# Has anyone tried to get pizza dough off a pizza peel?



## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Oh.  Em.  Gee.  Making pizza from scratch and cooking on a pizza stone is not for the faint of heart!  I attempted it for the first time this evening.  If you have EVER tried to cook pizza this way, you'll know what I'm talking about with the whole getting the dough off the peel issue.

I'm still scrapping the burnt cheese off my brand new pizza stone.    

If you are a pizza making pro... please... share your secrets!  How do you get the dough on the stone without mutilating your creation and coating your kitchen in flour?


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## TheRiddler (Nov 11, 2010)

Not sure what a pizza stone is, but I used to make pizza's from scratch.

Only solution is plenty and plenty of flour - keep rolling and turning, rolling and turning, and keep spreading that flour.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

TheRiddler said:


> Not sure what a pizza stone is, but I used to make pizza's from scratch.
> 
> Only solution is plenty and plenty of flour - keep rolling and turning, rolling and turning, and keep spreading that flour.


You put the pizza stone in an oven or on a grill. The idea is that the stone will spread the heat evenly throughout the pizza. It actually works really well. The pizza itself tasted great. It just wasn't... a circle shape...


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Did you rub cornmeal on your pizza stone? That keeps it from sticking. And of course, you need to use a pizza paddle to get our pizza out.

I'm not clear on where you ran into trouble. 

Edit: Oh, re-reading your post, it looks like you had trouble getting it on the stone which is a bit tricky with the stone blazing hot. I find it better not to overload the pizza. If your using a stone sometimes less is better. And you absolutely have to use a paddle to place the stretched pizza on the stone. I sprinkle a little cornmeal on the paddle which helps the pizza slide off.

Hope that helps.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

When I use the paddle and stone (I guess it's technically called a peel which I didn't realize till now) I always make sure to dust the peel with plenty of cornmeal, I find this helps the pizza slide better than flour because it has courser grains which almost act like hundreds of tiny little rollers.  They say to get your pizza back -off- the stone you need a round metal peel because the wooden ones are nearly impossible to do right.  I can see what they mean since all we have is the rectangular peel which is thicker to help support the raw dough and wood to help with the raw dough not sticking (I imagine it has something to do with flavor too since you spend time actually building the pizza on the wooden peel).

We make due with just a wooden rectangular paddle for both, but like I said I can see the desire for the metal round one for the pizza removal.  I just make sure to get the lip under the edge of the crust and have the peel as level as possible before making a single, fast motion to get it under the entire pizza.  You kinda have to do the opposite to slide it off, yank it like a bandaid.  Any hesitation and you'll end up with your pizza folded up in the back of the oven.  There's still accidents, but that's how I'm most successful.  Of course after reading about the round metal peel I think it might be time to invest in one.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The stone needs to be already hot. . .you don't spread the pizza on it cold and then put it in the oven.

And, as suggested, use cornmeal on the stove and a paddle to shift the pizza. . . . .


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

The cornmeal is a good idea.  I'll try that next time.  I just used flour before and it wasn't enough to make the dough want to slide off smoothly.  Or at all, for that matter.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I make pizza at least once a week.

Lots of cornmeal or flour on the peel is a must. It may still stick in spots, depending on how wet your dough is. I just make sure it can slide around on the peel prior to putting it on the stone in the oven.

As for the stone, it's going to get spots and splotches on it; if not from the dough then from the toppings. I don't wash the stone, but I use a bench scraper prior to the next use to scrape off anything that got stuck the last time. Then I will take a slightly wet papertowel and wipe it down a bit. The top of my stone is mostly black now, but it works beautifully.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> The top of my stone is mostly black now, but it works beautifully.


I sorta think the point of a pizza stone is to use it enough to season it. . .and it works better the more seasoned it is, both in browning the pizza and in keeping dough/toppings from sticking.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I sorta think the point of a pizza stone is to use it enough to season it. . .and it works better the more seasoned it is, both in browning the pizza and in keeping dough/toppings from sticking.


I agree with this. I bought one for my MIL for Christmas last year, and she said she was going to try to keeps hers from getting "icky" like mine, but I don't find it icky at all, just well-used.

I love my stone and use it all the time, for pizzas and for bread.......


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

Here is my trick. I make pizza once/week. I use a stone and a peel. The stone gets heated in the oven. The pizza is formed on the peel on a piece of parchment paper. It is easy to move the dough and parchment paper off the peel on to the hot stone. However, I was always bugged by the slightly soggy crust. So now, I form the dough on parchment paper, slip the dough (without the toppings) onto the stone (with the parchment paper). Bake the crust for a couple of minutes...I bake at 550. Slip the parchment and dough on to the peel and take it to the counter. It is pretty easy to now slip the parchment out from under the slightly baked crust. Finish putting all the toppings on. Now slip the pizza (on the peel) to the stone and finish baking for 6-8 minutes. Now we have crispy crust and everyone is happy.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

I read about having paper underneath online after I F&*%ed up this last pizza lol.  I was cooking at 450 and I was worried it would catch the paper or something on fire.  But that's good to know it could tolerate up to 550.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

pidgeon92 said:


> I agree with this. I bought one for my MIL for Christmas last year, and she said she was going to try to keeps hers from getting "icky" like mine, but I don't find it icky at all, just well-used.
> 
> I love my stone and use it all the time, for pizzas and for bread.......


Yes, I read somewhere that they do have to season like a grill. The black stuff is there to stay. It's just the huge chunks of burnt cheese that I wanted off lol.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Alain Gomez said:


> Yes, I read somewhere that they do have to season like a grill. The black stuff is there to stay. It's just the huge chunks of burnt cheese that I wanted off lol.


