I never swear so much as when I try to use my pizza peel

God*ammit! I am so annoyed! How in the world do I get this thing to work, so that my pizza and its toppings do not go flying all over the stone and the bottom of my oven? I must have said every swear word in the book last night, multiple times, b/c this happens EVERY TIME I try to use the lovely wooden peel that I have. Grrrrrrrr

I have already tried:
cornmeal
flour
very quick jerk forward and then back
very small, light-wieght pizzas

I have resorted to:
putting the hot stone on the stove, and quickly assembling my pizza. This is fine, but I wanna use the peel, for cryin' out loud!

Any ideas??

I use a very thin cookie sheet as a pizza peel, but I get around all those problems by cooking the pizza on parchment paper. Naysayers be damned, it works just fine. I put parchment over the cookie sheet, put pizza on parchment, cut the parchment to fit, and then slide it onto the stone.


-ed

messycook wrote:How in the world do I get this thing to work

Is your peel seasoned?

HI,

When you used cornmeal, did you use enough? There should be enough below they are like ballbearings allowing the pizza to slide around.

Though I really like the parchment paper suggestion, I would likely use cornmeal underneath it also to keep from sticking.

Ed - are you greasing or doing anything to the parchement before laying the dough on it?

"Is your peel seasoned?"

Wellllll.....I didn't want to oil it b/c I thought it would become tacky. It's been seasoned by all the stuff that has stuck to it, does that count?

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

When you used cornmeal, did you use enough? There should be enough below they are like ballbearings allowing the pizza to slide around.

Yes, I used a ton of it. So much that the pizza was, well, corny.

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

When you used cornmeal, did you use enough? There should be enough below they are like ballbearings allowing the pizza to slide around.

Though I really like the parchment paper suggestion, I would likely use cornmeal underneath it also to keep from sticking.

Ed - are you greasing or doing anything to the parchement before laying the dough on it?

not a thing... straight out of the roll onto a dry cookie sheet. the cookie sheet has no lip and is very thin, maybe 1/8". it's very, very easy, slides off like a dream.

again, the parchment stays under the pizza the entire time it's cooking.. it doesn't burn or smoke, but it does char and sometimes flake off due to the heat when you remove it. it's very easy to remove the pizza from the parchment afterwards, and none of it sticks.

i set the oven to broil with the stone in, and let it sit while the oven comes up to heat, and then slide the pizza in. when I do it right, it's great, great pizza.

-ed

Hey messycook,

I solved the same problem by making my pizza dough stiffer (less wet) so it wouldn't stick to the peel.

(OK full cheapskate disclosure, I cut up the cardboard box my pizza stone came in and use that as the peel - it works pretty good for the price and the flaps catch all the excess cornmeal as the pizza slides onto the stone)

Gleam, so you cook your pizza at 'broil' temperature? For how long? I usually prehead the oven / stone to 450 and cook the pizza for about 15 minutes. This crisps the dough, but somewhat burns the cheese on top - any more experienced pizza chef have better recommendations for time and temp?

Anyway messycook, hope that helps with your sliding problem.

vegmojo

use one of these bad boys:



and for chicago style pizza, use one of these:

messycook wrote:"Is your peel seasoned?"

Wellllll.....I didn't want to oil it b/c I thought it would become tacky. It's been seasoned by all the stuff that has stuck to it, does that count?

Mineral oil and most food oils don't dry and can become tacky ... nut oils tend to dry well (hence the use of tung oil - from the Chinese tung nut - used in finishing fine furniture). I put a coat or two of walnut oil on all my wooden utensils (letting each coat dry overnight), and they perform well. Try it on your peel.

I agree with vegmojo. Your dough is too sticky. As you are stretching out the dough, use a dusting of flour, a little at at time, and flip the dough over several times until it doesn't stick. Shake the peel back and forth when adding the toppings to make sure the dough isn't sticking. If it isn't sliding easily before it goes in the oven, it will stick to peel in the oven. Don't let the pizza sit on the peel any longer than necessary.

Neapolitan-style (DOC) pizza dough has a very high moisture content and will be sticky and will stick unless you coat the surface with just enough (not too much) flour. It takes some practice to get the right amount.

There is a device called the SuperPeel sold by KA which works very well, but it is a crutch. I no longer use mine.

