Ooni Fyra Review

The only additional drawbacks about the Ooni Fyra 12 are things I could have anticipated and ultimately felt I could live with. Cleaning the oven is a little fussy, for example. After waiting for it to cool entirely and disposing of the ashes, you can wipe the inside down with a dry cloth (no water can be used) and, as the company writes on their website, scrape off stubborn bits of food or debris from the cooking surface with a pizza brush. I needed to use a fish spatula and some elbow grease to really clean the baking stone, though by flipping it for the next cook (as recommended), I did find that the high heat helped burn any straggling bits off.

Fyra 12 should be avoided by cooks who wish to bake pies for large gatherings. This oven is best for small groups. Even then, the oven could not reach temperatures higher than 500 F due to the huge amount of ash that had built up after three to four pies. The result? It took longer to make pizzas and they didn't turn out the right texture.

I only have two complaints about the overall design: The peephole in the door, there to let you check on a cooking pie without letting out heat, is too tiny to actually see through. And the fire box in the back is also too small, so it's difficult to maintain a consistent flame.

It was a real bummer that my Ooni arrived with plans to make pizza that same day. However, I discovered that I didn’t have the right materials. Ooni will not ship a pizza peel, so be sure to choose a model that's thin and narrow enough to fit your pizza. I really liked this one. While you could probably use a wood peel to make it work, I found I needed the thinness in metal to be able to maneuver.

With this done, the following evening we were ready to get cooking! My husband made a big batch of pizza dough and we turned our garden table into a pizza making space. We've regularly made our own pizzas before (although we usually have to cook them in indoors in our main oven), so we know that the best trick is to keep the base nice and thin and not overload the pizza with toppings if you want to get that lovely crispy finish.

The Fyra 12 requires little effort to light. Just load the hopper with pellets. Next, use the fire starter to add more pellets. Finally, enjoy a cold beer while you relax. It also heats up fairly quickly. The Fyra 12 takes approximately 15 minutes to heat up to the perfect temperature (900 to 950 F Fahrenheit) depending on weather conditions. Neapolitan-style pizzas will require your oven to reach 950-1,100 degrees.

We've used it in all weathers too: during the height of summer in beautiful weather, on rainy Saturday evenings when we just wanted a treat, and even in winter when cooking under the glow of fairy lights meant it was just as much fun as in summer. Keep reading to see how we got on...

The Fyra is equipped with a door like the Ooni 3 (and Ooni Karu) to retain heat. Its glass-reinforced handle keeps it cool, even when it gets hot. The door does not get in the way when it is open. Instead, it can be left hanging at the bottom of your opening so that you can slide your pizza in.

There is the option of buying an Ooni infrared thermometer if you want to be 100 per cent sure of when it's up to temperature, but although this might be a good gadget to have, I don't feel it's essential for you to enjoy cooking pizzas in the oven. After a couple of times using the oven, I was able to have a good idea of when it was hot enough.

We've used the recipe in all seasons: on sunny Saturdays in great weather, during rainy Saturdays when we just want a treat, and even in winter where it was just the same fun to cook under the light of fairy lights. Read on to see how we got along...

First, remove the main body from its box. Then, open the legs that support the main part. You then insert the grate before you place your pizza stone in its base. The main chimney (the larger, higher section at its front) is then inserted and locked into place. Next, the fuel hopper (the smaller, back-facing cylinder) is inserted. Finally, you can close the door with the chimney cap.

To cook with the Ooni Fyra pizza oven, you must set it up outdoors on a flat surface light the fire starter and slide the tray back into the body of the oven. This will be the base of your fire. After it’s blazing (15-ish minutes, you can peek through a peephole at the front of the oven to check), you’ll add more fuel to the pellet hopper to keep a constant flow of fuel feeding down into the fire. A hopper full of pellets lasts about 15 minutes, and you must constantly replenish it if you want the fire to stay strong. Forget about it for too long and the temperature will drop, which cannot be fixed by simply adding more pellets.