Ever made a pizza order, wait for hours only to get a soggy one? You will not go through such ordeals again if you start making your pizza. It just takes 25 minutes to make a fresh hot and crispy pizza. The process is more straightforward than most people expectation especially if you have the right pizza tools. The truth is, you do not need defined equipment as long as you in possession of a hot oven and a good imagination of what to top the pizza. However, if you plan to make pizza baking a hobby, it’s wise to invest in some pizza tools to both ease the process and make delicious pizzas.

Pizza tools needed if you bought pizza dough

• Pizza Oven  – A gas or electric oven that has a capacity of heating up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Sheet pan – Every cook has a sheet pan whether they make pizza or not. You can use the sheet pan to bake pizza and when turned upside down, use it as a pizza peel. The sheet pan should be sturdy enough to cook pizza at very high temperatures.
• Rimless cookie sheet – The tool can be used to cook a pizza or as a pizza peel.

Pizza tools when making the pizza dough

Instant Thermometer

If making your dough, it’s essential to measure the temperature of the water which will be used to proof yeast. This is the same thermometer used to check the doneness of poultry and meat. The right temperature provides an optimal condition for the yeast to grow.

Food processor

To make a silky, elastic yeast dough, you almost certainly need a food processor. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook.

Rolling pin

Pizza dough is elastic and can stretch into pizza shape using hands. Home-made dough, especially for beginners, is less durable and can tear. The process of making raw dough is time and energy consuming. A rolling pin is essential to get the dough into the right shape and thickness for baking.

Special pizza tools

These are tools only apply to making a pizza. They are not suitable for any other function in the kitchen.

Pizza Peel

A pizza peel is a long-handled pizza tool used to transfer and retrieve pizza in a hot oven. Regarding pizza peel material there is metal, wood, and composite pizza paddle. Metal pizza spatulas are further categorized into aluminum and stainless steel (perforated or not). Each of these types of pizza spatula has its pros and cons. For example, a wooden spatula is best to place the pizza dough in the oven as it’s less sticky with the dough compared to metal. When it comes to flipping and retrieving, a metal pizza spatula has the edge over wood with its thinness, facilitating easier scooping.

Pizza screen

A pizza screen is a rimmed metal mesh, circular in shape, on which dough is placed and cooked directly in the oven. They look fragile but perform better than pizza stones. In fact, using this pizza tool eliminates the need for a pizza peel to transfer pizza in and out of the hot oven. The meshed bottom allows the pizza to cook by radiation as opposed to conductive heat with a pizza stone. The pizza tool is not vulnerable to breakage or cracking. They even cost less, about $6 for a 14-16 inches screen.

Pizza trays

This pizza tool is a thin and light-weight a metal used to serve and transfer ready pizza. The pizza trays are available in a range of sizes 9-20 inches in diameter. They are never to be used in the oven but can handle a hot pizza directly from the pizza stone. The small pizza strays cost approximately $4 while the large size goes for about $10.

Pizza wheel

This pizza tool is a round-wheeled knife used to slice either dough or cooked pizza. A pizza wheel can be used to slice other flat food such as fresh pasta, fruit tarts, and cookie bars. You can choose to serve the food with your baked pizza or not. A pizza wheel cost about $20.

Pizza stone

For crispiness reasons, this pizza tool is yet to be replaced. Most of the pizza stone measure 13 inches costing $30. When cooking a pizza, the round stone is placed in the oven and heated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Maintenance of the pizza stone is easy. Only wash with hot water (not detergent as the stone is absorbent).

There are many online shops and local stores selling pizza tools. Check the ones with best prices and knowledgeable staff to help with selection.

Pizza making tools

Some years back, a pizza was synonymous with takeaway and delivery. Still stuck in that era? Well, anyone can now make a pizza at home, thanks to pizza making tools. It could be for your home date or when friends and family meet in the backyard to celebrate an occasion. If you are new to pizza making, the chances are that you won’t find a single pizza making tool in your kitchen. The reason is, unlike a majority of other cutlery, pizza making tools are uni-taskers begging for specialty tools.

There are dozens and dozens of pizza making tools and gadget to choose. However, some are more important than other. To help you replicate some of the great pizza recipes, here are the pizza making tools that you need to add to your kitchen kit.

A kitchen scale

Every pizza specialist will agree that a kitchen scale is an essential tool for home pizza making. Forget the measuring cups and spoons; they are not accurate enough to make a consistent dough. The kitchen scale, which most are now digital, is used to weigh all ingredients to make a pizza dough. The raw dough has symbiotic cultures of lactic bacteria and yeast. For the right rate of fermentation occurs, the ingredients must measure precisely as per instructions in the recipe.

A pizza peel

A pizza peel or pizza spatula is another primary pizza making tool. Its role is to launch, flip and retrieve the pizza while keeping the baker knuckles at a safe distance from the oven. For beginners its better to have two pizza peel, one made from wood and the other metal. The wood peel will be used to launch the raw dough into the oven, and the metal one used to retrieve the fully baked pizza. Raw dough is less likely to stick to wood peel while metal peel is thin enough for efficient pizza retrieval. If having both spatulas exceed your budget, then you can buy a metal spatula and use a parchment paper when launching the dough.

A pizza wheel

Try portioning a pizza with a knife, and you will end up dragging cheese and toppings all over the place. To avoid the mess, try using pizza cutters. The non-traditional options are some funky looking scissors or elongated mezzalunas, which will consume all your kitchen storage. However, none of these pizza making tools works better than a classic pizza wheel, e.g., Tolovo’s 2-in-1 with interchangeable blades and dishwasher safe.

A baking steel griddle

Traditionally, people used a particular stone to bake their pizza. The stone has since become replaced by a baking steel which has higher conductivity and better volumetric heat capacity. Now a pizzaiolo can get a crisper crust and deeper char on the pizza using the same baking temperature as before. A baking steel also lasts a lifetime, or longer, compared to pizza stone which needs an average of one replacement per year for heavy bakers. You can even make pizza for dinner and in the morning use the steel treat your family with bacon and pancakes.

A dough mixer

If making a small batch of dough, then mixing with hands is better as it allows one to have a tactile sense of how the dough is changing. However, mixing a large dough with hands is cumbersome calling for the use of a dough mixer. The pizza making tool should have a dough hook and a right horsepower to make mixing even faster.

A dough scraper

Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, now it’s time to portion out into pizza size. This is where this pizza making tool comes in. There are two types of dough scrapers: a metal scraper and a flexible poly scraper. The poly scraper is used to remove sticky pizza dough off the mixing bowl while the metal used to scrap off random dough stuck on the kitchen counter as well splitting the big ball of dough into several pizza-sized portions. The pizza making tool is also handy for picking up chopped garlic or herbs and transferring them into a pot on the stove.

To dress the pizza, you will need a squeeze bottle for oil, and a ladle for the sauce. You don’t have to purchase the bottle and ladle if you already have them in your kitchen kit. Also, get yourself a lovely Apron to protect your clothes from the dough and stains from the pizza toppings. From there, get the recipes and let curiosity help you make your favorite pizzas right in your home kitchen.