John Bridgman
TVWBB Super Fan
Whoa, parchment makes it real easy !!
Just tried assembling a pizza on a piece of parchment with the corners trimmed off. It slipped onto the stone easily, and even landed in the middle of the stone rather than hanging off one end. That part could be luck though.
The temperatures were low -- everything was damp and the hardwood never caught -- between 400 and 450F for the duration of the cook even after 1/2 hr of warmup time. Tried pulling the parchment out after a minute or so with no success, but after a few more minutes and a partial rotation it slipped out really easily. I was really surprised how well it all worked.
I can't say my pizzas are getting better but at least I am maintaining pizza quality while using an ever decreasing quality of ingredients. In this case the sauce was <STRIKE>hand-picked San Marzano tomatoes</STRIKE> ketchup and the cheese was <STRIKE>a careful blend of shredded mozzarella and parmigiana reggiano</STRIKE> a couple of torn up cheese slices, topped with leftover chicken, chopped onion and a suspicious-looking hunk of ginger.
I'm going to try cornmeal next, but it's good to know that parchment works so well. Started with flour but I haven't been able to get the pizza off the peel without using so much flour that it affects the taste of the crust.
Just tried assembling a pizza on a piece of parchment with the corners trimmed off. It slipped onto the stone easily, and even landed in the middle of the stone rather than hanging off one end. That part could be luck though.
The temperatures were low -- everything was damp and the hardwood never caught -- between 400 and 450F for the duration of the cook even after 1/2 hr of warmup time. Tried pulling the parchment out after a minute or so with no success, but after a few more minutes and a partial rotation it slipped out really easily. I was really surprised how well it all worked.
I can't say my pizzas are getting better but at least I am maintaining pizza quality while using an ever decreasing quality of ingredients. In this case the sauce was <STRIKE>hand-picked San Marzano tomatoes</STRIKE> ketchup and the cheese was <STRIKE>a careful blend of shredded mozzarella and parmigiana reggiano</STRIKE> a couple of torn up cheese slices, topped with leftover chicken, chopped onion and a suspicious-looking hunk of ginger.


I'm going to try cornmeal next, but it's good to know that parchment works so well. Started with flour but I haven't been able to get the pizza off the peel without using so much flour that it affects the taste of the crust.