Pizza stone and peel?

[Deschodt]

I've used semolina for bread baking at times - shoulda thought of it... one min on the peel ? damn !! Thanks, good tips... (now try swiss cheese and thank me later)

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

The only real Q is: how do you get the damn pizza to come off the "peel" nicely without turning into a calzone... I can have a bag of flour under it, it's still iffy.. I see gadgets where you can rotate a conveyor belt ;-)


PS: if you wanna try south of france-taste pizza, which eluded me for a bit, different flavor, mix the mozza with Emmental/Gruyere (swiss cheese basically) or even go 100% swiss - you may be surprised, tastes friggin' delicious, the cheese crust is much nicer, and a lot less bland !

Another recent discovery for me: Burrata melting on top of your existing hot pizza (over the mozza), OMG....

This sounds like a great style for fig and prosciutto toppings. I would dot with chevre too. Maybe a honey-balsamic reduction drizzle too.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I've used semolina for bread baking at times - shoulda thought of it... one min on the peel ? damn !! Thanks, good tips... (now try swiss cheese and thank me later)

If its going to be any longer, shake it once in a while.

Swiss is good. One of my go to's is speck, figs arugula and chevre.

[LWJ]

^^^My hat is OFF TO YOU!!!

Greg for the win. I need to do some deeper reading. I think you just took my game to a much higher level. We are in the corn meal camp for now. Have used semolina but didn't know about the release properties.

The power of PPOT is amazing.

Be well everyone!

[jhynesrockmtn]

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

Which Ooni is best?

I've got the small size Ooni.

Yep, I like it, does a good pizza.

Downside is it's much hotter at the back so you are turning the pizza every 15 seconds. And being small and skinny it's harder to turn the pizza. But, it's cheaper, less energy to get it up to temp. And fine for a small number of pizzas.

[MAS956]

I've got the Ooni Koda 16. It was fine "as is" but always in search of better pizza, I did the Ooni hack and no more hot spots. It's been great.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/oonihack/

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by LWJ

^^^wait! Tell me more? You broil the steel? Do you use the lower oven heat at all? This sounds like a big step forward. High heat is super important but my oven barely goes over 500. I was looking at steels and think they have an advantage over stones. This is exciting. More please.

A decent BBQ gets HOT.
Use with a stone or steel and you get something special…

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by greglepore

See above- semolina flour. Move quickly, no more than a minute on the peel. Front edge of peel to back edge of steel/stone, tilt handle up, when front of pie hits the hot surface pull out keeping the up tilt.

I had trouble until I went to semolina.

You can also cheese it with a sheet of parchment paper. My kids don’t like the mouth feel from cornmeal and that fixes it for them. The paper is sacrificed to the pizza gods…

[LWJ]

Update: I promised my dough recipe but Y'all really are bringing a better game than I. So I will reference a book that will pretty well address any questions: The Pizza Bible. It is good.

And, here is my letter to the Bride and Groom. I think it sort of hits the mark.



There is a story behind this gift. And it begins with our wedding back in 1991. We received a pizza peel and stone from someone. But, the tag fell off and we never knew who gave them to us. We spent far too much time trying to figure this out, perhaps the allure of a mystery made the pursuit better. However, we never did figure out who gave them to us.

