Peels

[CanuckJim]

There seem to be a few questions regarding peels out there, so I thought I'd post a pic of two I'm in the process of making. I bought the blades from Empire Baking Supply in upper New York State. Originally, they measured 18 inches wide by 28 inches long. My oven door is 16 inches wides, so I cut down the width to 12 inches (for wiggle room), but left the length untouched. Made two pine handles, for a total length of 6 feet for each peel (my oven deck is 4 feet deep), and drilled through them to accept the supplied bolts. The blades are pine as well, and they came to me quite roughly finished, with a lot of raised grain (sticky, therefore). I used a palm sander on them, starting at 220 grit, then 320, then 400. Nice and smooth. Next, I used a mahogany wipe stain, let it cure, and now I'm in the process of using food-safe Danish Oil on them to harden the finish and make them even more slippery. Three to four coats should do it. The plan with these two modified peels is to be able to load three loaves at a time.The maple peel blade I posted with my oven pics was sanded to 600 grit, then oiled. It's so slippery that I only use semolina out of habit; not really necessary, except for wet doughs. Maybe this sort of approach will help people who are having sticking problems when loading.

Jim