If you’ve ever tried using a pizza peel before, whether it be a Checkered Chef branded pizza peel or any other type of pizza paddle, you’ve likely encountered one of the most common problems that can occur when transferring a pizza – your pizza gets stuck to the peel!
You’ve just created your perfect pizza on freshly made, homemade pizza dough and then, as you try to slide it gently from your pizza peel onto the preheated pizza stone or pizza steel in your oven, you realize the dough has stuck to the peel!
There’s no way that pizza is going to slide onto that pizza stone without an enormous amount of jiggery pokery during which your pizza ends up looking more like a calzone with the edges all folded up and your perfect pizza no longer the lovely round shape you had created. Sound familiar?
Don’t get me wrong, the Checkered Chef stainless steel pizza peels, both regular and extra large size, make it very easy to transfer pizzas to and from your oven. If you’re using a pre-made, store bought pizza crust (or a frozen pizza) the process is very simple and straightforward.
When the pizza base already has some solidity and structure to it, such as with a premade base, the pizza will slide off with nothing more than maybe a poke with your finger to make sure you guide it right onto your waiting steel or stone.
But, if you’re using fresh, soft pizza dough to make your homemade pizzas, that’s when things can get a little bit trickier! Think about it, pizza dough is kind of sticky – it’s not surprising that it wants to stick to your peel or paddle.
The good news is that there is a very easy way to make sure your pizzas slide straight off your pizza peel and easily and neatly into your hot oven. The secret is parchment paper, or baking paper as it’s known in some parts of the world.
How To Use Parchment Paper On Your Pizza Peel To Stop Your Pizza Sticking
The easiest way to use parchment or baking paper to stop your pizzas sticking is to build your pizza on a piece of parchment paper. Once you’ve rolled out your lovely, fresh pizza dough, put it straight onto a square of parchment paper. Then, go about building your pizza by adding any sauces and toppings that take your fancy.
When the pizza is built and ready for the oven, simply slide your pizza peel under the parchment paper and pick up both the pizza and the paper. Then slide the pizza into the oven, while still on the paper. Yes, it is perfectly safe to cook your pizza on a pizza steel or pizza stone with parchment paper between the dough and the steel or stone.
Near the end of the cooking time (about 30-60 seconds before you think your pizza will be ready) remove the parchment paper and give the pizza another minute or so of cooking directly on the steel or stone – this just helps to give it some extra crispness. To do this simply grab hold of a corner of the parchment paper and slide the pizza peel between the pizza and the paper.
Then you should be able to quickly and easily pull the paper out of the oven and drop the pizza back down into position. After that extra minute or so, use the peel to remove the pizza from the oven. Now that the pizza base is cooked it will be solid and not sticky so it should easily slide out of the oven and onto a pizza cutting board ready for cutting and serving.
Here is a short video showing you all about our extra large pizza peel. It shows how easy it is to slide a pizza in and out of the oven with a premade crust and then it goes on to show how to make it work with freshly made dough and parchment paper:
So, remember, there’s no need to use parchment paper if you’re using a precooked or frozen pizza base as the base will hold its shape and easily slide off our stainless steel pizza paddles. But, if you’re making your own homemade pizzas from scratch using fresh, sticky pizza dough, use parchment or baking paper to help make transferring your pizzas easy!
Pizza night just got a whole lot easier!