Either way, the peel and stone got our attention. We were intrigued. As fans of eating pizza, we set out to learn the craft of pizza making. Our first attempts involved a box of Jiffy brand crust in a box. It was simply awful. We tried a few times and then the peel and stone were put away. A few years later, we somehow revisited the quest to make pizza and followed a recipe for homemade dough. It wasn’t much better. Again. The stone and peel were stashed somewhere out of the way and we abandoned pizza making for a number of years. And that was the pizza saga for perhaps 15 ish years. Failure. Disappointment. And let downs. One day, we went to my Cousin Lesli’s home where she made pizza on the grill. It was wonderful. We were re-invigorated with our pizza-quest and quickly followed her precise instructions. (Personal sized dough on the grill. Flip and put toppings on crust after one side is done.). Success! We were making pizza! We took this win for a number of years and didn’t deviate much. It worked in a satisfactory way. It was tasty. But being driven by a quest, we longed for more. Perhaps cooking a pizza inside during Winter? A larger pie? Who knows, we had pizza dreams that were not always addressed by making on the grill. And so we moved our pizza making back to the stone in our oven. New techniques. New crust. Change of toppings. At first, it was a little rough. We modified some things. Made small adjustments. And then? We were making pizza. Not the best pizza, but it was in fact pizza. This evolved for a number of years. We got some techniques mastered. We came up with some toppings that worked well. We gained confidence. Then Kate took a Foods class in High School. She came home with a crust recipe and a sauce recipe that were far better than what we had made previously. Our game was definitely improved. In fact, I will say that we can make some homemade pizza that is pretty darn good. I was going to tell you our recipe and coach you on how we do it when I happened to mention this to Cousins Gina and Tracy. They introduced me to The Pizza Bible. Which I have subsequently purchased for myself. I think you can do a quick read and advance your learning curve far ahead of mine in less than an hour. So enjoy.

But what I really like about our pizza quest? First. I do like pizza. A lot. (Duh.) But it is also somewhat metaphorical. The quest to make perfect pizza is akin to making a perfect relationship. There are starts. There are stops. There are advances and setbacks. And there are rewards.

We hope that you can succeed making pizza. But we really hope that you can succeed in marriage. Both are worth having.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Greg have you been to Mellow Mushroom in Blacksburg? It's a chain with other locations but i've only been to that spot. Fantastic pizza with a very unique dough.

I thought they went under! The one in Lima OH closed in the last couple years. Their pizza was good but their beer selection might have been even better! And their beer cheese was REALLY good.

Originally Posted by Alan A

A decent BBQ gets HOT.
Use with a stone or steel and you get something special…

Yep! I've been doing pizza on my Weber Summit for many years with a stone. No problem getting the stone screaming hot, grill temps will roll above 500 and I can hit it from the top with my rotisserie burner to char it a bit if I want to. Now I have the easy button, an Ooni pizza oven.

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I've got the small size Ooni.

Yep, I like it, does a good pizza.

Downside is it's much hotter at the back so you are turning the pizza every 15 seconds. And being small and skinny it's harder to turn the pizza. But, it's cheaper, less energy to get it up to temp. And fine for a small number of pizzas.

I have two peels. One that I build the pizza on and launch with and one that I turn with. The one I turn with is only 8" wide and works well with my Ooni Karu 12.

[mjohnson]

We have one of the commercial/bougie steels - though honestly some 1/4" hacked off and deburred at ye local machine shop would have been the same for far less $$. Maybe bead blasted to give it a little pleasant texture but it's just a dumb sheet of metal.

It does what it promises and more importantly will never break (besides your fingers if you're clumsy.)

What a stone can't do is step in as a griddle for burgers and such on an outdoor grill. I think I do more meat than pizza on my pizza steel.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

We have one of the commercial/bougie steels - though honestly some 1/4" hacked off and deburred at ye local machine shop would have been the same for far less $$. Maybe bead blasted to give it a little pleasant texture but it's just a dumb sheet of metal.

It does what it promises and more importantly will never break (besides your fingers if you're clumsy.)

What a stone can't do is step in as a griddle for burgers and such on an outdoor grill. I think I do more meat than pizza on my pizza steel.

Yeah, I use mine as a griddle on my gas cooktop. It's really nice as a simmer plate as you can get the sauce or braise away from the burner and slow simmer.

[matthewb0051]

We HAD a Pampered Chef pizza stone. It broke due to heat in oven. One would think heat would be a requirement for it to pass scrutiny at the factory, especially since their stuff is expensive.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by LWJ

Update: I promised my dough recipe but Y'all really are bringing a better game than I. So I will reference a book that will pretty well address any questions: The Pizza Bible. It is good.

