLM Mozarella
a tiny amount of Tillimook extra sharp cheddar
Boars Head Parmesan Reggiano

Baked it at 650-700f'ish for 5 1/2 minutes.  I can't get my Koda to stay at a constant lower temp so I had to keep fiddling with the gas valve. Pre heated at high temp until the stone was 750f, then turned it down. I was going for a NY style thinner pie, I didn't stretch it out enough so it has a much bigger crust than I typically make. It was pretty small, about 11.5 inches when it came out. Or as I like to call it a "personal pizza" I should be ashamed to admit this, but I ate it all in 2 sittings.  Really 1, but I but I took a small break to go throw a load of laundry in. I finished it when I got back, but since I got up I technically didn't eat it all in 1 sitting lol. Forgot to get a pic of the bottom, it was pretty dark, had a little bit of crispiness to it, but was still foldable.   That Pepperoni's FANTASTIC!  It's in Albertson's & Vons in So Cal, elsewhere Safeway should have it.  I like the Boar's Head a little better, but this is really really good tasting, and close to half the price.  Only thing I dislike,  Albertsons, for whatever reason even though it's sealed, they won't slice it for me - which sucks.  If I had to do it with a knife I wouldn't lol, would have slices of all thicknesses. But my Breville can turn a stick into perfect thickness slices in about 2.5 seconds, amazing machine indeed. I know there are pre sliced bags of this, but my store doesn't carry them and doesn't know anything about them.  I love how they cup up, and I love the lil' pools of grease in them for the extra flavor. Sometimes when the pizza comes out I'll tilt it a few times to get the grease to slosh out onto the cheese. Which absorbs it and it's even better tasting lol.  After putting the sauce on I put some extra finely grated Parmesan Reggiano. Then usually a small amount more on the top after it comes out the oven.  I also finished the pizza with a few good drizzles of Mike's Hot Honey. The crust was light with more air than dough, which apparently's a good thing according to some Pizzaolio's I've spoken with. Either way it's how I like my pizza, when I make one with a crust.

This wasn't close to my best looking or tasting pizza, but it was still better than any of the local spots.  If you like sweet with some heat, Mike's Hot Honey is one of the best pizza additions out there.  It might sound odd to put on a pizza, but holy moly I'm going to start buying it by the gallon now lol.  It's good on a ton of things.


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## indaswamp (Mar 25, 2021)

Very Nice!


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## forktender (Mar 25, 2021)

That cornicione shot is the money shot nice work.


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## SmokinAl (Mar 25, 2021)

That’s a fine looking pizza, and that crust is awesome!!!
Al


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## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

forktender said:


> That cornicione shot is the money shot nice work.



I can never remember that word, let alone how to spell it lol.


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## JLeonard (Mar 25, 2021)

Nice looking pizza! Definitely personal sized.
Jim


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## JC in GB (Mar 25, 2021)

*Nice looking pie.  Do you have some pics of your oven?*

*JC   *


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## smokerjim (Mar 25, 2021)

Looks good


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## Steve H (Mar 25, 2021)

Looks awesome! And I'm saving the recipe. Making dough for mine as I type.


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## Brokenhandle (Mar 25, 2021)

Looks delicious! Great job!

Ryan


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## SmokingUPnorth (Mar 25, 2021)

Man that looks good!


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## zwiller (Mar 25, 2021)

OMG KILLER!  

Hang around a little more you'll be making your own pepperoni.  Lucky for me I am sausage guy so it's easier   I saw on the other thread about dialing the oven down. A few guys use needle valves on the smoker and bet it would work on the oven too.


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## R Blum (Mar 25, 2021)

I liked the cupped pepperoni. I tried all kinds of pepperoni and mine never cups. Maybe I cut it to thin.


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## Bearcarver (Mar 25, 2021)

Looks Mighty Tasty from the Bear's Den!!
Like.

