Pat-zza,
Welcome to the forum.
While I don't ordinarilly use parchment paper, I know that some people like to use it so that the unbaked pizza doesn't stick to the peel because of tears in the dough (usually undetected) or an overly moist pizza dough. The parchment paper is placed on the peel and a shaped pizza dough is placed on top of the parchment paper and dressed in preparation for depositing the pizza in the oven and onto tiles or a pizza stone (some people also use a dusting agent between the parchment paper and the peel or on top of the parchment paper). To be on the safe side, the parchment paper can be trimmed to a size a little bigger than the unbaked pizza so that the edges of the parchment paper don't burn while the pizza is baking. Some people leave the parchment paper in the oven the whole time the pizza is baking. I think it is better to remove the parchment paper fairly early into baking so that the bottom of the pizza can brown up and become crispy as the moisture from the dough is absorbed by the tiles or stone. When I experimented with using parchment paper, I just opened the oven door and, using standard kitchen tongs, lifted the pizza up just enough to be able to remove the parchment paper with my fingers. You don't want to leave the oven door open too long so that the heat of the oven doesn't escape too much. You also don't want to wait too long to remove the parchment paper because it has a tendency to disintegrate and fall apart when it is subjected to high oven heat. To canadave's point, the drawbacks of using parchment paper should be sufficient incentive to learn how to make pizzas without reliance on parchment paper.
I'm also with canadave on the use of flour rather than cornmeal as a dusting agent for the peel. Cornmeal is the most common dusting agent, and has a nice nutty flavor which many prefer. However, the cornmeal is also susceptible to charring and burning and possibly turning bitter on the pizza bottom when it comes in contact with the hot tiles or stone. It can also make a mess in the oven, requiring periodic cleaning to get rid of the burned remains.
Over time, you will learn that there are many possible choices for a dusting agent, such as white flour, semolina, corn flour, cornmeal, cream meal (which has a granulation between corn flour and cornmeal), cornstarch, wheat bran, rye flour, rice flour, or even fine bread crumbs. With all these choices, I prefer plain old white flour because it doesn't impart another flavor to the crust. But is it all a matter of personal preference. Some people like the added flavor imparted by the particular dusting agent selected.
In looking at pizza peels, you might want to look at both wood and metal pizza peels. Either is acceptable but, having used both, I personally prefer the wooden version because dough doesn't seem to stick to it as readily as a metal peel. A metal peel, however, does make it easier to remove a baked pizza from the tiles or stone because it is much thinner than a wood peel (despite the tapered edges of the wood peel) and slides more easily under the baked pizza to facilitate its removal from the oven. If the added expense is not a problem, you can achieve optimum flexibility by having both types of peels on hand. This is what I have done.
Whichever peel or peels you decide upon, you will want to make sure that you get the right size. That will depend on the size of the surface area of your tiles and the size of the pizza you want to make in relation to that surface area. So, if you decide to make pizzas no greater than 14 inches, for example, and your tiles can accommodate that size, then you will want to look for a peel that has a "blade" (that's the part of the peel that will hold the unbaked pizza) that is at least 14 inches by 15 inches. I use a pizza stone and 14 inches is about the maximum size pizza I can make in my oven while allowing a few inches around the stone for air circulation (which is recommended by the manufacturer of my stone). With tiles, you may be able to get another inch or two increase in pizza size for a standard size home oven, which will necessitate an even larger peel size. I would also recommend that the peel you select have a reasonably long handle--about 8 or 9 inches should do--so that you aren't reaching into a very hot oven with a handle that is too short for the job.
Peter