A new clean putty knife from Home Depot takes care of that stuff. . . . .


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

You want to bake your pizza as hot as your stove will get. Wood fired pizza ovens go over 900 degrees.

I have had my pizza stone 20 years, at least. It has turned black, but mostly I just brush it off and put it in its rack. Sometimes I even forget to take it out of the oven and it stays in a while. There have been reports of pizza stones cracking after a while. Mine is pretty thick. I think the thinner ones tend to crack.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Alain Gomez said:


> Yes, I read somewhere that they do have to season like a grill. The black stuff is there to stay. It's just the huge chunks of burnt cheese that I wanted off lol.


Which is what I remove with a bench scraper.... I like this one:


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Alain Gomez said:


> The cornmeal is a good idea. I'll try that next time. I just used flour before and it wasn't enough to make the dough want to slide off smoothly. Or at all, for that matter.


Yep, that was your problem. You have to use cornmeal. 

It acts like little skids or something. I wouldn't use paper since cornmeal works and doesn't burn. Use the absolutely hottest setting you have on your stove.

Edit: I'm sure you know never, ever to use soap on your stone. You can soak it in water overnight to loosen crud on it, but frankly I mostly don't bother. lol


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

JRTomlin said:


> Edit: I'm sure you know never, ever to use soap on your stone. You can soak it in water overnight to loosen crud on it, but frankly I mostly don't bother. lol


I did know this, actually lol. It's one of the few things I did know going into this learning experience


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## jbruner123 (Jan 5, 2011)

Last summer I got serious about trying to make homemade pizza and bought a pizza stone and paddle. I made the dough and heated up the stone at my ovens hottest temp for an hour. I put plenty of flour on it and it stuck a little. Next time I put some cornmeal on it but I didn't like the taste and texture of the cornmeal stuck to the bottom of the crust.

I finally gave up on cooking it inside and started cooking it out side on my gas grill. The first time I used the pizza stone but the last few times I put the crust directly on the grates. I put the grill on high for 15 minutes or so and then turn the heat down a little. I oil the grates and put the dough directly on it and close the lid. I only leave it on for a couple of minutes and take the crust off, flip it, and add the toppings. Then I put it back on the grill for 3 or 4 minutes and it is done. The crust is crisp and good.

I think for the most part I'm going to stick with my local coal-fired pizza place because even though I've tried all kinds of recipes, I haven't been able to duplicate how delicious their crust tastes. To me, the crust is the  most important part of the pizza.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

JRTomlin said:


> Did you rub cornmeal on your pizza stone? That keeps it from sticking. And of course, you need to use a pizza paddle to get our pizza out.
> 
> I'm not clear on where you ran into trouble.
> 
> ...


Cornmeal. Also make sure and preheat the pizza stone. They are porous--this means they gather water. If you put them in the oven and preheat, you will dry the stone out nicely in the pre-heat. Sprinkle cornmeal and the dough should do fine!


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## Emmalita (Feb 24, 2009)

I make pizza about once a week too. I don't use the cornmeal, but my pizza stone is preheated while the oven is heating. As for the peel, I have the best pizza peel in the world. It's called the Super Peel and it has a cloth that goes around the peel which acts as a conveyor belt for the pizza both off of the counter top where I made it and on to the stone in the oven. Then I take the pizza out of the oven with it as well. I also find it invaluable for when I'm baking bread that is rising on a cutting board or on the counter top. Also they have great Customer Service. I lost a part of the peel and went online to purchase a replacement part. They didn't have it listed online so I sent an email about it. The guy who owns the company said that he would just replace the part for free! I was pretty excited. Anyway, I highly recommend the product and the company. Here's a link to the Super Peel on Amazon.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I've been making pizza with a stone and a peel for a long time, and you've been given several suggestions that work great. (I'll have to look into the peel with the conveyor-belt type of covering.)  I don't care for the hardness of cornmeal under my crust, but it certainly works well to dust the peel with cornmeal. Dusting with flour works well, too, but you might end up with some burnt flour under your pizza if the stone is extremely hot. 

America's Test Kitchen suggests this: Flour a piece of parchment paper, and then form  your pizza crust on the well-floured paper. When the pizza has been topped the way you want it, slide the paper onto the peel. Put the parchment paper and pizza on the stone, sliding the whole thing carefully off of the peel. About half or two-thirds of the time into the baking process, you can, if you want, pull the paper out from under your pizza (using Houdini's technique  ), and then let the pizza finish baking on the stone.  You can, if you'd rather, just let the pizza bake entirely on the parchment paper, and then  pull the paper back onto the peel to remove it from your stone. Without the paper under the pizza, slide the peel under the fully baked pizza. (You may need a spatula or something similar to help you get the pizza onto the stone.) It's really worth all this trouble because you get a nice, crispy crust.

If you want to use only the peel with your pizza, be sure that you have enough flour under it as you're building your pizza. You can tell by trying to slide the dough around on the peel before and during the topping process. It's a good idea not to overload your pizza, as it makes it harder to slide onto the stone.

Whatever you do, let your stone cool completely, and then only wash under warm water, scraping any baked on bits with some sort of scraper. (I have several things that I use.) Your stone will become very dark and stained with use, but that just serves to make it a better baking surface. I have two round stones that look pretty bad, but they work like a charm.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

And the funny thing (or not so since I love it) is that I can't eat pizza. But I still make it for other people.


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