Last summer, one of my friends told me that I should look into getting a pizza oven for my Bow river camp. I said, "no way that'll be too much work." He replied, "I bet it will be a lot easier than what you're doing now." I gave it some thought and figured it was worth looking into. Coming up with amazing meals in a timely fashion with only Yeti coolers for refrigeration isn't hard for me, but it can be time-consuming and requires a lot of preplanning. Add onto that; I've likely been on the water all day, I'm tired, hungry, it's more than likely dark and I want to get back to the guests instead of being in the cook tent.

I did a little research and consulted in a couple of childhood friends that I knew had an oven. They had me over for dinner one PM during Xmas holidays and I decided that I would pull the trigger on an "Ooni Koda." I wanted to get all the kinks worked out before the guiding season came around, so I've been eating a lot of pizza. I have a straightforward, quick dough recipe that I've been using, but many folks are urging me towards some of the slow ferment in the fridge doughs. I think they may be the way to go for the camp situation, so In will likely start working on them soon. My oven runs on propane and requires no power. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but it is fun and even your failures are better than a lot of storebought pizzas in the west. Due to the Coronavirus deal, my spring spey camps have been cancelled, but I am hoping to be fine for the summer months and I look forward to cooking some pizzas during my overnight trips. My dough routine is pretty simple and quick. from the time I decide I want pizza till I’m eating fresh dough is less than 11/2 hours and does not use much of that time so I can multitask as well.

This recipe makes 4 balls of dough that will make 12-13’ pizzas. iTs a soft chewy dough which i quite like.

1 cup of hot water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup 00 flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

Turn your home oven on 350'. In a Ceramic or glass bowl, add one cup of the hottest water that comes out of your tap. It needs to be ceramic, or glass as the heat of the water warms the bowl and cools the water to where its optimal yeast growing temp. Let the bowl heat/water cool for a minute. Add one teaspoon of sugar and one teaspoon of instant yeast. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes till the yeast froths up a bit. Now add 1 cup of all-purpose, 1 cup of 00 flour and one teaspoon of salt (original recipe calls for 2 cups of all-purpose flour and it’s great too) stir with a wooden spoon till it is in a ball and move it to the floured countertop. It'll be a little wet at this time so don't be shy with the flour to keep it from sticking. Knead it 125 times. Lots of recipes say "knead for 5 mins" well, for me, I am a fast kneader, so it might be a brick before 5 mins are up. I've found 125 makes it good and smooth. Turn off the oven and put the bowl inside covered with a tea towel for 45 mins. After 45 mins, it should be doubleish in size, soft and a little sticky. Remove and cut into 4 and create dough balls. Put balls separated on a plate and cover with saran wrap. Let it sit on the stove for 20ish minutes while you prepare your toppings. You now want to fire up the Ooni as well, so it'll be ready right around the time you are done messing with your toppings. Stretch your dough and make your pizzas I highly highly recommend this product. I can’t wait to serve some to my guests.

OONI Pizza oven review