Why do so many recommend cornmeal instead of semolina flour? Chit Chat Discuss Why do so many recommend cornmeal instead of semolina flour? in the General forums; This is a pet peeve of mine . . . corn meal grains are large and not wheat, while semolina ...

[Thirties]

This is a pet peeve of mine . . . corn meal grains are large and not wheat, while semolina grains are small and are wheat. So why do so many use and recommend cornmeal for dusting the peel, or parchment?

Is this a case of following the one(s) in front of you?

So here is a quick poll.

What do you dust with?

Cornmeal
Semolina
Other

[texassourdough]

Semolina

Some people like rice flour. I have some but haven't tried it yet.

Corn meal is IMO not a good choice. Burns too easily and sort of cakes up.

[james]

I think corn has a gritty text that I don't like.

Keep it simple -- I use flour.
James

[dmun]

I use rice flour. Cornmeal is full of sugar, and gives a burned, bitter taste at pizza temperatures.

[Jed]

I use flour.

The whole wheat that I buy is a bit more course ground than the unbleached flour I buy, so use it for the 'ball bearing' effect coming off the peel.

I had bad results with corn meal of any grind. Sugar content of the corn is just too high, and it doesn't work well at the temperatures in our wood fired ovens.

JED

[Thirties]

Folks, you all seem to agree that cornmeal is less than ideal for dusting.

My point is that in every book or article or even web video, they tell you to use cornmeal. That needs to be contested.

I guess I'm trying to raise consciousness on the topic. Thanks for your replies.

[Wiley]

I have found that for my needs, rice flour works best.

Wiley

[Dino_Pizza]

I went straight to the ethnic market, found RICE FLOUR and it was soooo much better than the cornmeal I used for my 1st pizza. I'll never try anything else. Stick with what works, I mean doesn't stick and works...you know what I mean, dino

[bruce]

Flour works best imo. That's the way I've been doing it for several years now and I like the results. No bitter taste of burnt semolina or corn meal.