Common Mistakes, Pizza Disasters Pizza Discuss Common Mistakes, Pizza Disasters in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; They probably were on the peel too long. And since your trouble got worse as you went, I'd say that ...

[egalecki]

They probably were on the peel too long. And since your trouble got worse as you went, I'd say that the peel got a bit damp from the dough too. Try using both sides of the peel, alternating, and use more flour too. Keep shaking the peel every now and then as you build your pie to keep it loose. And, if you are taking a long time to make your pie, you're probably putting too much on it!

[dmun]

After each pizza, scrape off any dripped pizza sauce with the edge of a knife, re-dust the peel, rubbing your release agent (I use rice flour) into the wood peel, work fast, keep the pizza moving. An occasional disaster is part of the process, and part of the fun.

[james]

Any sauce spilled over the edge of the pizza and onto the peel will definitely make the next pizza stick. Keep your peel clean and dry and flour it before every pizza.
James

[Balthazar]

Thanks guys. From what you've been saying I think this is what I did wrong:

1. Worked too slowly. On the peel too long. Got to keep it moving.
2. Didn't flour the peel enough.
3. Too many ingredients.

I have to buy myself a good shaker so that I can dispense the flour evenly over the peel.

[texassourdough]

Hi Balthazar!

I got the kind of shaker they use in pizza resaurants for crushed red pepper and keep coarse semolina in it. Between pizza adventures I simply cut a piece of saran or plastic wrap, remove the lid, put the plastic over the jar, and screw the lid back on. While the holes are bigger than they need to be, they don't clog and they distribute the semolina pretty uniformly. And I never have pizzas stick - even when really wet - on a wood peel. (But speed is important!!)

Cost of the shaker was $2-3 US as I recall.

Another interesting trick is to simply shape the dough in flour - an approach sometimes used by even very good pizzaiolas (as opposed to tossing or simply stretching by hand). Take a sheet pan or jelly roll pan and put in a cup or so of flour. Flatten the dough ball as much as you want and then plop it on the dough and use your finger tips to further flatten and spread the dough into a circle. When you get it the size you want, shake off the excess flour and put it on the peel. You will probably find your pizzas will be much more consistent in shape than simply stretching by hand. And while the flour does give a slightly different flavor, it solves most of the wet dough issues. You may not want to do it every time, but it can save you if you have really wet, difficult dough and don't have the experience to deal with it.

Good Luck!
Jay

[james]

I'm on the record as being anti-cornmeal (gritty, burns to easily and I don't like the flavor), and flour, semolina and rice flour are all very good.
James

[telehort]

I have no idea why this is funny to me, but I love jokes and things that are VERY inside humor that almost no one gets.
For some reason I laughed out loud at the comment "I'm on the record as being anti-cornmeal" to me that would be one of the greatest t-shirts of all time. I may need to get that made up before next years Pizza Expo and walk around with that on.

[james]

I'm glad I gave you a Friday chuckle. :-)

Enjoy your weekend everybody.
James

[carioca]

Originally Posted by james

I'm on the record as being anti-cornmeal (gritty, burns to easily and I don't like the flavor), and flour, semolina and rice flour are all very good.
James

Last week I made pizza for a visiting semi-Canadian couple using Peter Reinhart's recipe for peppery cracker bread (Crust & Crumb, pp136 ff)) in which he uses 1/3rd cup of polenta. The pizza turned out very nice, but the crackers I made the next day from the remaining dough were acclaimed as the best of this type I'd ever made...

Funny thing is, you don't really notice any polenta in the finished dough, or the baked end result!

Cheers,

LMH

[james]

Let me clarify my previous statement. :-)

I don't like cornmeal used to keep a pizza from sticking, but I like polenta and I like cornmeal in bread.

Whereas high fructose corn is a different story, and I think the jury is still out on corn ethanol.

I hope that clears things up.
James