Flour or Cornmeal Pizza Discuss Flour or Cornmeal in the Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart forums; Which do you like to keep your pizzas from sticking to the peel? Flour, cornmeal, rice flour, or something else. ...

[james]

Which do you like to keep your pizzas from sticking to the peel? Flour, cornmeal, rice flour, or something else.
Let's see how this does in a poll.
James

[DrakeRemoray]

I voted flour, but I might have to give that rice flour a try...had a few sticky pizza this go-round.

[Chris]

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

[james]

Thanks for that Chris. I just added it to the poll. Can you say what you like about it? I met a pizzaiolo near our first house here (Sarteano) who used it.
James

[Chris]

The ap flour makes the dough nice and smooth for shaping, but as dlachez says, it's like little ball bearings. Once the surface of the dough is dry from the ap flour, the semolina doesn't integrate itself into the dough the way the ap does, so it slides very well.

[CanuckJim]

Guys,

I started using stone ground brown rice flour a while ago. It's somewhat coaser than bread flour, and I've found that if there is residual on the bottoms of the bread, it does not burn as readily as white flour. Anything left on the breads after baking brushes off easily. This wouldn't be easy to accomplish on a baked pizza, but you get the reasons.

Jim

[Xabia Jim]

I'm still working on this one.

For powdery stuff I'm trying white flour and whole wheat flours...

For gritty stuff I've got cornmeal, wheatmeal and ricemeal.....also a bran which I think may be like CJ's rice flour.

Just need to make some more pizzas!

Maybe a mixture of flour and cornmeal....that's what I ended up with last time when we did a dozen ahead of time....all made it to the fire breathing oven.....

[james]

Originally Posted by dlachez

I have not had good success with flour and have had major problems getting a pie off the peel more than once using flour. (What happened to that side of the pizza Honey?)

Or, you completely nuke your 8 year-old daughter's perfect pizza. Ouch.
James

[CanuckJim]

Guys,

We should remember, too, that semolina comes in various types. There's the coarse stuff, sure, but there's also finer durham flour, or fancy durham flour, but it's not as fine as bread flour.

Jim

[Xabia Jim]

(Note the last 2 lines in the post too)

Semolina is coarsely ground grain, usually wheat, with particles mostly between 0.25 and 0.75 mm in diameter. The same milling grade is sometimes called farina, or grits if made from maize. It refers to two very different products: semolina for porridge is usually steel-cut soft common wheat whereas "durum semolina" used for pasta or gnocchi is coarsely ground from either durum wheat or other hard wheat, usually the latter because it costs less to grow.

Non-durum semolina porridge or farina has come to be known in the United States by the trade name Cream of Wheat.

Semolina pudding is made by boiling or baking the grain with milk and sweeteners. The pudding can be flavoured with vanilla, served with jam, and eaten hot or cold.

In Italy (Tuscany) spaghetti made with semolina are called pici. In Northern India, it is known as sooji; in southern India, rava. In much of North Africa and the Middle-East, it is made into the staple couscous.

In South India, semolina is used to make such delicacies as dosa and upma. A popular dessert in Greece ("Halvas"), Cyprus ("Halouvas"), Turkey ("Helva"), and India ("Halva") is made with semolina scorched with sugar, butter, milk and pine nuts. In some cultures, it is served at funerals, during special celebrations or as a religious offering.

It can be used as an alternative to corn meal to 'flour' the underside of fresh pizza dough to prevent it from sticking to the peel.

In bread making, a small proportion of semolina added to the usual mix of flour produces a tasty crust.

I love Wikipedia.....XJ