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Pizza Peel...wood or metal?

Boatman
Boatman Posts: 854
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
I would like to buy a pizza peel but don't know anything about them. So...which peel do you like....wood or metal....and WHY?
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Comments

  • Richard Fl
    Richard Fl Posts: 8,297
    I do not have a peel, but thought that if I were to get one, this site looks interesting.

    http://www.splinterswoodworks.com/photo_pages/photo_page20.php.

    And if you are crafty,

    http://www.nakedwhiz.com/peel.htm
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  • RRP
    RRP Posts: 26,451
    It's a personal thing, but I prefer metal for ingress and egress of the pizza, but cut and serve on my wooden peel. If you really want something cool to use for baking get the tool in the middle called a Super Peel.
    IMG_2158.jpg

    click here for a Super Peel demo.
    http://www.superpeel.com/
    Re-gasketing the USA one yard at a time 
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  • East Cobb Eggy
    East Cobb Eggy Posts: 1,162
    Personally, I too have thought about getting a pizza peel, but do not know if I would use it that much.

    Additionally, I do not know where I would store it. They are not really small.

    Greg
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,565
    my preference goes to an unfinished wooden one. the unfinished wood alows you to rub a little flour into it before placing the dough on top. i hate cornmeal on pizza and this helps. also as they get cut up slicing the pizza on them, they tend to work better.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    I love my wooden one...

    http://www.katom.com/158-5217.html

    you can't beat the price...they have metal also...

    we make the pie right on the peel & slide it on the BGE & cook...then take out with the peel...it is so easy....

    Kim Youngblood
    (aka vidalia1)
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  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    I have both and prefer the metal one. I picked it up at a restaurant supply store for around $15. -RP
    pizza.jpg
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,565
    looks like the same peel i have
    100_1489.jpg
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • Cpt'n Cook
    Cpt'n Cook Posts: 1,917
    I slapped one together from a piece of 1/8 inch Luan that I had down in the basement, its no thing of beauty but the unfinished wood works great with a little corn meal on it. Easy pizzy on and off. It did pick up a little singe on the corners.
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  • Darnoc
    Darnoc Posts: 2,661
    I prefer a wooden one because I think it easier to clean,add flour or corn meal to the peel and stay in place. The main thing is because often I can't estimate sizes very well when forming the size of the pie.On a wooden peel I draw a 8/10/12/14 inch circle on the peel and when you form the pie it will be the right size as well as being uniform in shape.
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  • Spaceman Spiff
    Spaceman Spiff Posts: 358
    That is exactly how I do it.

    Spacey
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  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    ditto :P

    Kim Youngblood
    (aka vidalia1)
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  • mikeb6109
    mikeb6109 Posts: 2,067
    wood and i make my own and i pesonalize them a bit!! here are a few i made.
    here is one i just sent out to little steven....
    steven002.jpg

    here is mine
    2007_10180011.jpg
    pizza-peel.jpg

    and a few more i made!!
    pizzapeelsizes.jpg
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  • Frank from Houma
    Frank from Houma Posts: 5,755
    Don't have any experience with metal but I like my homemade wooden peel. Made from redwood scraps after making two tables. Does the job fine.

    101_1581640x480.jpg

    Tonights Zaa

    101_2000640x480.jpg
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  • Boatman
    Boatman Posts: 854
    Very classy...you ae quite the craftsman! ;)
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  • Rick's Tropical Delight
    Rick's Tropical Delight Posts: 1,564
    slate! :woohoo:

    peppizza-006.jpg
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  • UnConundrum
    UnConundrum Posts: 536
    Drill a hole in the handle, near the end, and hang it on a hook on the wall. Sign of a true cook :)
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  • UnConundrum
    UnConundrum Posts: 536
    Big fan of wood here too. I think the dough can stick more to the metal ones.... too smooth. Sort of a suction type thing can happen.

    P1010116.JPG
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  • Eggtucky
    Eggtucky Posts: 2,746
    Prolly one of my most used 'eggcessories'..love mine...
    PeelnPan.jpg

    have to admit though..been thinkin bout a metal one..if you have a little bit of dough stick and aren't careful w/a wood one, you will tear your pie when taking it off the stone...I think a thinner metal one would prevent this better..more like a spatula...
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  • lhousesoccer
    lhousesoccer Posts: 24

    Just got a BGE this summer and cooked on it only a few times.  We have a size Large, and have the size Large BGE pizza stone to go with it.  Love the pizza, but the challenge has been getting the soft raw dough to slide off whatever we make it on, onto the heated stone on the BGE. 