And, here is my letter to the Bride and Groom. I think it sort of hits the mark.



There is a story behind this gift. And it begins with our wedding back in 1991. We received a pizza peel and stone from someone. But, the tag fell off and we never knew who gave them to us. We spent far too much time trying to figure this out, perhaps the allure of a mystery made the pursuit better. However, we never did figure out who gave them to us.

Either way, the peel and stone got our attention. We were intrigued. As fans of eating pizza, we set out to learn the craft of pizza making. Our first attempts involved a box of Jiffy brand crust in a box. It was simply awful. We tried a few times and then the peel and stone were put away. A few years later, we somehow revisited the quest to make pizza and followed a recipe for homemade dough. It wasn’t much better. Again. The stone and peel were stashed somewhere out of the way and we abandoned pizza making for a number of years. And that was the pizza saga for perhaps 15 ish years. Failure. Disappointment. And let downs. One day, we went to my Cousin Lesli’s home where she made pizza on the grill. It was wonderful. We were re-invigorated with our pizza-quest and quickly followed her precise instructions. (Personal sized dough on the grill. Flip and put toppings on crust after one side is done.). Success! We were making pizza! We took this win for a number of years and didn’t deviate much. It worked in a satisfactory way. It was tasty. But being driven by a quest, we longed for more. Perhaps cooking a pizza inside during Winter? A larger pie? Who knows, we had pizza dreams that were not always addressed by making on the grill. And so we moved our pizza making back to the stone in our oven. New techniques. New crust. Change of toppings. At first, it was a little rough. We modified some things. Made small adjustments. And then? We were making pizza. Not the best pizza, but it was in fact pizza. This evolved for a number of years. We got some techniques mastered. We came up with some toppings that worked well. We gained confidence. Then Kate took a Foods class in High School. She came home with a crust recipe and a sauce recipe that were far better than what we had made previously. Our game was definitely improved. In fact, I will say that we can make some homemade pizza that is pretty darn good. I was going to tell you our recipe and coach you on how we do it when I happened to mention this to Cousins Gina and Tracy. They introduced me to The Pizza Bible. Which I have subsequently purchased for myself. I think you can do a quick read and advance your learning curve far ahead of mine in less than an hour. So enjoy.

But what I really like about our pizza quest? First. I do like pizza. A lot. (Duh.) But it is also somewhat metaphorical. The quest to make perfect pizza is akin to making a perfect relationship. There are starts. There are stops. There are advances and setbacks. And there are rewards.

We hope that you can succeed making pizza. But we really hope that you can succeed in marriage. Both are worth having.

Beautifully crafted and written, well done! I am sure the bride & groom will remember it forever.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

The one I turn with is only 8" wide and works well with my Ooni Karu 12.

Ah...

Good thinking Nick. I'll try that. Also my dough recipe was too wet. Too wet and sticky. So I'll try a little bit more dry and see if that makes it all a bit less floppy and easier to handle.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Ah...

Good thinking Nick. I'll try that. Also my dough recipe was too wet. Too wet and sticky. So I'll try a little bit more dry and see if that makes it all a bit less floppy and easier to handle.

Whenever my dough feels a bit wet to slide off the peel, I'll either roll it around in the bowl with some 00, bread flour, cornmeal, or Semolina before I form the dough I'll also hit the peel with a healthy dose of any of the above. I've only had a few that didn't launch well.

[LWJ]

^^^Thanks Shaun. That is the idea.

[Bill Douglas]

Yes, I do the semolina trick, but there is so little room for error with the little OOni. I don't want it too dry or I won't get the taste or the big bubbles.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Yes, I do the semolina trick, but there is so little room for error with the little OOni. I don't want it too dry or I won't get the taste or the big bubbles.

I've been starting my dough a little on the dry side. Since it's in a covered bowl for at least 24 hours, it gets some additional moisture during the two rises at room temp.