Corn meal question

[ThermoJax]

During one of the many holiday parties we held for the oven, I mean for my friends and family (it was really for the oven) I explained how we had been having trouble releasing the dough from the peel, that is until I read here that rice flour is so very good at this task.

But, I was asked "why don't you just use corn meal, like Dominoes does?" My local coal oven pizza place had lectured me at the beginning of the build something to the effect that only amateurs use corn meal. It seems like I don't see it mentioned here often. So the question is, why don't we use corn meal for a clean release? Is it only for newbies? What's up?

Thanks


Tom

[Tscarborough]

Re: Corn meal question

Cornmeal is bitter when it burns, rice flour still burns but is not bitter. I use cornmeal when I am cooking in the kitchen oven, since it doesn't really get hot enough to burn, and I like the extra crunchiness it imparts (I use it for bench flour when making some types of pizza).

[mn8tr]

Re: Corn meal question

I had the same problem this weekend. The dough was a little to wet, added more flour to the peel but had to deal with the burnt flour taste. We tried corn meal also and you are right it does have a bitter taste and sparkles when it burns. I am going to try slightly less water in the dough next weekend. It would be nice however if there were a "magic bullet" solution.

[sjmeff]

Re: Corn meal question

Like Tscarborough, many of us dust our peels with rice flour since it's not bitter when it burns. I dredge my dough in flour before I shape it, but I make sure the excess flour falls off before I put it on the peel.

[RTflorida]

Re: Corn meal question

Go easy on the rice flour too. I was a bit heavy handed with it over the weekend. had 2 pizzas that seemed to be stuck in black goo on the hearth floor. The only thing it could have been was the rice flour, which must have all come off the peel and landed in one spot. No smell or taste issues, just tough to get the pizzas unstuck at first.

RT