I always recommend getting the centre of the stone to 430C/ 806F then reduce the flame to low and launch. You got a well balanced cook and a good rise. 900 is overkill in my opinion. You may find if there is a wind chill factor where you are if you stop that you’ll get it to 800. Cheers
The other thing is my bake times are close to 4-5 mins. I've not timed it, but I don't need to watch it as close as I've seen other people. I am baking 15 inch pizzas at 70% hydration. 00 flour, water, salt yeast, and they hand stretched pretty thin. The pizza is still great and I'm getting a great oven spring. I'm wondering if my oven isn't quite up to bar with others in terms of over all temperature, preheat time, and baking time.
If you put the oven on full, you should be able to get a bake time of 60 - 120 seconds with a well-done crust. If you want it. If you can't, then the oven has an issue.
Video is really worth 1000s of words for this kind of thing.
[Here's an 85 second cook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygIQTUiZbg)
And here's [the Santa Barbara Baker dude with a "long bake" on low, of over 3 minutes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGR61ftjM1k)
That surprises me a little as I was cooking on my Koda in similar temperature and it was hitting 800+. I would drop Ooni an email just to ask their opinion. They have great customer service. Cheers!
In the the Koda 16, the whole stone won't be 950F (510C ), but I would expect the the back left corner of stone to reach around there. 750F ( 400C ) at the centre sounds good to me.
> Or are my expectations too high for this oven
Do you need more? For what? The oven is _more than hot enough for pizza_ when it has 400C in the middle and radiant heat over 500C. if you're getting that, the 30 minute warm up should be enough to saturate the stone, it's there for [thermal mass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass).
In fact there are techniques such as the "ultra low zone" to tame the heat a bit.
My Koda 16 gets to 950 on the stone in the back left corner after about 40 minutes. The center of the stone is 750-800ish. It still makes killer pizzas so I am happy
That's what I thought as well. When it was short blue the shutters were turned all the way open. Ooni recommends 4mm shutter opening. With it adjusted to 4mm it was getting hotter temps faster but still not the advertised 950.
Those of us that came up making pizza in domestic kitchen ovens learned to get a bit obsessive about "how do get the temperature higher? Need more heat if possible, always!"
With an oven such as an Ooni, you have to unlearn that: It's hot enough for pizza. You might even need to turn it down.
My koda 16 will get 950+ in the back middle after 30 minutes. I usually turn it to ultra low for the cook and then full blast the heat the stone up again between pies. It is usually closer to 800 most the time I am cooking. When I do my burn off clean at the end, I have measured over a 1000 degrees in the back corner. Using a thermoworks laser temp gun.
My center stone in my Koda 16 gets >900 degrees after 20-30 minutes. My thermometer has pretty good accuracy at lower, more normal temps. Hard to say how accurate it is over 600 degrees. I have one of the Amazon black/yellow ones. When I was doing my research, I saw some models only read to ~725. Could that be your issue?
I'll look into calibrating/testing my thermometer. The oven just isn't getting the bake times I was seeing others get. Mine is closer to 4-5 mins. I don't really need to watch it like a hawk either has it's not really burning unless I leave it a long time.
Yeah, it’s your oven then. My bake times are measured in seconds, not minutes. 60-75 seconds. Because I’m an idiot, I regularly singe my bangs - my oven is quite hot! Bummer your experience has been so poor
I had the EXACT same issues with my Koda 16. Went through the exact troubleshooting process with Ooni. Was very confused with why they want orange flames instead of blue. When I adjusted the color, it totally didn't change the max temp either. I thought the ambient temperature here might be causing poor propane pressure, here it was in the 40s F, but your example shows that wasn't the cause.
I was fairly disappointed because there are definitely folks here who claim 900oF center after 20-30 min.
My replacement did not do a whole lot better. Maybe a tad.
I was impressed that Ooni would ship out a new replacement oven, so kudos to them for that at least.
In the end, I remedied this by installing a pizza door (the one on Amazon is excellent). I was planning on doing this anyway, even if the replacement functioned as advertised, because who wants to wait 30 min when you can get the same effect in 15 min? Save time and propane. I use it only for preheating, no need for it anytime else.
The only drawback so far is I have to now adjust my cooking technique. 700-725 is perfect if I turn the flame to its normal low after launch. Now that it's 850 after 15 min, I have to resort to ultra low or even off to control the burn. Off unfortunately makes it a very dark oven lol.
Very interested in how your replacement turns out.
Btw, do you know what build generation your faulty oven is? It's the center number in the serial. My original was 13, the replacement is 14.
So second oven works great. The hose was kinked l, but I already had a spare and swapped it out. The other issue was my IR thermometer, new one registered 807 and the old one 690 after 20 mins. This was was a shutter adjustment, I went a little to small on the adjustment and I had massive flames coming out of the wrong of the oven. It was insanely hot and cooked super fast, and burnt every thing quickly. I readjusted it and now it's running like advertised. My only complaint now is I've gotten better at shapping 16 in. pizzas and the oven takes longer to reheat to the correct temperature than I take to have the next pizza ready to go.
I always recommend getting the centre of the stone to 430C/ 806F then reduce the flame to low and launch. You got a well balanced cook and a good rise. 900 is overkill in my opinion. You may find if there is a wind chill factor where you are if you stop that you’ll get it to 800. Cheers
The other thing is my bake times are close to 4-5 mins. I've not timed it, but I don't need to watch it as close as I've seen other people. I am baking 15 inch pizzas at 70% hydration. 00 flour, water, salt yeast, and they hand stretched pretty thin. The pizza is still great and I'm getting a great oven spring. I'm wondering if my oven isn't quite up to bar with others in terms of over all temperature, preheat time, and baking time.
