Pizza peel sticks

[Traveler]

When I returned from living over-seas, I had to abandon some of my kitchen equipment. One piece was my pizza peel. I bought a new one but I made a silly mistake and bought a stainless steel one.

Problem: When I go to load the pizza, in the hot oven, my pizza sticks to the peel, no matter how quickly I jerk it back.

Any suggestions on how to keep this from happening ?
Thank You

 

[GotGarlic]

Sprinkle the peel with cornmeal before placing the dough on it. The cornmeal won't be absorbed by the pizza dough, so it will slide easily.

 

[Andy M.]

I use a dusting of cornmeal on the peel before adding the crust.

In the “Now you tell me” category, wood peels are best for sliding raw pizza onto a stone. Metal peels are better at retrieving cooked pizzas.

 

[caseydog]

Yep, cornmeal, not flour.

CD

 

[FrankZ]

I use semolina not corn meal.

 

[roadfix]

I use flour, but on a wooden peel.
To turn and retrieve I use metal.

 

[Traveler]

i'll try cornmeal again. I tried it once but it didn't work well. Perhaps if my pizza stone was MUCH larger, I could get more aggressive when I jerk the peel back.
Perhaps part of the problem is that I seriously load up the pizza dough with so many ingredients that by the time I'm done, the dough has had time to stick to the peel ?

 

[Andy M.]

i'll try cornmeal again. I tried it once but it didn't work well. Perhaps if my pizza stone was MUCH larger, I could get more aggressive when I jerk the peel back.
Perhaps part of the problem is that I seriously load up the pizza dough with so many ingredients that by the time I'm done, the dough has had time to stick to the peel ?

Use LOTS of cornmeal. Just before I take the peel to the oven I give it a little shake fore and aft to make sure the dough is free of the board.

 

[salt and pepper]

Semolina flour. SO can't have corn.

 

[Traveler]

Use LOTS of cornmeal. Just before I take the peel to the oven I give it a little shake fore and aft to make sure the dough is free of the board.

Hmm. Sounds like a good idea. next time I make pizza, I'll try that.

 

[buckytom]

Sprinkle the peel with cornmeal before placing the dough on it. The cornmeal won't be absorbed by the pizza dough, so it will slide easily.

Burnt cornmeal on the bottom of a pie is nasty.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Parchment Paper works really well too
No extra anything

 

[GotGarlic]

Burnt cornmeal on the bottom of a pie is nasty.

Don't burn it. No problem.

 

[JustJoel]

+1
Parchment paper is a Kitchen must-have! Build your ‘za on parchment paper, then use your peel to lift and transfer the whole thing your stone. And don’t jerk too hard; parchment paper seems (to me) to be dry, but somehow slippery. That pie’ll sail right over the back edge of the stone!

 

[GotGarlic]

Parchment Paper works really well too
No extra anything

Except paper. I try to minimize the use of disposables.

 

[Traveler]

Parchment Paper works really well too
No extra anything

oh, my. I like THAT idea. But doesn't parchment pape burn ? Doesn't any paper burn at 451 F ? (232 C.) ?

 

[Andy M.]

Parchment paper will burn at the high temps at which you typically cook pizza.

 

[JustJoel]

oh, my. I like THAT idea. But doesn't parchment pape burn ? Doesn't any paper burn at 451 F ? (232 C.) ?

It does brown where the pizza isn’t. You can cut the parchment to a slightly larger circumference than the pie for minimum browning, but if you’re cooking pizza in as hot an oven as you can muster, on a preheated stone, the parchment paper will simply get very brown and brittle.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I bake my Pizza at the highest temp my oven will go,
500 degrees
and the parchment gets pretty brown as JJ mentioned

 

[Traveler]

I bake my Pizza at the highest temp my oven will go,
500 degrees
and the parchment gets pretty brown as JJ mentioned

About the highest I can squeeze out of my oven is 465 F