This may be obvious, but I've found that when I slide the dough off the peel I only really need to get a little bit off of the lip of the peel. When the dough touches the hot stones it gets some grip/traction. Then I can tilt the back end of the peel up a bit and carefully slide the dough fully onto the stone. A liberal dose of cornmeal does help. I've found this careful technique much easier to master than an aggressive jerking motion. Much like "tossing" the dough, the latter technique probably reaches perfection if you're making 20+ pizzas a day, but I don't think it's a successful route for the novice.

Buon natale!

rien

nr706 wrote:

messycook wrote:How in the world do I get this thing to work

Is your peel seasoned?

Now THERE is an invite for another Emma Peel thread, but I won't go there.

vegmojo wrote:Gleam, so you cook your pizza at 'broil' temperature? For how long? I usually prehead the oven / stone to 450 and cook the pizza for about 15 minutes. This crisps the dough, but somewhat burns the cheese on top - any more experienced pizza chef have better recommendations for time and temp?

the broil temp gets the stone very hot, I'd guess 550-600. this means the crust crisps up at about the same time the cheese browns. I also roll the dough very thin, which helps crisp the dough faster.

One technique that may slow down burning/browning of the cheese is to use chunks rather than grating or slicing it. I'll take a knob of mozzarella or scamorza and tear off pieces that are about 1.5" long and .5" thick/deep. The cheese takes a little longer to melt this way, but it does melt fully and brown nicely.

if you're using an especially yeasty dough, or one prone to rising and bubbling in the oven, prick the dough with a fork after stretching/rolling it out, and the bubbles that do come up won't be as big.

-ed

gleam wrote:if you're using an especially yeasty dough, or one prone to rising and bubbling in the oven, prick the dough with a fork after stretching/rolling it out, and the bubbles that do come up won't be as big.
-ed

Oh noooo! I think the bubbles are the best part!

Bill/SFNM wrote:

gleam wrote:if you're using an especially yeasty dough, or one prone to rising and bubbling in the oven, prick the dough with a fork after stretching/rolling it out, and the bubbles that do come up won't be as big.
-ed

Oh noooo! I think the bubbles are the best part!

Hah.

You still get bubbles, they just aren't 3" in diameter and 2" high. Which sends sauce and cheese and toppings flowing to other parts of the pizza. A lot of pizza makers I've seen will peek in on the pizza every now and then and poke the bubbles with a skewer as they rise, also, which works fine.

Big bubbles (3" x 2") are still good. I use a brick oven in which the dome radiates heat down onto the top of the pizza. In the 750F temperature the sauce and cheese fuse to the bubbles (we don't use no stinkin toppings).

Each of my 18" pizzas has one or two big bubbles and those are the first slices to be eaten!

I do have one of those bubble popping wands that is gathering dust.

Bill/SFNM wrote:Big bubbles (3" x 2") are still good. I use a brick oven in which the dome radiates heat down onto the top of the pizza. In the 750F temperature the sauce and cheese fuse to the bubbles (we don't use no stinkin toppings).

Each of my 18" pizzas has one or two big bubbles and those are the first slices to be eaten!

I do have one of those bubble popping wands that is gathering dust.

Perhaps that's the secret.. super-high heat gluing the cheese/sauce to the bubbles.

The problem I have with the big bubbles (and the sauce running off them) is that the pooled sauce is extremely hot, which kind of ruins the rest of the pizza if you get squirted. Note that I have never let a pizza cool as much as it needs.

-ed

The problem may also be too much topping. If the pizza gets too heavy, it isn't going to slide. Semolina also makes a good alternative to cornmeal for dusting the peel and avoids the "corny" problem. I've got a pizza screen that works pretty well for heavier pizzas.

rien wrote:This may be obvious, but I've found that when I slide the dough off the peel I only really need to get a little bit off of the lip of the peel.

Okay, I like this idea best, though all of them have been helpful. Thanks everyone!

PS. I love the bubbles. Going to NYC next week, can't wait for those foldable, bubbled slices!

Well, I have a cheater's technique that works incredibly well...

I preheat the stone at 500 for 30 min while rolling out the dough and preparing the sauce and toppings. Once I have the dough rolled out I pull out the stone with my peel and put it on top of the stove. I apply a dusting of cornmeal and then I fold my dough in half and then in half again. I then pick it up and put it on the proper corner of the stone and unfold it, spread it out, poke it with a fork and brush with olive oil. After a few minutes I take it off the stone with the peel, put the stone bak in the oven. apply sauce, cheese and toppings and then put is back in the oven on the stone to finish it off.

IMHO the downfall of most pizzas are underdone soggy crusts. Doing a short pre-bake solves the problem.