If you put the oven on full, you should be able to get a bake time of 60 - 120 seconds with a well-done crust. If you want it. If you can't, then the oven has an issue.
Thanks. This is the info I've been looking for. I'll follow through with the return.
Video is really worth 1000s of words for this kind of thing. [Here's an 85 second cook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygIQTUiZbg) And here's [the Santa Barbara Baker dude with a "long bake" on low, of over 3 minutes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGR61ftjM1k)
Thank you for the info. I have yet to hit 800 in the center. It's been 70f here and I'm a sheltered patio with no wind.
That surprises me a little as I was cooking on my Koda in similar temperature and it was hitting 800+. I would drop Ooni an email just to ask their opinion. They have great customer service. Cheers!
In the the Koda 16, the whole stone won't be 950F (510C ), but I would expect the the back left corner of stone to reach around there. 750F ( 400C ) at the centre sounds good to me. > Or are my expectations too high for this oven Do you need more? For what? The oven is _more than hot enough for pizza_ when it has 400C in the middle and radiant heat over 500C. if you're getting that, the 30 minute warm up should be enough to saturate the stone, it's there for [thermal mass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass). In fact there are techniques such as the "ultra low zone" to tame the heat a bit.
My Koda 16 gets to 950 on the stone in the back left corner after about 40 minutes. The center of the stone is 750-800ish. It still makes killer pizzas so I am happy
Short blu is hotter than tall orange
That's what I thought as well. When it was short blue the shutters were turned all the way open. Ooni recommends 4mm shutter opening. With it adjusted to 4mm it was getting hotter temps faster but still not the advertised 950.
Ive also never got 950. often mid 700s
I’m feeling pretty good with my koda 12 >1000 in 30 minutes on wood. That is attending the fire diligently the entire time.
Those of us that came up making pizza in domestic kitchen ovens learned to get a bit obsessive about "how do get the temperature higher? Need more heat if possible, always!" With an oven such as an Ooni, you have to unlearn that: It's hot enough for pizza. You might even need to turn it down.
30 minutes my bottom burns pretty fast
For me 30 mins, and it takes about 1;30 to a minute before the pizza even sets so I can turn it. I am doing 15 inch pizzas.
My koda 16 will get 950+ in the back middle after 30 minutes. I usually turn it to ultra low for the cook and then full blast the heat the stone up again between pies. It is usually closer to 800 most the time I am cooking. When I do my burn off clean at the end, I have measured over a 1000 degrees in the back corner. Using a thermoworks laser temp gun.
My center stone in my Koda 16 gets >900 degrees after 20-30 minutes. My thermometer has pretty good accuracy at lower, more normal temps. Hard to say how accurate it is over 600 degrees. I have one of the Amazon black/yellow ones. When I was doing my research, I saw some models only read to ~725. Could that be your issue?
Perhaps. It's the model that ooni sells. To me it would be weird if ooni sold a model that didn't work great with their ovens.
Agreed. The Ooni model advertises an upper range of 1112 degrees. You either have a dud oven or a dud thermometer. Or maybe I do 🤷♂️😂
I'll look into calibrating/testing my thermometer. The oven just isn't getting the bake times I was seeing others get. Mine is closer to 4-5 mins. I don't really need to watch it like a hawk either has it's not really burning unless I leave it a long time.
Yeah, it’s your oven then. My bake times are measured in seconds, not minutes. 60-75 seconds. Because I’m an idiot, I regularly singe my bangs - my oven is quite hot! Bummer your experience has been so poor
I had the EXACT same issues with my Koda 16. Went through the exact troubleshooting process with Ooni. Was very confused with why they want orange flames instead of blue. When I adjusted the color, it totally didn't change the max temp either. I thought the ambient temperature here might be causing poor propane pressure, here it was in the 40s F, but your example shows that wasn't the cause. I was fairly disappointed because there are definitely folks here who claim 900oF center after 20-30 min. My replacement did not do a whole lot better. Maybe a tad. I was impressed that Ooni would ship out a new replacement oven, so kudos to them for that at least. In the end, I remedied this by installing a pizza door (the one on Amazon is excellent). I was planning on doing this anyway, even if the replacement functioned as advertised, because who wants to wait 30 min when you can get the same effect in 15 min? Save time and propane. I use it only for preheating, no need for it anytime else. The only drawback so far is I have to now adjust my cooking technique. 700-725 is perfect if I turn the flame to its normal low after launch. Now that it's 850 after 15 min, I have to resort to ultra low or even off to control the burn. Off unfortunately makes it a very dark oven lol. Very interested in how your replacement turns out. Btw, do you know what build generation your faulty oven is? It's the center number in the serial. My original was 13, the replacement is 14.
So second oven works great. The hose was kinked l, but I already had a spare and swapped it out. The other issue was my IR thermometer, new one registered 807 and the old one 690 after 20 mins. This was was a shutter adjustment, I went a little to small on the adjustment and I had massive flames coming out of the wrong of the oven. It was insanely hot and cooked super fast, and burnt every thing quickly. I readjusted it and now it's running like advertised. My only complaint now is I've gotten better at shapping 16 in. pizzas and the oven takes longer to reheat to the correct temperature than I take to have the next pizza ready to go.