Making pizza for the first time tonight. Suggestions?

SickEyeDiaz · June 2013

I have a plate setter and a pizza stone. What's the best way to keep the dough from sticking to the stone?

Some people use parchment paper...any advice on that?

How long should I let the stone heat up in the Egg?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Village Idiot · June 2013

I use parchment paper. I keep it on for the entire cook. Slides on and off the stone easily. Works for me.

Mama Roneck · June 2013

Don't be shy with the flour on your work surface, hands, peel, etc. You really can't use too much when you're working pizza dough.

SmokeyPitt · June 2013

Parchment works great...just make sure to trim it to fit your stone. You don't want any hanging over cause it will burn up. It's no big deal if it does...but you will get little fragments of burning paper all in the egg with some landing on your pie

.

Another option is to just use plenty of flour on the stone, but making the pie and transferring it to the stone is tricky. If you are just making one pie, then you can flour the stone and make it right on the stone, then carry it out and put it on the egg. The stone is not preheated obviously, but I have had good luck doing it this way.

One more option is a pizza screen, but I have only found them online so you probably can't get one by tonight.

Firemanyz · June 2013

I like to use parchment paper and take it off after two or three minutes. As for the stone I elevate mine off of the plate setter (legs down) using two inch flower pots from Walmart. I use four of them and i think they cost like $.25. I warn the stone up for at least 30 minutes.

Good Luck

TexanOfTheNorth · June 2013

After rolling my dough out on a floured surface I transfer it to my peel for assembly. I put a liberal amount of corn meal on the peel and then the rolled out dough. Give the dough a couple of spins and then start dressing it. I like to give it a 1/4 to 1/2 turn after adding each ingredient (i.e., sauce, toppings, cheese) to make sure that it's not sticking. I also throw a little corn meal onto my baking stone just before transferring my pie to the stone.

grege345 · June 2013

+1 on what Texan said.

cortguitarman · June 2013

I use parchment a d leave it on for a few minutes, then pull. As others have said, trim the parchment around the pie. A little can stick out. I have a platesetter and stone for my setup. I do platesetter legs down with stone on top. Make sure that you make an air gap between the stone and platesetter. I use 3 1/2" plumbing tees. They are cheap and work like a charm. Also, rotate your pie every 2 -3 minutes.

SamFerrise · June 2013

Let the stone heat up for about 30 minutes. Parchment is good, I use it sometimes and some times I just hit my stone or bricks with some cornmeal. If you are using a wetter dough mix its tough to transfer. I remove my parchment paper about 2-3 minutes into the cook. BTW, it really is not necessary to exceed 550 for most pizza cooks. The Egg is not a Neopolitan style oven which gets to temps over 1000. If you like the thin crispy crusts that cook fast learn to make the proper dough with the right flour. I use King Arthur Bread Flour for my deep dish and basic round hand tossed pies. When my friends want Neopolitan style pies I use Caputo "00" flour. Water, salt and yeast is all you need unless you like to experiment. This advice come from 45+ years experience of pizza making in the family business. Another tip to keep your pizza from getting too soggy is to put your sauce on last over the top of your toppings. Your dough will cook better and the taste is much better. This is another family secret.

Carolina Q · June 2013

I don't do any of those things.

Not a fan of parchment paper, never put anything on the pizza stone, use the least amount of flour I can get away with and ALWAYS preheat the stone (put it in the egg as soon as it's lit).

I shape the dough on a floured bread board. When it's shaped, I slide it onto a wooden peel that has been lightly dusted with semolina. Just a pinch is all you need - stuff is like ball bearings! And you won't have a pizza crust that's coated with flour or gritty with a heavy load of cornmeal. Once on the peel, add toppings and after each one, shake the peel just a bit to make sure it isn't stuck. It never has been for me.

Launch the pie onto the stone. Slides right off the peel. Always. If you don't have a peel, I've heard you can build the pie on the underside of a cookie sheet, but I haven't tried that. Might need more semolina with the metal surface. Dunno. You could use parchment if you don't have a peel yet, but for me, the crust just isn't the same. Love my peel!!

You'll need some space between the platesetter (legs down) and the pizza stone. I use three terracotta planter feet and a mini woo, stacked. Bricks turned on edge work too. I like about 4" space.

First pic shows how much semolina I use. If you look closely, maybe you can see it.

Second is my setup in the egg. Good luck!

