pizza delivery into oven

[Giulio]

cranked up my oven andmade pizza which tended to stick to the peel when it was being slid into the oven.The peel was dusted with flourthe doughwas placed and topping applied.Should I have used semolina instead of flour?

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Semolina will work also corn flour or rice flour. If you let it sit in one place too long like when you are saucing or putting on toppings you can still have some sticking issues. What you do is give it a bit of a shake on the peel every now and then as you are topping it to ensure that it's not sticking.

[sjmeff]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

A lot of us have been there. It's extremely frustrating when it sticks to the peel.

I put a mound of flour on the counter (say, 3/4 cup). I dredge each ball of dough in the flour (both sides) and do my initial pressing/shaping of the dough on the mound. After that, I finish shaping it on my knuckles and all the excess flour falls onto the counter (you don't want to see any flour on the dough when you put it on the peel---it will burn and taste acrid).

Finally, I very-lightly dust the peel with rice flour.

Et voila.

[Giulio]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

thanksfor the info. Was going to try baking paper (keeping it away from flames).
will report back with results

[horrocks007]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Having made many pizza's at an Italian restaurant with a brick oven, I have become a lover of corn meal. Way better that flour for preventing a dough from sticking, cheaper than flour, and adds a nice nuance to the texture and flavor of a brick oven pizza.

Once you stretch your dough, lay it on the peel, then wiggle it a little to make sure it moves before topping it. If any part of the dough looks like it is sticking, lift it up and shoot some cornmeal underneath.

Use the same technique for loading bread in to oven.

Can't wait for my oven to be built!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy pizza making!!

[Giulio]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

thanks very much for cornmeal info
is that the same as polenta?.With my oven being at my fishing shack I dontget enough time using it
hope to post some photos, we used an old water tank as the stand then housed the insulation over the dome in the top part of it
worked brilliantly

[horrocks007]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Yes polenta works just as good.

[texassourdough]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

I personally prefer semolina to cornmeal but...either to flour. Good Luck!
Jay

[azpizzanut]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Hello Guilio, horrocks007,

Another good product to use is rice flour, like little bearings, the pizza slides right off the peel.

BTW, polenta comes in several variations. Cornmeal, like what is used for southern U.S. cornbread or pone is finely ground and Italian polenta is often coarsely ground. They can be used interchangeably when cooking but probably not for baking. You may find both types labeled "polenta".

If you are using a wooden peel then make sure it is smooth. You can sand it or scrape it to smooth the surface. You will see quite a difference in how the dough slides off.

Best of luck,

[ptone]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

I had great luck this weekend with a 50/50 mix of rice flour and semolina.

But it seems like you still want to do your dough stretching/handling with regular flour first.

-Preston

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

It appears many chefs here build their pizzas on the peel and have varying degrees of success getting the pie to release into the oven based on a combination of dough hydration, amount/kind of flour, weight of toppings, ambient temperature/humidity, and of course, total time sitting on the peel.

A lot of the YouTube videos show the chef dragging just-built pizzas onto the peel for immediate delivery to the oven. Anyone out there do it this way?

[texassourdough]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Dragging the pie onto the peel takes a tougher dough than most (many?) of us make. A truly delicate Neopolitan dough simply won't take that level of manipulation and will tear. High gluten and thicker crusts will but... Lower hydration will allow more manipulation but even my high gluten doughs are wet enough that dragging onto the peel would be iffy.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Thanks, Jay. Makes sense.

[Tscarborough]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Why fight it just for appearances? There are so many things to learn that it only makes sense that you should use a pan or a screen until you have everything else under control. After the first turn you can remove the pan or screen if you want, but it make very little to no difference in the finished product anyway.

I use pans and screens, both in the kitchen oven and in the WFO at times, even though launching is no big deal. I can turn out more pizzas faster by doing so, and as I stated, there is no difference in the finished pizza.

[Tscarborough]

Re: pizza delivery into oven

Oh, and those vids of dragging the pie onto the peel? Look at the quantity of ingredients. If you are making sparse neo pies, it works fine, but if you are making anything else, it doesn't work well.