Sliding the peel off the pizza

[kellytoronto]

I was in France last week and went to a small town WFO restaurant for takeout one night. When I discussed my oven with the owner, he went away and brought me back a big tub of ground olive pits, which he uses to prevent sticking. My oven is still in progress (getting to insulating the hearth) so I haven't tried them yet, but his pizza was pretty good!

[BrickStoneOven]

The best thing to do is make or buy a hardwood peel like the one Grimaldi made. The peels that they use in Naples are all hardwood thats why they come off so easy with basically no flour.

[cjt]

I made myself a wooden peel after really struggling with a steel one I bought bit of semolina now everythings ok

[SteveP]

I prepare my crust on the counter then transfer it to a wood peel that has a light sprinkling of corn meal. I use the shake method to slide the pizza off the peel. I don't notice the tase of the corn meal and have had good results.

[Grimaldi]

Yep, a hardwood peel makes all the difference. Last night I made thin crust pizzas (fairly well loaded with toppings also) right on the peel... they slid off and into the oven without a hitch (it was a thing of beauty).

[ThermoJax]

So you decide you want to make pizza at home. And you quickly discover that there is just no substitute for a pizza baked on brick or stone. The crust just isn't the same. No problem - you get a pizza stone. You then discover that sliding a 12" pizza from a peel onto a 14" stone (that just fits) in the bottom of a 500F oven is possible but not easy. It's much more difficult than sliding a pizza into a large pizza oven at shoulder-eye level in your local pizzeria. After multiple smoky smelly messes caused by overshoots, misses, fold-overs etc. of the pizza when attempting to place it neatly on a stone, you retire the stone. For good pizza, you go out. Otherwise you live with metal pan pizza.

But suppose you had a peel which had a built in conveyor belt? The Super Peel is, as difficult as it is to describe, a baking peel that has a built in conveyor belt that allows you to deftly lift the delicate sticky dough off any surface and onto the board for easy transport.



By placing the corner of the pizza onto the peel, and slowly retracting the peel while pushing the board forward the sticky dough simply slides on. And to put it back on any surface or stone simply lower the board until it touches and reverse the process.

Don't get it? I didn't either at first - but this short clip of the Super Peel is worth thousands of words:

More video of the Super Peel in action can be found over at Breadtopia.

This is definitely a cool tool that prevents needless baking and pizza disasters.


Super Peel
$37

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by EXO Products

[BrickStoneOven]

Originally Posted by ThermoJax

So you decide you want to make pizza at home. And you quickly discover that there is just no substitute for a pizza baked on brick or stone. The crust just isn't the same. No problem - you get a pizza stone. You then discover that sliding a 12" pizza from a peel onto a 14" stone (that just fits) in the bottom of a 500F oven is possible but not easy. It's much more difficult than sliding a pizza into a large pizza oven at shoulder-eye level in your local pizzeria. After multiple smoky smelly messes caused by overshoots, misses, fold-overs etc. of the pizza when attempting to place it neatly on a stone, you retire the stone. For good pizza, you go out. Otherwise you live with metal pan pizza.

But suppose you had a peel which had a built in conveyor belt? The Super Peel is, as difficult as it is to describe, a baking peel that has a built in conveyor belt that allows you to deftly lift the delicate sticky dough off any surface and onto the board for easy transport.



By placing the corner of the pizza onto the peel, and slowly retracting the peel while pushing the board forward the sticky dough simply slides on. And to put it back on any surface or stone simply lower the board until it touches and reverse the process.

Don't get it? I didn't either at first - but this short clip of the Super Peel is worth thousands of words:

More video of the Super Peel in action can be found over at Breadtopia.

This is definitely a cool tool that prevents needless baking and pizza disasters.


Super Peel
$37

Available from Amazon

Manufactured by EXO Products

I don't see me sticking my arm into a 950F+ oven. Standing infront is hot enough. I could see using it in my home oven at 550F not a 950F WFO.

[ThermoJax]

no, but the video of this thing is really cool. Somehow, I bet it could be rigged up for our type of oven. Longer handle maybe?

[Grimaldi]

Originally Posted by ThermoJax

no, but the video of this thing is really cool. Somehow, I bet it could be rigged up for our type of oven. Longer handle maybe?

It looks like a good design for some applications, but I can't see the cloth belt holding up in hot WFO's. It looks like it would be easy to make also...just a slot in the top and a square untapered end (or maybe tapered?) and rig up a belt.

My guess is it is designed for home ovens and pizza stones...and for that application it looks real handy. I know I struggled with getting pizzas on a pizza stone.

[blackjack]

Light dusting of rice flour on an aluminium peel is all that's needed. Just hold the pizza in the oven for a second or two before withdrawing the peel smoothly.