70chevelle · June 2013

I use parchment on pizza when I make it on the egg or in the oven. It's too easy and there's really no downside except that it's a bit pricey compared to the other options. I pull the parchment after a few minutes when the crust firms up. Anyway, when I use my wood fired oven, I can't use parchment due to the high temps (8-900*). I just lightly dust my peel with flour and right before I set the pizza, I'll lift up the back end and blow under it. It makes it float above the peel. (pretty neat actually) and slides right off with little to no raw flour. The other consideration is if you like a lot of toppings or cheese, placing the pizza gets tougher, as those toppings want to slide off as you shake the peel. Good luck!!!

SamFerrise · June 2013

Let the stone heat up for about 30 minutes. Parchment is good, I use it sometimes and some times I just hit my stone or bricks with some cornmeal. If you are using a wetter dough mix its tough to transfer. I remove my parchment paper about 2-3 minutes into the cook. BTW, it really is not necessary to exceed 550 for most pizza cooks. The Egg is not a Neopolitan style oven which gets to temps over 1000. If you like the thin crispy crusts that cook fast learn to make the proper dough with the right flour. I use King Arthur Bread Flour for my deep dish and basic round hand tossed pies. When my friends want Neopolitan style pies I use Caputo "00" flour. Water, salt and yeast is all you need unless you like to experiment. This advice come from 45+ years experience of pizza making in the family business. Another tip to keep your pizza from getting too soggy is to put your sauce on last over the top of your toppings. Your dough will cook better and the taste is much better. This is another family secret.

SickEyeDiaz · June 2013

Just got my pizza peel in the mail today!

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will use flour on one pizza and parchment paper on another and see if one works out better than the other for me.

will post results later. Cheers!

SickEyeDiaz · June 2013

Tasting pretty damn good so far!

I used a little cornmeal on the first one to keep it from sticking...never again. It reminded me of why I hate certain brands of frozen pizza. That crunchy crap just rubs my mouth the wrong way!

The second one is a BBQ chicken with my own sauce. Awesome.

The pizza top has those random brown spots of cheese that I've never seen outside of restaurant pizza. Once I experiment and get this thing perfected, I think I'm gonna start charging people!

paqman · June 2013

Dough will not stick to the stone. Parchment and flour/cornmeal are used to avoid having the dough stick to the peel. I agree with you about cornmeal but flour is perfectly fine in my opinion.

Carolina Q · June 2013

paqman said:

Dough will not stick to the stone. Parchment and flour/cornmeal is to avoid the dough sticking to the peel. I agree with you about cornmeal but flour is perfectly fine in my opinion.

Zactly. Never could figure why people put anything on the STONE. When I used flour on the peel, I always wound up with flour on the bottom of the pie. Same with cornmeal. Just a pinch of semolina on the peel works perfectly. Very little residue on the pizza and I have never had one stick to the peel.

Tried parchment twice, once for the entire cook, and again, removing it after a minute or two. The bottom of the crust wasn't nearly as good as when the crust was directly on the stone for the entire cook.

nolaegghead · June 2013

Yeah, I hear a tiny pinch of semolina does wonders.

I cook pizzas frequently, and I made one of these, no solid lubrication necessary.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145966/mega-peel-project-for-unadulterated-dough-transportation/p1

Carolina Q · June 2013

nolaegghead said: Yeah, I hear a tiny pinch of semolina does wonders.

I cook pizzas frequently, and I made one of these, no solid lubrication necessary.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145966/mega-peel-project-for-unadulterated-dough-transportation/p1

Very nice! I've had two wooden peels for the last 20 years or so. No canvas. Your peel looks GREAT! So does that pie!!

nolaegghead · June 2013

Carolina Q ...thanks man, I love you pizzas!

Carolina Q · June 2013

nolaegghead said:

Carolina Q ...thanks man, I love you pizzas!

Thanks!

SickEyeDiaz · June 2013

nolaegghead said:

Yeah, I hear a tiny pinch of semolina does wonders.

I cook pizzas frequently, and I made one of these, no solid lubrication necessary.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145966/mega-peel-project-for-unadulterated-dough-transportation/p1

NIIIIICE! Looks awesome.

SmokeyPitt · June 2013

I should have qualified by original post with "I don't have a pizza peel"

.

The pies look great @SickEyeDiaz!

Mama Roneck · June 2013

Great start! You'll master the peel in no time.

Making pizza for the first time tonight. Suggestions?

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