Pizza - how the $#!@@&*% do I get it from the peel to the stone?


 
J

Jamie Mathews

TVWBB Member
So I have the kettle pizza thing-y I bought online, and it works awesome. One problem - I'm having serious trouble getting the pizza from the peel (I make the pizza on the peel) onto the stone. I really have to mangle the thing to get it onto the stone. I put a little flour and cornmeal on the peel, and that dough was really stuck on the peel.

Any ideas?
 
I like using parchment paper for this. Built it on the paper, transfer it around on the paper, etc. etc. Works great. You might want to trim any excess from around the pizza because it'll char.
 
Doug, I saw a few peels on youtube, looked like gravity made the pizza slide off the peel onto the stone.

I'm telling you, my dough was really stuck to the peel. When I make the pizza on the peel, I out some cornmeal and flour on the peel. Then I put the dough on, and flatten the dough out thin (I like thin crust). I used a rolling oin to get it really thin,maybe the pin forces the bottom of the dough to stick to the peel?

I mean, this was the first time I tried thos, but I could have turned the peel upside doen and shook it, the toppings would have come off, but the dough would have been stuck to the peel.

Maybe it was either the rolling pin, or the dough (store bought) was just too sticky. It did feel kind of wet, and it was definitely sticky.
 
In my method, I grill one side of the crust, flip it then load it.

I also roll it out on the table and then carry it out to the grill with the peel. Maybe rolling it out on the peel made it stick???
 
I think we flatten on the counter and then place on a cornmeal dusted peel for just this reason.
 
I'm with Doug as much as I've tried corn meal, flour, etc, the parchment does the trick. You can pull the paper out just before pulling the pie from the stone.
 
Yep. Roll out the dough off the peel then put it on the floured peel BEFORE adding the sauce and toppings (you think it was hard to get your pizza off the peel, imagine trying to put an assembled one on it - been there). Do this pretty close to when you are putting it on the grill. Sometimes the dough will stick if left on the peel too long. Give it some light shakes back and forth before you try to put it on the grill/stone so you know it's loose or to loosen it if not. It's really simple once you get the hang of it.
 
Thanks Don.

I did use the rolling pin aggressively while the dough was on the peel, and I also left the assembled pizza on the peel for at least 15 minutes before putting it on the stone. I had some flour and cornmeal on the peel, and I'm telling you, that pizza was really, really stuck on there. If I turned it upside down and shook it, the dough would not have come off the peel. I had to scrape it off the peel (and onto the stone) with a spautla. Not "slide" it off. It had to be scraped off.

And it's a thin, aluminum peel.

I'll try the parchment paper too.

And if anyone is considering the kettle pizza adapter for the Weber 22.5 inch kettle, I love it.

I'll take pics next time.
 
I roll my dough out on the table, then transfer to a cornmealed peel. I'm thinking the pressure of the rolling while on the peel really welded the two together. I use a stainless peel, and a dusting of flour rubbed around on it before the cornmeal really gets it slick.
 
Mike, does the thickness of the crust affect the ease with which it slides of the peel onto the stone? I had these crusts really, really thin, I just like my pizza that way. In many of the youtube videos I saw, when the pizza slid effortlessly off the peel, the crusts were at least 2 or 3 times thicker than mine.
 
Some sticking problems can be affected by how wet the dough is.

If you use parchment (as I do, because my dough is on the wet side), I'd suggest that you put some cornmeal on the peel under the parchment as well as on top of it before adding your crust. The parchment can get a little damp and tacky if you leave a wet dough on it for too long.

When your pizza is finished baking, just slide that metal peel between the crust and the parchment and pull it out without the paper; the cornmeal makes this easy. You can remove the paper from the oven with your fingers.

Dryer, firmer doughs do slide off the cornmealed peel easier. I like to use yellow grits instead of cornmeal occasionally. I love the texture on the underside of the crust, but not everyone does.

Rita
 
Jamie, the parchment is so thin that it doesn't affect the browning of the the crust at all.

Rita
 
Rita, do you trim the excess parchment that's sticking out beyond the edges of the dough? SOmeone here mentioned that may burn if not trimmed...
 
No, I don't trim off the edges of the parchment and never saw the need to. The edges don't quite burn but do get quite brown and fragile/flaky. You can trim it if you like and you won't have to deal with it flaking as you try to remove it.

I think it would be a bit easier to slide the peel between the paper and the crust when the parchment is not trimmed, but I haven't tried trimming it to see if there is a difference or not.

Rita
 
Thanks to all for the help.

I'll try thi sagain soon. I got great results with the pizza kettle attachment...it was no problem pegging the thermometer way past 700, pizza was done in no time. Not the best pizza I've ever had, but it was the best pizza I ever made myself.

I'm sure I'll do even better...
 
I use parchment like others have suggested but I slide it out from under the pizza after about 4-5 minutes so the pie is right on the stone. I don't think the crust browns or crisps up as well with the parchment. I trim the paper so it is just slightly larger than the pie so it doesn't brown or crisp before removing, otherwise you can end up with a piece breaking off and staying under the pie and cooking into the crust.
 
A couple of notes

-I think if you like it really thin you won't like the effect having a lot of cornmeal has on the texture
-The trimming isn't critical - I haven't had it burst into flames or anything but as Rita says the corners get kind of flaky and I think it's just easier to hack them off ahead of time. I don't trim it super close - the parchment ends up maybe an inch wider than the pizza all around, it's more about getting rid of the corners.
 
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