***tray***right on the brick***

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

I Start cooking my pizza on a tray, then move to the bricks, after it firms up a little, otherwise I have a hard time getting it from the tray to the peel,and the peel to the brick, I put a bunch of flour on the peel. I like to have 4-6 pizzas ready to cook at at time. How is everyone else doing it. I have also used olive oil on the trays that seems to work okay, They are coming out great, so im not that worried, but maybe they could be better or a little easier to handle. I found I cook best with a small fire on the side, keeps the heat nice and browns the top better.

[Mitchamus]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

I make mine right on the peel, with a good shake of flour to prevent sticking (others use semolina - i can't be bothered)

I give it a shake test between ingredients, to make sure it will still move 1/2 inch back and forth on the peel.

then I stick it straight on the oven floor.

I have a couple of trays to give to guests... who can take an age to make a pizza.. because they are usually doing it one handed, and are too busy talking to take this business as serious as I do!!!
(also because they want to put on 25,000 toppings)

that way they can take as much time as they want with no chance of the pizza sticking to the peel (or the work surface) - which ultimately makes things much easier for me.

I then add it to the oven, and (as you do) pull it out of the pan and onto the floor when it's time for the first turn.

[BrianShaw]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

If I think the pizza making will take too long and will be difficult to handle onthe peel, I use screens rather than trays. As soon as the crust is set i push it off of the screena nd onto the floor.

The tray notion, though, gave me an idea... giving trays (small ones) to people to pile their prefered toppings on, then I could make the pizza on teh peel in my own time. Is that what you were talking about Mitch... or were you giving trays with dough to your guests to top?

[Mitchamus]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

I hand them the pizza tray/pan, point to a dough ball and say - "Go for it'

[Neil2]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

If using a peel, try moving the pizza out so it overhangs the end by an inch or so. This bit will catch the oven floor and the pizza will slide off with a quick jerk of the peel.

[BrianShaw]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

I hand them the pizza tray/pan, point to a dough ball and say - "Go for it'

I might have to change my ways!

[bimbo]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

I am not quite using my oven yet but have been using pizza stones in the gas oven. I make the pizzas on wooden peels with a short handle and then slide them from the peel to the pizza stone. This means both the wife and I can be making a pizza at the same time and get them into and out of the oven quicker.

I also use the same peels to cut the cooked pizza on and put it straight onto the table.

Cheers
James

[texassourdough]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

I use my aluminum pizza trays occasionally on my grill when the dough is too sticky or messy to work well directly on the grill. The only time I have problems with dough sticking to the wooden peel is when someone gets sauce under the pizza.

Bake On!
Jay

[wlively]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

After a very hectic "make your own" pizza party where some guests took too long to top, did not shake, or piled wet topping all the way to the edge (the worst), I tried an experiment.

For our next family pizza cook I put the kids pizza dough on parchment paper and made sure they took extra long to make them. Put them in and the bottom cooked/browned normally and the pizza slid off of the paper after about 30 seconds. Had some burned paper when I had a large uncovered areas, like the square corners. For the next few, I cut the excess paper off, and no more burned paper. I will be using this method with all our "make your own" guests from now on.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: ***tray***right on the brick***

hey wade,

im gonna give that a try

Thanks