Do you have a pizza peel?

[BMalion]

@Athena

I have two of 'em, both wooden.

My advice is to not get him one, but two, unless you’re never ever ever going to make more than one pizza. The thing is, you need the peel to get the pizza into AND out of the oven.

I’ve found that when you make a pizza, you want to assemble it on the peel, as doughy soft heavy wet pizzas are hard to transfer from the counter to the peel. So unless you have two peels or are MUCH better at the transfer from counter to peel than I am, you want one peel with the next pizza on it, ready to go into the oven, and the other peel available to take the pizza in the oven out.

And I guess I should ask… does anyone here NOT assemble their pizza on the peel? Is there a transfer technique I’m not aware of that works well?

Word.

Must be wood, and cook on a stone. You can buy those cheap at grocery stores and just leave them in the oven. I’ve had mine in for over 10 years.

I cooked pizza professioanly for 15 ears and I cannot stress enough the basics.

Make your own crust.

Use fresh ingredients

Pre-heat your oven

Wooden peel

Use a baking stone

Enjoy!

I’m making pizza tonight.

[Athena]

@Turble

I suggest that when you bake a pizza on a stone some of the heat in the stone is transferred to the pizza and the stone is then at a lower than optimal temperature for baking another pizza … and you should, therefore, wait a while for the stone to come back up to temperature … and that not doing so will produce inconsistent results.

I’ll grant that homemade pizza will still likely be better than chain store pizza if you don’t reheat the stone, but it will be even better if you do.

I disagree.

I let my stone heat up for 45 minutes to an hour before putting the first pizza on it. It’s incredibly hot at that point. The pizza dough is at room temperature when it gets put on the stone. The oven is running at full blast. The amount of cooling that could happen is minuscule; I’ve never even once seen a difference between the first, second, third, or fourth pizzas I’ve cooked on the same stone without much time if any in between.

For what it’s worth, I have big, heavy pizza stones. They’re at least an inch thick. Maybe if you have thinner stones, they work differently. But my stones take forever to cool down.

[pulykamell]

@BMalion

Word.

Must be wood, and cook on a stone.

So, since you have a lot of experience in this, what exactly is the advantage of the wooden peel? I’ve personally seen pizza makers I’ve highly respected use both, so I’m curious as to the reasoning behind the preference of one over the other.

[purplehorseshoe]

OP here, wondering the same …

[Labrador_Deceiver]

@pulykamell

So, since you have a lot of experience in this, what exactly is the advantage of the wooden peel? I’ve personally seen pizza makers I’ve highly respected use both, so I’m curious as to the reasoning behind the preference of one over the other.

Metal peels are basically useless at home. They’re good for shuffling around a couple dozen pies in a professional kitchen, but that’s about it. If you’re baking on a stone, then you need a way to get your dough (uncooked pizza) onto it. You can construct your pizza right on a wooden peel, then transfer it directly onto the hot stone.

Getting a pizza out of the oven is easy. Reach in with your hand or a spatula, and give it a quick yank onto a plate or cutting board. You can use a peel if you aren’t making a pizza on it, but I usually don’t even bother.

Having a peel at home is all about making the pie & getting it into the oven.

[Superhal]

I’ve never used a wooden peel directly on dough, but in my opinion:

1. Wooden peels are generally thicker to get the same strength as metal. They are also heavier for the same surface area.

2. A small amount of moisture wouldn’t be a disaster on a wooden peel compared to a metal peel. I would suspect that the wooden peel is much more forgiving.

3. Because of the weight, the wooden peel would be preferable if you made your pizza directly on it. It can be a cutting board and a delivery device as well. Metal peels move around a bit.

4. Wooden peels probably wouldn’t be affected as much by heat. On metal peels with wooden handles, the handles always get loose.

However, as I said earlier, for single pie, home use, there’s probably no major advantage of one over the other, unless you are preparing the pizza directly on the peel.

[Fear_Itself]

@BMalion

Must be wood, and cook on a stone. You can buy those cheap at grocery stores and just leave them in the oven. I’ve had mine in for over 10 years.

I’ve two stones crack on me, neither were cheap ones, so I would like to know what I am doing wrong. They usually last for a year or so. I leave it in the oven during preheating, and after baking until the oven is cool. Next time I go to bake a pie, it has a crack in it. Maybe I should look for a cheap one.

[Athena]

@Fear_Itself

I’ve two stones crack on me, neither were cheap ones, so I would like to know what I am doing wrong. They usually last for a year or so. I leave it in the oven during preheating, and after baking until the oven is cool. Next time I go to bake a pie, it has a crack in it. Maybe I should look for a cheap one.

I had the same problem. I think it has something to do with the thickness of the stone; any stone I bought less than about 1/2" thick eventually cracked and/or shattered on me. I finally found a really thick stone - at least an 1" - and have never had a problem since.

[Fear_Itself]

@Athena

I had the same problem. I think it has something to do with the thickness of the stone; any stone I bought less than about 1/2" thick eventually cracked and/or shattered on me. I finally found a really thick stone - at least an 1" - and have never had a problem since.

Sounds probable. Where did you find one that thick?

[BMalion]

@pulykamell

So, since you have a lot of experience in this, what exactly is the advantage of the wooden peel? I’ve personally seen pizza makers I’ve highly respected use both, so I’m curious as to the reasoning behind the preference of one over the other.

It’s personal preference. Not objective truth. I prefer a wood peel because that is what I learned on. When I tried metal I did not like the way the pizza stuck to the peel as I tried to slide it onto the stone surface of the oven. I do not like to use cornmeal, just a light dusting of flour. My pizzas slide right off into the oven.

[Athena]

@Fear_Itself

Sounds probable. Where did you find one that thick?

Unfortunately I bought them 15-20 years ago, and I don’t recall where.

I just pulled one out to take a look. It says “The Pizza Gourmet” on the back. The other one is square, the same thickness, but doesn’t say a thing on it.

And it’s only 3/4" thick, not a full inch. But it’s made many, many pizzas over the years and still is fine.