Monday, March 27, 2006

Really obvious question

How do I get my nice homemade pizza from the bench to the piping hot pizza stone?

Posted by Martha Craig at 5:20 PM

3 comments:

Oy Vey said...

cornmeal on the bench helps to keep it from sticking, but i've always used a pizza paddle - stupid one-use tool, but it's the only thing that works for me.

aha! another thing you could do is decorate the pizza on the bottom side of a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal then slide it off onto the stone.

5:51 AM, March 28, 2006
Martha Craig said...

Thanks, good advice. I made it on a baking sheet with lots of flour, and it still didn't want to budge, so cornmeal is a brilliant idea.

It actually still cooked brilliantly - best pizza I have ever made.

7:08 AM, March 28, 2006
stephen said...

I do something like oy vey. I dust one of my thinner chopping boards with cornmeal - or polenta, or flour, or whatever suitable grainy crap is in the pantry. And then I put the dough on top of that and assemble the toppings. Before I slide the pizza off the board on to the hot stone I give the board a little shaky-shake, just to check that there isn't any unexpected stickage. So basically I have a paddle without a handle. Word to the wise: if you overload the pizza, the toppings can take on a life of their own. I'm sure that's the real reason artisanal pizza always has mingy toppings. Anyway, I've only ever had one sticky episode since I adopted this technique, and that was when I let some wetter-than-usual dough sit on a poorly-floured board for a long time.

We had pizza from Al Volo the other night, and they work on a floured bench. The assembly guy rolls, stretches and works the dough all on a floured surface, so the underside stays dry and always slides. And then they use a paddle. I might try that myself next time.

I also think you'll get less sticking if you make sure the dough has rested for a few minutes after you've shaped it. It wants to contract and I think it likes to grab the surface underneath when it does.

4:30 PM, March 28, 2006

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