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[stiletto]

I was wondering what everyone uses for pizza lube to slide off the peel?  I have been using flour myself, but my crust has been getting a little charred on the bottom and I thought it might be because of using flour instead of corn meal.  Any tricks to getting the bottom crust crispy but not blackened?  It is very touchy, I am cooking at 500-550 on a soapstone tile, and going from 5 min up to 6 min seems to push it over the edge.  I prefer the 6 min crust on top, but the 5 min crust on the bottom!

[Pete-zza]

stiletto,

Are you using sugar in your recipe? Sugar can cause excessive bottom browning and blackening because it caramelizes, especially at high oven tempereatures, and often before the rest of the pizza is done. Another possible solution is to use a screen, or a screen in combination with the stone. The metal of the screen acts as a barrier between the pizza and direct heat and protects the bottom of the crust from overcooking. If you want, you can slide the pizza off of the screen onto the stone once the crust has set. Using the screen also eliminates the need to use any dusting agent. Another possibility is to lower the oven temperature a bit and let the pizza cook longer. You can also try raising the position of the stone. If you are using too many toppings, the crust will often finish baking before the toppings have finished cooking, and will then start to turn black if left too long beyond that point.

Peter

[PizzaBrewer]

When it's necessary, I prefer semolina.  I strongly dislike corn meal, and flour is not much better.

But the biggest improvement in my pizza peel technique was my recently-purchased wooden peel.  It's a vast improvement over the aluminum one for getting the pizza onto the stone.

You might consider turning on the broiler after the pizza goes in to cook the toppings without over-cooking the crust.  It takes some trial and error, but it's helped my pizzas.

---Guy

[Steve]

Lift the edge of the pizza closest to the peel's handle and gently blow a bubble of air under the dough. It will slide off like it's on ball-bearings! No flour or cornmeal required. 

[duckjob]

Lift the edge of the pizza closest to the peel's handle and gently blow a bubble of air under the dough. It will slide off like it's on ball-bearings! No flour or cornmeal required. 

This works, and its absolutely amazing. I will occasionaly dust the peel with just a little flour if I am using a wetter dough. When I do use flour, I'll sprinkle some flour on the peel, spread it around, then turn it upside down and let most of it fall off, you're left with a very fine dusting of flour that works great in conjunction with the bubble technique Steve mentioned.

Brian

[Pizza Meister]

stiletto,

Flour, semolina, cornmeal, blowing your pizza; these all work to some degree, but the only sure fire way to always have complete control and even be able to reliably lift a pizza off the prep surface (great if you are prepping more than one, or DIY pizza parties), is with a Super Peel.  It all becomes just plain easy!

Pizza Meister

www.superpeel.com

[stiletto]

Lift the edge of the pizza closest to the peel's handle and gently blow a bubble of air under the dough. It will slide off like it's on ball-bearings! No flour or cornmeal required. 

I have tried blowing a bubble underneath, but the air doesn't seem to trap well.  I will probably practice getting the bubble underneath in conjunction with flour, and as I improve my bubble technique, use less and less flour.  I had read in here on another post that you should put your stone in the lowest position in the oven, and I guess that had blinded me to moving the stone up a rack position or two.  Only one out of the three pizzas I made Saturday was blackened enough underneath that it added a bad flavor, so all was not bad!

[duckjob]

The position of your stone is going to vary from oven to oven, it all depends on what works best for you. With my oven for example, the heating element is on the top of the oven, and unless I have the stone on the middle rack, the top doesn't brown quick enough. I preheat for an hour, so the stone is plenty hot. It takes some experimentation.

I have tried blowing a bubble underneath, but the air doesn't seem to trap well.  I will probably practice getting the bubble underneath in conjunction with flour, and as I improve my bubble technique, use less and less flour.  I had read in here on another post that you should put your stone in the lowest position in the oven, and I guess that had blinded me to moving the stone up a rack position or two.  Only one out of the three pizzas I made Saturday was blackened enough underneath that it added a bad flavor, so all was not bad!