Flour or Cornmeal

[james]

Isn't an aluminum pizza peel just a cookie sheet with a long handle?

JW, how did the class go?

James

[Unofornaio]

Excellent poll---

I voted corn meal. It works perfect and it is the cheapest solution. For breads I was using a mixture of cornmeal and AP flour with consistent results. Hearth temp for bread is quite a bit lower and will tolerate the little bit of flour mixed in.

[jwnorris]

Originally Posted by james

<snip>
JW, how did the class go?

James

There were about 20 people in the class from a wide variety of backgrounds and reasons for taking the class. We all got our hands into the mix and did a bit of everything.

Mary is a wonderful instructor. The class was a good way to reinforce ideas and theories that I had picked up here and in my other readings.

Got a great focaccia recipe that I now make all the time. And I learned that for this recipe too wet is not a bad thing.

One of the other things that I learned is that I was working my final pizza dough too cold. Let it warn up before making the crust.

J W

[BrianShaw]

Originally Posted by Chris

I use all-purpose flour when forming the dough, but for the peel, semolina flour works great.

I just recently converted to this method. I'm a believer! In the past used flour to form the dough and cornmeal for the peel. Me and my family is much happier with Semolina rather than cornmeal.

[christo]

I use flour but also use pizza screens for the kids pies.

We have had too many stuck pies due to indecision (very long pie making itmes), sloppy saucing, finger poking, holes in dough..... The screens make it much easier - and typically you don't get any charring on the bottom which most kids don't seem to develop a taste for until later.

We have also had some of the kids work their dough so badly that I want to toss it but they want to complete their pizza - letting it rest for another 10 mins or so seems to give it enough time to allow me to make it look something like a pizza (resembling austrialia vs italy). The crust does not look so good but they eat it!!!

Christo

[joey]

We need help, we have used both flour and cornmeal and have no trouble getting the pizza off the peel but we are having big problems with both products burning. Anyone else have this issue? It seems it is either not hot enough and the crust is not crispy or so hot things are catching on fire. Any help would be appreciated.

[dmun]

Rice flour, which comes in a small bag at the health food store, or can be made in a blender from grain rice, is very slippery, and resistant to burning in the oven. I keep it in a commercial salt shaker, to lightly coat the peel.
Cornmeal is particularly subject to burning because of it's high sugar content.
Remember to give your pizza an occasional shake on the peel while you are topping it. If it doesn't move when you shake it, picking up the edge and blowing underneath usually does the trick. I've had no luck with the dental floss trick you sometimes hear about. I think that by the time I went to get it the pizza was permanantly adhered to the peel.

[CanuckJim]

Dmun,

I'm with you; brown rice flour it is. I use it for just about everything, including hearth breads and ancienne baguette. To coat the peel for high hydration doughs, I use a stainless steel, fine meshed sieve. It's Italian in origin, but similar ones can be found at high end or commercial kitchen suppliers. I find the sieve produces a thorough, even, thin coat.

Jim

[aeneas1]

i'm now using rice flour thanks to dmun's suggestion - really can't imagine anything working better...

[gjbingham]

I think I'll try the rice flour as well. Jim, any difference between white and brown rice?

I've used coarse semolina on my peel for years. It moves around so much it's hard to keep an even coat across the peel.

During my years in Sicily, I'd seen coarse semolina flour in virtually every grocery store and market I'd been in. I never really understood what they used it for. Ever since I tried it in my hearth bread recipies, I've kept it in my pantry. I sure does seem to mess up the water flour ratios though.