A Pizza Peel Is A Tool For Handling Pizza

Most people that love pizza are perfectly satisfied if their neighborhood has decent, preferably Italian, pizzeria. And then there are others, people who consider pizza a serious business to be tackled with pizza stones and wood ovens.

They are the ones that build their own pizza ovens, collect old cook books, grow their own spices and have any tool invented by man. Including, of course, perfect pizza peels for use with your pizza stone and wood fired pizza ovens.

Important Qualities Of The Pizza Paddle

Pizza peels are long or short handled, round of square, metal or wooden trays, designed to put the pie into the oven and out of it. Some people make do with only one, and choose wooden pizza peels to build their pizza on, place the pie into the oven, and take it out. Others have a range of pizza peels, each for different purpose. This is seen at restaurants especially when using commercial pizza ovens. Pizza peels have to be durable, light, to withstand temperatures of more than 500 degrees needed to bake, and non-sticky, so that most of your pie does not stay on the peel.

Learn To Use One

Professionals build their pies on a marble or granite surface, slide one of the square aluminum pizza peels under and place it into the outdoor pizza oven. They also have round pizza peels to turn in the oven so that they bake evenly. Most enthusiasts build their pizzas on short-handled wooden pizza peels and then slide metal peels under to place it in the oven. Others use long-handled wooden pizza peels for both assembly and placement into the oven. It comes to the experience of the chef, the type of the pizza oven, and personal preference. Wooden pizza peels have to be sprinkled with corn meal or rice flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the wood. Aluminum pizza peels are slippery, although this is helpful for keepign the dough separated, it sometimes leads to a catastrophe in the hands of an inexperienced cook.

Pick A Lightweight Metal With A Wood Handle

Fully assembled pizzas tend to be fairly heavy, so, ideally, metal pizza peels should be made of light, but durable aluminum. Very popular are pizza peels are made of perforated aluminum, so that excess corn meal remains on the table, and not burn in the oven. The handle should be light and firm. The length of the handle depends on the size of the oven, and your kitchen. Wooden pizza peels can be made of a wide range of woods, from ash to cherry and bamboo. They also need to be light and easy to handle and should withstand high temperature needed to bake.

Popular Brands

It is easy to find pizza peels regardless of your preferred type. They are available on the internet directly from their manufacturers, or from sites like Amazon. The price ranges from $12, for basic wooden pizza peels, to $90, for the Forno Bravo aluminum or stainless steel pizza peels. The most popular brands are Nopro, Kitchen Supply, KitchenArt, and of course, Forno Bravo. You will probably start with only one pizza peel, and accumulate more as you gain experience. Once your family starts enjoying your wonderful pie, you can count on getting more peels and other paraphernalia as a gift.