How To USE A PIZZA PEEL

Learn how to use a pizza peel. Also, there are many kinds of peels discussed for the various stages of moving pizzas. This is part of our Food Equipment & Tools, Italian Cuisine, and pizzas categories. Also, it’s listed in our “Homemade Pizzas in the Oven” Guide and “How to Choose Pizza Peels” article.

What is a pizza peel used for?

A pizza peel moves a pizza around during its raw, uncooked state as well as during and immediately after it’s been cooked. Each stage often requires a different pizza peel type. However, some work for more than one pizza stage.

See these example pizza recipes. Each shows different pizza peels used for pepperoni pizzas and sausage pizzas. Bread baking and calzone baking can be moved using pizza peels.

See a complete list of pizza recipes and steps of how to make homemade pizzas. They are available in our “Homemade Pizzas in the Oven” Guide.

So, when you’re going to bake a homemade pizza on a pizza stone or pizza steel, you have to figure out a way to get the topped uncooked pizza off the countertop. And that’s where you use the pizza peel. It is the tool to use for moving or “transferring” the pizza onto and off of the hot pizza bakeware in the oven.

Keep reading how to use a pizza peel. And also continue reading to see how to keep your pizza dough from sticking to anything when you need to move it. We’ll also show how to use either a wooden or a metal pizza peel. Metal and wooden pizza peels are the most popular.

How to Choose a Pizza Peel

To decide how to choose a pizza peel is an entire topic in itself and we’ve covered it in our article about “Best Pizza Peels“. It covers the types of peels, materials they’re made of, pros and cons of each, and what our recommended ones to choose are. Next, we begin to discuss how to USE a wooden and metal pizza peel.

How To Use a Pizza Peel and Build Pizza On It or On The Counter

There are a lot of ways to build your homemade pizza and use your pizza peel. I’ve narrowed it down to the 2 most popular ways. So, the 2 most common ways to build a homemade pizza and use a pizza peel are:

1. Top the pizza dough directly on the peel. Optionally, you can par-bake the dough first. Then, transfer topped pizza to oven.
2. Top the uncooked pizza dough directly on the countertop, transfer topped pizza to oven

All methods use this next initial step. Shape your dough on a mildly floured countertop. When it’s of the desired size and shape, you sprinkle some corn meal (or semolina flour) onto your pizza peel. The amount to use is plentiful and spread out evenly using about 2 tablespoons. Then, choose which method you want to use and follow those steps.

Method 1: How To Use a Pizza Peel and Build a Pizza Directly On It

• Lift your shaped dough and place it centered onto the peel.
• Move it around a bit to ensure it’s not sticking anywhere. If it is, you lift the dough where it’s sticking and sprinkle some more corn meal in that area. Reshape it as needed.
• Then, pick up your peel and give it a quick shake (forward-and-back) a couple of times, to ensure the dough will move and isn’t sticking to the peel.
  • Optional steps to Par-Bake the Dough
    • Use the peel to mildly shake it to slip it off and onto your hot preheated pizza stone in the oven. Par-bake your pizza dough, usually just a few minutes.
    • Then, use your peel to remove the dough from the stone.
    • In using the peel for this, you utilize the peel’s beveled edge to forcibly “pierce forward” to lift a bit of the dough edge bottom onto the peel.
    • Once that edge has been lifted onto the peel, the swifter forward scooping action takes place. That action removes the entire par-baked pizza dough off the stone and back onto the countertop.
    • The stone remains in the oven.

Adding Toppings To Pizza Dough on Peel

At this point, you top your dough (par-baked or raw dough) completely with your pizza additions. Give the fully topped pizza one last quick shake over the counter. That ensures it’s not sticking. Then, you slip it onto the pizza stone or pizza steel for baking.

You’ll have to use extra caution to prevent the toppings from falling off when you shake it a bit to place it onto the hot stone. This takes practice with matching your shake using a mild angle holding the peel. Basically, you’ll want your shake to be aggressive but with a short distance (forward-and-back) to prevent toppings from spilling off into the oven. However, this will happen at times.

TIP: You can optionally use a spatula to help lift the rear of the pizza off the wooden peel if needed.

Method 2: How To Use a Pizza Peel After Building Pizza on Countertop

This method takes the most skill and requires the use of a metal pizza peel, as a minimum. However, it affords you the easiest way to build a pizza.

Now, you top it complete with your pizza additions. You’ll want to top it somewhat quickly to reduce the amount of moisture collecting between the dough and the countertop.

How To Use A Pizza Peel to Transfer Pizza From Countertop into Oven

Use your metal peel and its front beveled edge to slightly lift up the first edge of the fully topped pizza dough (about an inch or more) off the countertop. In a sense, that edge gets onto the peel with a piercing forward action coupled with a subtle lifting action. And then immediately thrust it forward to scoop up the entire pizza. This skill is easily acquired to perform comfortably.

After it’s fully on the peel, while still over the counter, give it a strong (forward-and-back) a couple of times, to ensure the dough will move and isn’t sticking to the peel. If it is sticking some, stop and put the peel back down. Lift any areas and sprinkle more corn meal down. Repeat until you get a good shake where the entire pizza moves easily.

You now transfer it onto the preheated pizza stone (or pizza steel) for baking. This time you’ll have to use extra caution to prevent the toppings from falling off when you shake it a bit to place the pizza onto the stone. This takes practice with matching your shake to a milder angle you’re holding the peel.

