PIZZA PEEL

JGIFFORD · January 2012

Trying to use a peel (wooden spatula). How much corn meal does it take to make the pizza slide of and onto the hot stone. Does anyone else have a better idea? I was just making my pizza on a stone and then putting the stone onto the egg. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate them.

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

Yes....definitely heat up stone first.

Try making your pizza on a piece of parchment, then slide the parchment onto your peel....slide pizza, parchment and all, onto HOT stone. After a couple minutes you can slide the parchement out from under the crust and continue baking pizza.

JGIFFORD · January 2012

Yes that's why I bought the peel I made a good pizza first round but new if the stone was hot it would be better. To put it on do you use a shove and yank or what. Dou you have a good doe recipe?

JGIFFORD · January 2012

I will try that Quinn in a few min maybe 20

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

Yes that's why I bought the peel I made a good pizza first round but new if the stone was hot it would be better. To put it on do you use a shove and yank or what. Dou you have a good doe recipe?

It's more like a quick couple of shakes forward to get the crust loose and sliding and then one confident jerk back leaving the pizza behind.

JGIFFORD · January 2012

Tweev I would be happy to have the recipe when u get off. Thanks for the help.

Botch · January 2012

JGIFFORD, when I finally get my dough stretched to final size, I plop it down on my kneading surface (formica countertop) and dust the surface with flour, and then spread the flour around with my fingers. I then dust my wooden peel with cornmeal, which I keep in a standard diner-style saltshaker; I shake on about the same amount that you'd salt a steak with, not too much.

Then, flip the dough over onto the peel, floured side down. Now, don't dawdle. Dress the pie as fast as you can (the longer it sits on the peel, the more likely it'll stick). Carry it over to the Egg, and before you open it up, shake the pie on the peel to make sure it isn't sticking anywhere. If it is, don't panic; set the peel down, lift the edge of the pie closest to the sticking spot, and then blow under the pie; this almost always releases it long enough to get on the stone.

Don't forget to burp your Egg before opening! I cook margherita-style pies over 750+ degrees, and my first "flash" resulted in an over-the-shoulder raw pie toss that stuck to the brick wall of my deck! Ewps!

With a bit of experience your dough will never stick at all (blowing under the raw dough might upset any la-dee-dah guests you have over for supper). The parchment method mentioned by a few others, I've never heard of; sounds like it'd work great but now that I have my technique down, without it, I'll keep going the way I am.

Gato · January 2012

I'm kinda confused here. Most of the recipes I've seen call for hot water to activate the yeast. This one calls for ice cold water. Can someone explain? Thanks in advance..

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

Warm....not hot. Hot can kill the yeast. It all depends on how long of fermentation (1st rise basically) you want. If you're looking to make dough and turn it into pizza in a couple hours use warm so the action of the yeast will be faster. If you're doing an overnight in the fridge fermentation, use cold water do the yeast works much more slowly. The overnight in the fridge method produces a much better texture in your finished crust IMO.

Gato · January 2012

Yes, I guess I meant warm. 110 or so I think is what is recommended. Thanks, I will definitely try the cold water and overnight rise. Botch also said it was a better crust.

gerhardk · January 2012

The cold water and overnight ferment is for flavour development. I also use the parchment paper, I guess I have wrecked one too many pizzas sliding it off with corn meal. Also corn meal will burn on the hot stone and give a bitter taste.

Gerhard

P.S. here is a video of me making pizza on the egg.

ticebass · January 2012

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

Gato · January 2012

Warm....not hot. Hot can kill the yeast. It all depends on how long of fermentation (1st rise basically) you want. If you're looking to make dough and turn it into pizza in a couple hours use warm so the action of the yeast will be faster. If you're doing an overnight in the fridge fermentation, use cold water do the yeast works much more slowly. The overnight in the fridge method produces a much better texture in your finished crust IMO.

So I can use the same dough recipe, changing only the warm water to cold for an overnight rise??? Same amount of yeast etc??

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

Yep.

Gato · January 2012

Cool, thanks mighty q. Very new to all this dough, yeast stuff....

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

No problem.....working with dough/yeast can be daunting at first, but once you do it a couple of times you'll see there's not much too it. Like someone said above, the big thing at first is getting used to working with such a sticky dough...use plenty of flour on your hands and board when you're handling it to keep it from sticking.

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

I have a really good crust recipe with a bunch of different variations....whole wheat, beer, semolina, etc.....I'll post later when I have a chance to scan the sheets they are on....too much to type.

JGIFFORD · January 2012

I found the amount of corn meal I had to use gave me a odd taste. I want to try the wax paper I did nit get to the other night. Also. I have a friend giving me some sourdough starter. What about this for pizza crust?

Gato · January 2012

Parchment paper. Not sure wax paper would be a good idea because of the heat.

JGIFFORD · January 2012

I'm sorry I men parchment

The Naked Whiz · January 2012

Gato, I AM sure wax paper would be a bad idea because of the heat. :)

Gato · January 2012

Gato, I AM sure wax paper would be a bad idea because of the heat. :)

Yeah me too. Kinda figured he meant parchment...

rodent · January 2012

If you are using " instant yeast" you can use cold water. If using "active dry yeast, you should activate in warm water"

Mighty_Quinn · January 2012

Thats not true rodent....you can use cold with active dry yeast.

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