Pizza semi-disaster

CR

Tried to do a pizza that I bought from a local pizza house. It was their "Take-and-Bake." this is a fresh pizza that they prepare and you take it home and cook it yourself. [p]The pproblem I had was getting the pizza onto the baking stone. What is the trick? Made a bit of a mess but finally got most of it transferred to a peel and then to the Egg. Looked ugly but tasted fantastic![p]Oh, when you buy the pizza it comes on a type of cardboard disk that os okay for your oven so there is no problem. But, I wanted to get it off the cardboard when I put it in the Egg.[p]Any ideas? Thanks.

Seth

CR,
Ask them to put some corn meal on the cardboard between the pie and the cardboard. Tell them what you want to do and they should help you out. Also, put a good amount of corn meal on the stone before you slide the pie onto it.
Seth[p]

The Naked Whiz

CR,
One thing is you can ask the to put some flour or cornmeal onto the cardboard before they place the dough on it. Also, I find it helps to get the pizza off the cardboard as soon as possible so that it has less time to get stuck. Personally, I use a peel. My local joint puts the pie on a cardboard baking pan and then shrink wraps it in plastic. I take the pizza/cardboard out of the box. I place the box over the pizza and flip it upside down. I cut the edges of the shrink wrap and then I can carefully pull the cardboard off. I put a little cornmeal on the peel and then place the peel on the upside down pizza and flip it over so now the pizza is right side up on the peel. Remove the shrink wrap and then into the egg. The only time I've had trouble is when I let the pizza sit for an hour on their cardboard baking thingy. So it is best to buy the pie just before you are ready to cook it so it doesn't sit around.[p]TNW

Cornbread Willy

CR,
Another trick I learned while working as a pizza cook in college is actually blowing under the uncooked pie. Get your mouth level with the dough, lift a pinch of dough with your thumb and forefinger and try to get some air underneath. This works pretty well when you've made a pie on the peel and it gets stuck as you construct your masterpiece. Don't be afraid to put plenty of flour or cornmeal down and get in the habit of wiggling the handle of the peel every so often to make sure the pizza slides around ok. Sometimes sauce will drip through a hole in the dough and that makes everything sticky and more difficult. There is no substitute for a dry peel - you should never get any grease on it - always slide cooked pie off of peel before you cut. If the restaurant where you got the pre-mades didn't flour a dry cardboard thingy, then it's going to be tough.
Bottom line: plenty of flour, dry peel, jiggle often and when all else fails, pucker up and blow. There's a joke in here somewhere but I need to get back to work.[p]Good luck![p]

CR

The Naked Whiz, thanks, I will give your method a try next time. In spite of the messy appearance, this was one of the best pizzas I have had. The slight smoky flavor was just fantastic.[p]Thanks again.[p]

CR

Seth , thanks, I wish I had thought of this.

Seth

CR,
I learnd it here too.
Seth

FlaBQ

CR,
Ditto on the cornmeal and jiggling the pizza peel every so often to make sure the pizza never gets too stuck to the peel.[p]Another tip I learned from Cook's Illustrated is to place the dough on a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the diameter of the pie. (I usually make the dough, place it on the parchment paper and then trim off the excess.) The whole thing, parchment and all, goes very smoothly from the peel right onto the pizza stone. I've never had a problem with the parchment burning, even at temps of 600+ degrees. Just make sure none of the parchment hangs over the pizza stone and comes into contact with direct flame. Also, once the crust sets, you can pull the parchment right out from under the crust if you like.
Cheers!

LasVegasMac

CR, man, some great comments below - I learned a few things![p]I also use a local take and bake - PaPa John's. The owner was just amazed that the pies were going on a smoker - and wants a taste. We (always the wife) go there enough that they know us.[p]Have always been real close to cooking when the pies arrive, as mentioned below. Takes four adult hands to work the pie loose from the cardboard - not a real hassle - and on to the peel. Peel is always prep'd with cornmeal, same for the stone on the Egg. Always slides with off the peel onto the stone with minimum effort.[p]The only real problem is the kids - they don't like the "everything" option, and kids being kids, we do their's first - cheese only. Dad will be eating part of theirs while the adult pie is cooking. Good stuff.[p]Happy Egg'n.[p]LVM

CR

LasVegasMac, yeah, I really learned a lot from the postings; next attempt will go much better. I am sure.[p]What really amazed me was how good the pizza was. Much, much better than when I got the same pizza cooked at the pizza house. Now the problem is that I am spoiled; I don't think I will ever be satisified with a non-Egged pizza in the future.

Zip

CR,[p]A pizza screen is also something to consider. It can simply be placed on the stone and allowed to cook on the screen until the crust is set. Then take the pizza off the screen, remove the screen from the stone, then place the pizza directly on the stone to finish cooking.[p]HTH!
Ashley