    So, I'm considering buying a pizza peel but can't decide between stainless or wood.  What will make the pizza slide better?

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  • Jellyworm
    Jellyworm Posts: 96
    I love my wood one for all the reasons mentioned!
    Large BGE
    Houston, TX
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  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    edited September 2015
    I have both. Wood for pie into the egg. Metal to pull pie out. 
    And I use the metal one to pull Boston Butts & briskets out cleanly. Yes I could use my claws etc but, the peel pops the bottom loose and it comes out nice and easy. 
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
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  • Jupiter Jim
    Jupiter Jim Posts: 3,351
    I have both, metal for putting in and out of the Egg and wood for slicing.
    I have a Roswell rig that allows me to bake two pizzas at the same time and I do that a lot. I will prep one on the metal peel first then put it in the egg, then get the 2nd one ready on the wood peel, take the first pizza off the bottom stone and move to the top with metal peel, load 2nd pizza on the bottom stone. When first one is done it goes on the wood peel for slicing and the 2nd pizza goes on top stone until done. If your not at least a little confused by now I'm sorry. It all works for me though!!! :)

    I'm only hungry when I'm awake!

    Okeechobee FL. Winter

    West Jefferson NC Summer

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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I've had the same pair of cheap, unfinished wooden peels for at least 20 years now and no desire for anything else. A bare pinch of semolina (or the easier to find cornmeal) on the peel is all you need to allow the pie to slide off onto the hot stone. Shake the peel a bit after adding each ingredient to keep the dough from sticking.

    Some folks use an aluminum peel to remove the pizza once its done, but I don't see the need. Maybe it works better, but I've never used one so I don't know.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
    Raw dough sticks to metal easier than wood, so many prefer to launch using wood. Metal slides under a cooked pizza easier than wood, so may prefer to retrieve with metal. I find that retrieving with a wood peel is not that hard on an egg so I stick with a wood peel. 
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
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  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,232
    Wood

    Dust lightyl w/ corn meal and no sticking issues - ever.
    New Albany, Ohio 

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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    FYI The guy that posted this last used this site in 2011.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    nolaegghead said:
    FYI The guy that posted this last used this site in 2011.
    Yep, a very old thread. But the newbie who revived it did so at 9:59 this morning. It is his first and only post.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,565
    nolaegghead said:
    FYI The guy that posted this last used this site in 2011.
    i dont believe boatman was ever a member here, i think his profile was stolen from the greeneggers site when greeneggers owned the eggheadforum domain =)
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • lhousesoccer
    lhousesoccer Posts: 24

    Thank you very much to all the responses.  Yes, I am a newbie!  Wife got me the BGE for Father's Day this year and we are LOVING it!  Still learning a lot, a long ways to go.  We picked up the pizza stone a couple weeks ago to add BGE pizza to our repertoire and it's been fantastic, but the first pizza I tried to slide from the metal perforated pizza pan we used to cook with in the regular kitchen oven ended up looking like a Jackson Pollock painting by the time I managed to scrape the dough from the pan to the stone.  LOL.  So, this morning I Googled BGE Pizza Peel and found this thread.  I've been a member for a while and have enjoyed reading tons of tips on various threads, but this is my first post.  Sorry for reviving such an old thread.

    By the way, my first "knocked it out of the park" achievement was a spatchcocked chicken (one that I raised myself) with a brown sugar paprika rub.  No words to describe the juiciness and flavor of that bird.  Looking forward to much more cooks.  My next hope is to learn Low and Slow.  I want to do a pork shoulder, but I'm a little nervous trying to figure out how to maintain temperature for that long. 

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  • mlamb01
    mlamb01 Posts: 210
    I know its an old thread, but what the heck...  I use one of the natural epicurean ones.  I like it because I can cut the pizza on it as well, smooth, and dishwasher safer.  http://www.epicureancs.com/pizzapeels.php
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