There are several techniques for using a pizza paddle. Should you use a wooden pizza paddle to build your dough and set it in the oven, or should you use a flat surface and use a metal pizza paddle to place it in your oven?
There are three schools of thought. How about giving each a try and settling for the one that works best for you.
As per professional pizzaiolo, building a dough on the paddle is uncommon. Most opt to prepare the dough on a cool counter then slide a pizza paddle under to set it in the oven. All traditional pizza paddles were made of wood. While the wooden pizza paddle served the purpose, it was less convenient regarding weight and flipping the pizza when in the oven.
An aluminum pizza paddle is light, especially the perforated ones, easy to scoop the dough and is slippery enough to let the dough slip off. Also, paddles of restaurants caliber are long-handled to allow working on multiple pizza baking at the same time in the oven.
Wooden pizza paddle
Most home bakers assemble the pizza dough on a wooden pizza paddle and then slide it onto the metal peel to set it in the oven. The technique doesn’t work well with professionals, but for beginners, it minimizes the chances of ruining the pizza when the raw dough gets stuck on the kitchen counter.
If organizing a party, keep several small wooden pizza paddles to involve guest in the baking and a few pizza cutters as well so they can help. Kids find baking fun too.
The third option is to use a long-handled wooden pizza paddle to one, make the pizza dough and two, slide it into the oven. This technique eliminates the risk of messing up with the toppings or dropping the dough.
However, the long handle means more space which gets it challenging to move around the kitchen if it’s crowded with kids or guests. But, if you are baking a family pizza for dinner, then it the most convenient, low-stress technique.
Why you need to have both metal and wooden pizza paddle.
Regardless of how you choose to place your pizza in the oven, you will still need a metal peel for turning and retrieving the pizza. This process is less efficient to do with a wooden peel due to its thickness.
A round metal peel makes the job even more comfortable, but you can still choose a rectangular pizza spatula if baking one pizza at a time. Use the wooden pizza paddle for placing the dough into the oven as the two are less likely to stick. The wooden peel can also act as the pizza serving board. This helps you by not making you buy extra equipment.
Maintaining both pizza paddles
A metal and wooden peel have different maintenance levels. The wooden pizza paddle must not be mixed with dishwater and need to be completely dried to prevent warping. Wood also tend to absorb fluids from pizza toppings so pay attention when washing to avoid contamination when you prepare the next pizza.
As per the metal pizza peel, cleaning and storage are easy. It will also outlive the wood pizza peel. Some people prefer to use it alone. This is made possible by incorporation of a parchment paper to ease placing of dough into the oven.
Choosing the right length of pizza paddle
The default role of a paddle is to keep the baker hand safe from the furnace. Therefore, it’s imperative to choose the right length of peel paddle. To do this right, know the size of your oven and add some allowance inches from the door. A too long handle makes flipping the pizza a daunting task while a short handle puts your knuckles at risk.
To make the issue of length less tedious how about purchasing a paddle with a slide that moves up and down the handle or better, one with a handle you can fold. Such a feature not only makes flipping the pizza efficient but minimize the kitchen storage consumed by the pizza paddle.
Note that making a great pizza does not start and end with a pizza paddle. You also need to invest in other quality pizza making tools. Do that, and prepare to deal with friends and family members stopping by at your house just to get a piece of your home baked pizza.
Wooden pizza peel
Some say, there is no better feeling of having a warm piece of pizza in your hand and fast internet after a long-tiresome day. A pizza, just like a slow internet, can spoil such moments if it’s not warm enough or lacks the crispiness. Warming it on a blazing-hot surface is the only trick. The result is a crisped, well-charred pizza.
However, the process presents a hazard. To ensure that you are only placing your pizza on the pizza stone and not your hand, it’s imperative that you use a pizza peel. Furthermore, no pizza is good enough if it means burning your hand.
Pizza peel comes in varieties. The main categories are metal pizza peel and wooden pizza peel. In this article, we shall narrow down to the wooden pizza peel. Some of the question we shall address include: why should I choose a wooden pizza peel? , how to take care of a wooden pizza peel and which are the limitation of using a wooden pizza peel?
Why a wooden pizza peel is a good choice
Wood material prevents sticking of raw pizza dough on the surface. This character not only save you the trouble when putting the dough in the oven but also it avoids wastage of dough. For that reason, a wooden pizza peel has found its way into the kitchen of both professional and home pizzaiolo.
Wood is a bad conductor of heat. Unlike metal pizza peel, a wooden pizza peel takes longer to conduct heat from the pizza stone and intensely heated oven. Therefore, you can blissfully enjoy the cooking process without having to worry about sustaining burns.
A wooden pizza peel is attractive. The wood material makes it rustic and decorative for the kitchen hence you don’t have to worry about where to hide it after use. You can also use the wooden pizza peel as your serving board thus saving time and money used to purchase a supplementary serving board.
Wood pizza peels are cheapest. Compared to a metal pizza peel, a wood pizza peel is by far the least expensive. You can get a beautiful pizza peel from as low as $7.
How to maintain a wooden pizza peel
Oil the pizza peel before use. This will ensure that the wood does not dry out and crack in the long term. Food grade mineral oil is the most recommended. Using olive oil or other vegetable oil will leave a sticky residue on the pizza peel surface.