Bear


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## SmokinVOLfan (Mar 25, 2021)

Great looking pizza!


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## Steve H (Mar 25, 2021)

Just got mine fired up to burn off any oils or such. And played with the temps. I have no problems adjusting the temps down to 475. But that might be a different story with a pizza in it. We shall see.  What size Koda do you have?


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## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

JC in GB said:


> *Nice looking pie.  Do you have some pics of your oven?
> 
> JC  *



I have 1 pic, not directly of my oven just my setup.  Dunno why I haven't taken some more shots.  This is my Keter cart when I was done assembling it, and before I cleaned up my mess. When I get my smoker I'll take the Koda off and it will become my BBQ prep table.  It's a pretty decent cart, the top fits my Koda and leaves me enough room to prep the pizzas before I launch.










zwiller said:


> OMG KILLER!
> 
> Hang around a little more you'll be making your own pepperoni.  Lucky for me I am sausage guy so it's easier   I saw on the other thread about dialing the oven down. A few guys use needle valves on the smoker and bet it would work on the oven too.



I think the natural progression from me getting a smoker will be to get a meat grinder and learn how to make sausages.  But I don't see how I could possibly make Pepperoni that's better than Dietz or Boars Head.   And honestly I wouldn't want to if I could, as it is I have a near impossible time not eating way too much.  Sometimes I think I need to buy more of the Bridgeford sticks from Walmart, it has an unusual spice in it I can't identify. It's not terrible but is the 1st Pepperoni I've bought where I can resist eating it. I save a few slices to a 5 year old and they frowned up lol.  But it would be fun to make my own just to see.



Steve H said:


> Just got mine fired up to burn off any oils or such. And played with the temps. I have no problems adjusting the temps down to 475. But that might be a different story with a pizza in it. We shall see.  What size Koda do you have?
> 
> View attachment 490546



Regular Koda, the stone's 13.3" but most people refer to it as the Koda 12.  I typically make 10-11" pies. Neapolitans are generally smaller anyways. You'd have to be some sort of wizard to make a 13" pizza, at least make it and have the crust not burnt to a crisp.  When I bought it the 16 was just coming out.  I kind of wish I had got it instead, but oh well.  I couldn't imagine trying to make a 15-16" Neo in yours. But with dialed in lower temps I'd LOVE to make NY's in it.  One day I want to get an oven that's capable of making a true 18" NY pizza.  There's nothing like a biiiig slice from an 18"




R Blum said:


> I liked the cupped pepperoni. I tried all kinds of pepperoni and mine never cups. Maybe I cut it to thin.



Thickness does matter somewhat I think, but I've bought other sticks and cut them 2mm and they didn't cup. And I've had thinner ones cup. Brand matters, some people say it has to do with the casing they use.  A thin like .5mm pepperoni that cups is great. They can get a crunch to them that's fantastic. Sometimes I go up to 3mm.    Walmart sells the Margherita brand, it's really delicious, not expensive at all and cups.  Out here they have sticks and bags of pretty thick pre sliced. Last time I checked it was $4.50'ish a pound, which for good Pepperoni is dirt cheap.  For comparison Boars Head's like $7 for a 6.5oz stick. It's good, and if you only make 1 pizza here and there it's not a lot extra. But I typically make 4-8 at once so I can't afford it lol. Dietz & Watson is $6 for 2 6oz sticks.   I recently just tried the Hormel cup & char, was awesome but super expensive.


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## Steve H (Mar 25, 2021)

I'm starting small at first. Around 12" pies for tonight.  I'm hoping they come out.


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## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

Steve H said:


> I'm starting small at first. Around 12" pies for tonight.  I'm hoping they come out.



Bigger gets harder real fast. The 1st 12 I tried gave me issues, and before that I was launching 10&11's like I'd been making pizzas for years. When I tried a 13 and a 14" in my home oven it was even more difficult.  I made this 16" in my kitchen oven, wanted to do an 18 but yeah it wouldn't fit. The only reason it came out round and didn't fall apart was I built it on the screen so I didn't have to launch it.  This was way before I got my Koda. The crust looks bad no color at all, but the pizza was pretty good.

