PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

[xfire]

I am installing a 40" oven.

I see aluminum and wood peels are the two choices we have.

Which is the "correct" way to go and why?

Is it just a personal choice?

Also, I am thinking that the length should be at least 36" to be long enough to grab pies in the back of the oven and still be manageable to work with during preparation.

[david s]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

As a general rule add the depth of your entry to the diam of your oven and that is about how long your handle needs to be.
Generally most people use the wooden peel to prepare and place the pizza, while the Aluminium peel is used to turn and remove them. Some people use the metal peel to slide under the prepared pizza and use it to place the pizza too. I prefer a stainless steel peel to an aluminium one, but I think this is just a personal preference, either will do.

[xfire]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

I like information on the length.

A S/S sounds very good but I have not been able to find any for sale yet.

[brickie in oz]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

I like information on the length.

A S/S sounds very good but I have not been able to find any for sale yet.

So make your own.

[david s]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

For stainless use 1.2mm thick. Any thinner and it's a bit too floppy, any thicker and it saps the oven of too much heat every time you put it in. Also a good idea to round off the leading edge so it doesn't catch soft dough if you are sliding it under a fresh base.

[Aussie Pete]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

i'll be making a thin stainless peel, have used one like this before, works really good, easy & light to put in & take out, and haven't had anything stuck on it yet.
was thinking of aluminium, but not sure which would be better.

[Derkp]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

In high School shop my son made 2 peels out of maple. They looked great. I agree with a previous post, use the good looking to place the pie, but to turn and remove use a metal, His beautiful maple peels could not stand up to the pizza heat, eventually charred, warped and delaminated.

Derk

[Pizza Fermentor]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

You know when, after the pizza is just about done, some people raise the pizza to the top of the dome in order to finish/brown the top? If you do this with a wooden peel, the peel burns. Trust me. For that reason alone...place the pizza in the oven with a wooden peel, but remove it with a metal one.

[xfire]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

It would appear from everyone's replies that the only way to get a stainless steel peel is to build it yourself ?

Looks like that the route I'll take

Now I'll have to design a bracket to mount the handle.

[kmrice]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

You can buy a stainless steel "turning" peel. See Round Pizza Turning Peel - 8-inch w/ 40-inch Handle.

Forno Bravo sells what I think is the same thing, but their site says it is aluminum. I bought one from them in 2010 and what I got is stainless steel, although they may have changed suppliers.

As others have said, you want to load the pizza into the oven with a larger peel. Wood works well although Forno Bravo and other sites also sell an aluminum peel with cutouts which many like. I bought one but soon went back to using a simple wooden one.

A turning peel is smaller than the pizza. You can't use it to load. It is excellent for turning the pizza in the oven, and, once the crust has set, for doming the pizza. I'd consider some sort of metal turning peel a must have tool.

Karl

[m1mckinlay]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

I have both wooden and aluminum peels to assemble and slide the pizzas into the oven. The wood ones work MUCH better. The dough rarely sticks to the wood one - making it easy to slide into the oven - but it ALWAYS sticks to the aluminum even using the same amount of flour / cornmeal as a "lubricant". For this reason, I don't use the aluminum one at all anymore.

Also, for what it's worth, my wood peels have 36" handles, but I find the long handles get in the way when preparing the pizzas. I think you could toss the pizzas in a 40" oven using a peel with a 12" handle with a little practice and eliminate a bunch of accidents a 36 incher tends to cause in the prep area.

The ss peel you use to turn the pizzas in the oven does need a long handle.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

Dont imagine varnish would last long in a WFO or be healthy

I was wondering what handle do you put on a peel
I lit a big fire yesterday and moved stuff around with a metal handled rake and it got pretty hot pretty quick.
Wood with a hollow metal end sounds right
How much metal so the wood doesn't burn?

[kmrice]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

No varnish. Just dust well with flour - rice flour works best. I use about 50/50 rice and regular flour.

Karl

[roobqn]

Re: PIZZA PEEL - WOOD or ALUMINUM

While I get my wooden peels local at restuarant supply stores, I went to Frankie G's website to get the perforated Napoletana and banjo peels. I build on the wood peel, transfer to the Napoletana peel to shake off excess flour and then load into the oven. The banjo is to turn and unload. Seems lke alot to load a pie, but it does avoid alot of burnt flour on the oven floor. Take a look at FG Pizza & Italian - Woodfired - Pizza - Bread - Italian and nope don't work for them in any way shape or form, just think Frankie and Gail are good people and have had nothing but great products from them. He is also a forum member I believe.

[MattKaye]

Hi

xfire,
Hope you are doing great buddy!

When I bake I utilize two ovens with Fibrament stones and try to maximize the number of loaves I can put into the oven. Most of the commercial peels sold seem to be designed for pizza and are too wide and make it very difficult to place and manipulate several loaves on to the stones at one time.
I now build my own custom peels from 1/4" aluminium which is very affordable and available at most home centers. I am able to cut them to various widths depending on the shape of my loaves i.e. batard, boule, baguette, etc.. This allows me to maximize the number of loaves that can be placed on the stones quickly and get the ovens closed without a major loss of heat.
My peels vary in width from four inches (baguettes) up to twelve inches (large boules). The length that works for me is between eighteen and twenty-four inches. I cut a sharp knife like taper on both ends to facilitate the loaf removal after baking.The aluminium is great for this purpose. To know more about aluminium go to following posts-
http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/09/inve...crisis-levels/
http://www.clintonaluminum.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/aluminium/



Once your creation is fully baked, a metal pizza peel (usually aluminum) is better because it's thinner. It's easier to scoop this blade under the loaf, pizza, etc. And at this point, condensation and stickiness is no longer the issue.

Thanks in advance buddy