However, some pizza cooks opt to go the peel in its natural state as it makes the dough slide more easily. If you start experiencing trouble with the flow of the dough, you can choose to stop oiling or better, oil the wooden pizza peel occasionally.
To clean a wooden pizza peel, use a sponge and soapy water. Do not place the pizza peel in a dishwasher. If there is any cheese or sauce stuck, use a nylon scrub pad and then wipe. White vinegar will make the process easier plus it acts as a great disinfectant too.
Thoroughly air dry the wooden pizza peel after washing. To ensure it’s scorched, place the pizza peel in a dish drainer for hours. This is to ensure that the peel does not absorb moisture and render it warped.
When cooking, do not let the dough sit too long of the wooden pizza peel. Prolonged contact becomes warm and sticks on the peel. In case this happens, use a squeeze bottle to blow air below the dough. Your mouth might work, but for hygienic reasons, it is not advised.
Pay attention to burning marks. Wood might be a bad conductor of heat, but it burns quickly. When using a wooden pizza peel, you need to remain conscious through the pizza cooking. Do not beat yourself with this as using a wood peel especially on a grill will burn eventually and obtain burning marks.
Limitations in wooden pizza peel
Like any other great products, a wooden pizza peel has its disadvantages. First, wooden pizza peels are thick. Thick peels mean difficulty in storage and rotating when cooking necessitating the use of a smaller spatula or tongs just to slip the pizza on to the peel. Also, compared to metal peels, a wooden pizza peel needs high maintenance.
Based on the pros and cons of using a wooden pizza peel, most professional recommend having two peel: a wooden for placing the dough and a metal one to cook and retrieve the pizza from the oven.
Wooden pizza peel amazon
Choosing the right ingredient is crucial to making a great pizza. A well- crafted pizza stone will determine how crispy your pizza will be. When talking about essential pizza making tools, we cannot forget the means that help to get the pizza in and out of the oven.
Every experienced pizzaiolo will agree that not only do you stand baking a poor pizza but also your expose yourself to the furnace if you use the wrong tool to place and retrieve a pizza from an oven.
Originally, pizza peel was used to bake other things like bread and pastries. Somewhere along that need to figure out how to get delicious foods in and out of flaming hot oven, the wooden pizza peel was born.
Centuries has since past, and the pizza spatula has become diverse in regards to material and design. Wood, however, continue to be impressive to pizza bakers. This is because it does not stick with dough when placing it on a pizza stone. You can opt to get the peel from a local store or wooden pizza peel amazon.
Why choose wooden pizza peel amazon
Convenience
Thanks to the internet, one can now purchase a wooden pizza peel from the online marketplace such as Amazon. Some people argue that shopping for a pizza peel is better done in a local store as one can interact with several wooden pizza peels before making the final decision.
While that is true, moving around a huge store is a time and energy consuming activity. If you are a busy person and would love to bake pizza for your family on weekends, you can place a wooden pizza peel amazon order on while in your car, office or from vacation and when you get home, the peel will be waiting, ready for action.
If you are sick or disabled, you can order wooden pizza peel amazon using a laptop or smartphone right from your bed. How about using the platform to buy a wooden pizza peel and have it delivered to your parents as a gift?
Amazon operates on a 24/7 basis. If the idea of wooden pizza peel amazon hits you in the middle of the night, you are free to place an order and have the peel shipped within two days.
Review
Online shops have a platform for customers to give feedback on how they find the product. When buying wooden pizza peel amazon, you can read tens of review about specific product giving you an idea of what to expect. Most of the time, people thank the reviews saying it helped them not make a bad purchase.
Price comparison
There is a variety of wooden pizza peel amazon. Each of these peels has a price tag on it. To help purchase within your budget, you can filter the wooden pizza peel by price range preventing impulse buying. Amazon also has a section for items re-sold by consumers. You can get a wooden pizza peel amazon at a lower price than in retail stores.
How to take care of wooden pizza peel amazon
After making a successful wooden pizza amazon purchase, the next big thing is to use the tool right and maintain its condition for optimal service. Seasoning your wooden pizza peel is one way to take care of a wooden paddle. The term “seasoning” may be misleading to inexperienced pizzaiolo because it does not involve the use of any spices. Professional seasoning of the wooden pizza peel amazon requires the use of cornmeal and food-grade mineral oil.
Start by applying a thin layer of food-grade mineral oil on the side that will face the pizza. The food-grade mineral oil protects the wood making the pizza peel amazon to last longer. Then sprinkle flour on the same face of the peel to absorb moisture and ensure the pizza dough slide off easily.
Do not leave your wooden pizza peel amazon in the oven or exposed to prolonged heat. Wood cannot tolerate high temperature. Otherwise, the pizza spatula will sustain burn spots and get distorted. After utilizing the pizza peel amazon, immediately wash it with hot clean water (no dishwater) then dry it thoroughly as moisture will damage and warp the wood.
There is a wide range of wooden pizza peel amazon designed with durability, safety, and sustainability in mind. All you need is take time and select the right one. If successfully done, then you are one step closer making a delicious pizza.
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