Basically, you’ll want your shake to be aggressive but with a much smaller distance (forward-and-back) to prevent toppings from spilling off into the oven. However, this will happen at times. One tip is to put a large baking sheet under the primary oven shelf to catch any droppings. You can then remove the baking sheet after a successful pizza insertion.

How To Use A Pizza Peel To Get a Baked Pizza Out Of Oven

Use the peel to remove your fully baked homemade pizza from the stone. In using the peel for this, utilize the peel’s beveled edge to forcibly “pierce” to lift a bit of the pizza edge up. Once that edge has been lifted onto the peel, perform the swifter forward scooping action. That gets the entire pizza onto the peel. Now, just transport the cooked pizza onto where you’ll be cutting it. I slice mine on a wooden pizza peel.

The pizza stone or steel remains in the oven, which can now be turned off.

FAQ About How To Use A Pizza Peel

Here are some commonly asked questions about pizza peels and their usage. Some of these items were mentioned in the previous methods on using the pizza peel but here they are if you’re looking for some brief answers to some popular specific questions.

How to use a Turning Pizza Peel

The Turning Pizza Peel is a unique peel that uses a small diameter platform (popular at 7-9 inches diameter) with a long handle. It’s used for primarily to quickly and frequently rotate (turn) pizzas when in a high heat specialized pizza oven.

You just use it like a regular peel but, instead of using it to insert or remove a pizza, it’s only used to temporarily carry part of the pizza weight in order to rotate it for more even cooking. The pizzas in such ovens can cook 800 degrees F or higher so pizzas might only need about 4 minutes to fully cook. Due to this, they often tend to cook unevenly unless they are monitored and turned occasionally.

How do you keep pizza from sticking to the peel?

When using any pizza peel, you can dust it with cornmeal or semolina flour before using it to scoop up the dough. Some people don’t have to do this after much experience or with a heavily floured surface.

Also, I learned of a sticking issue that can occur if you take a long time in adding the pizza toppings onto the dough. This is due to a moisture buildup from the dough bottom. Wooden peels are especially susceptible to this moisture. So, after about every 1-2 minutes, I’ll pick up the peel and give it a quick shake to reduce the level of sticking to the peel.

I’ve seen where some people can build the pizza fully on the countertop floured surface and then they lift and drag their fully loaded uncooked pizza onto a pizza peel (no scooping) but I can only do that if the pizza dough is somewhat thick.

Nowadays, my pizza dough is rolled out too thin or it sometimes has a lot of toppings and is too heavy for dragging. But, if you can pull your topped pizza onto your wooden peel for transferring, hurray!

Can you cut pizza on a pizza peel?

This is a consideration of how to use a pizza peel for slicing pizza. Firstly, never cut anything on a metal peel. You can cut or slice on wooden peels and only if they’re somewhat thick and made of a good quality wood. Some composite materials may allow it as well. Ensure the peel is cleaned thoroughly after usage.

Why Use Perforated Pizza Peel

This is a mention of how to use a pizza peel that has perforations. A perforated peel for allowing any excess flour or corn meal to fall through. It also reduces surface contact better. This will significantly reduce the level of sticking to the pizza dough. This is discussed more thoroughly on the “Best Pizza Peels” article.

Pizza Peel Care and Cleaning

This is how to use a pizza peel for its care and cleaning. Each pizza peel will come with its own pertinent instructions for care. Basically, the aluminum peels are to be wiped and hand washed clean. Although some may indicate being dishwasher safe, it’s not a common practice to submit them to such chemicals. Definitely, never submit wooden peels to a dishwasher.

Regarding wooden pizza peels, they can be treated similarly to wooden cutting boards. Because they might be also used for cutting and acquire meat juices on their surface, it’s best to hand wash them with regular detergent and rinse thoroughly. Then, after wiping them dry, let them sit overnight to fully dry. Finally, after fully dry, apply a light coating of a food grade mineral oil. Then, wipe it to remove any excess.

What is the best oil to use on a wooden pizza peel?

The best kind of oil to use on a wooden pizza peel is a “food grade mineral oil”. This means the kind of oil that is safe to use of food related equipment or tools. They’re designed to be safe as surface coatings or protective layers during storage without needing any refrigeration. The excellent food blog site, “Serious Eats“, has a superb article on the justification and benefits of using food grade mineral oils in the kitchen.

Cleaning the Pizza Steel

You can also learn about how to clean and care for your pizza steel, if you use one. See our article on complete guide of how to clean a pizza steel.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you now see how to use a pizza peel. Also, you’ve seen a step-by-step of how to move a topped pizza into and out of the oven. You also read about the different uses of a wooden and metal pizza peel. And, you even learned of cleaning and care of pizza peels. Considering both wood and metal peels, you can choose the one (or both) that best suits your needs.

Related To Homemade Pizza Baking

• Best Pizza Peels by Purpose, Material, & Surface
• How To Make & Bake Pizza in Oven – Several Recipes
• Complete Expert Guide on Cleaning Pizza Steel
• Cast Iron Pizzas – Complete Guide
  • How To Make Pizza Cast Iron Pan Recipes
  • How To Make Pizza Cast Iron Skillet Recipes
• Reheating Pizzas
  • Reheat Pizza in an Oven
  • Reheat Pizza in a Skillet or Pan