With my Koda was also hard to adjust to the tiny opening, on my oven when I'd make a mistake I had room to work to fix it.  In the Koda a bad launch and you might be left with an unintentional weird calzone looking creation. I will say as someone who's not a baker and doesn't work with dough things, I adjusted after a few nights of making em.  Now I don't even need to put cornmeal or Semolina on the peel.  But I'm only launching 12 or smaller. If I was doing 14+ I dunno but I'd be struggling more I'm sure.








Word of caution be CAREFUL which neighbors you make pizzas for, if any. I had "friends" who I spoke to maybe here and there, after giving them 1 pizza every time I saw them "so when are you making more pizzas?"   You will become a hit, it's crazy how easy it is to make pizzas that are good. 3 nights in I made one for a friend who grew up in NY and he said "this tastes like a pizza I use to get 40 years ago in NY, this is better than anything out here" And I was still trying to figure out things lol. He harasses me to make more a lot.  I ran into him a few nights ago and told him I have a Smoker being delivered and when I make Brisket I'll bring him some. He was happy and said he'd love it. He did mention he still loves and would always be good with me bringing more pizza lol. I'm assuming making good BBQ for neighbors would get the same results as pizza. People love both.

it also doesn't hurt when people are typically eating Pizza Hut and other chains, of course your homemade pizza will blow them away. If I lived in NY it would be a different story, but there's not great pizza around here. So I'm a pizza god in the eyes of my neighbors lol. The Koda produces no smell so nobody knows I'm making pizza unless I tell them. My Masterbuilt will have people dropping by because you can't hide the smell of a smoker.


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## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

Steve H said:


> Looks awesome! And I'm saving the recipe. Making dough for mine as I type.



If you're not using starter and doing NY it should work well enough. Flour to flour can make a big difference in hydration levels though.  I use PizzaApp on my iPhone to figure out my dough, there's an Android version. The best dough calculators on a phone I've tried.  Also this web site's dough calculator has given me some great dough.  I don't understand the science'y side of making pizzas enough to come up with my own calculations, and I don't understand dough thickness and how to figure it out. Luckly math geeks have  made all sorts of web sites that figure this all out for you. The last batch I made with the calculator below this is what they told me.

"the pizza was better than Little Ceasers!"  The person it came from, that was a shining compliment lol.

https://www.mightypizzastone.com/2017/02/04/pizza-and-bread-dough-recipe-creator/


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## Steve H (Mar 25, 2021)

Bigheaded said:


> If you're not using starter and doing NY it should work well enough. Flour to flour can make a big difference in hydration levels though.  I use PizzaApp on my iPhone to figure out my dough, there's an Android version. The best dough calculators on a phone I've tried.  Also this web site's dough calculator has given me some great dough.  I don't understand the science'y side of making pizzas enough to come up with my own calculations, and I don't understand dough thickness and how to figure it out. Luckly math geeks have  made all sorts of web sites that figure this all out for you. The last batch I made with the calculator below this is what they told me.
> 
> "the pizza was better than Little Ceasers!"  The person it came from, that was a shining compliment lol.
> 
> https://www.mightypizzastone.com/2017/02/04/pizza-and-bread-dough-recipe-creator/



Better then Little Ceasers...high praise there! Thanks for the app. Downloading now.


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## Bigheaded (Mar 25, 2021)

Steve H said:


> Better then Little Ceasers...high praise there! Thanks for the app. Downloading now.



The app's a bit confusing to me, but if you plan to do RT & CT you have to go into the settings and enable CT. I always do a day + in the fridge so I have to go in and enable it every time.  Might not be like this on Android I dunno.  The app has always given me outstanding dough, seems to be the best when it comes to using starter too.


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