Which is the best Pizza Peel?

Making pizza at home can be a very rewarding experience but also very frustrating. Many a home pizza chef knows the sinking feeling that comes when their delicious base and favourite toppings stick and ‘bunch’ onto a scalding hot pizza stone. A pizza peel (also known as a pizza paddle) can help make this problem a thing of the past. So which pizza peel is best?

The answer to this question is Yes if you fall into either of the following categories:

• You have difficulty transferring pizza dough to or from your hot pizza stone or pan;
• You want to transfer your pizza with more finesse, speed, and surety of success.

Whilst it is undoubtedly possible to make good pizza at home without a pizza peel, doing so can be very challenging and most people find that a pizza peel makes the process easier and helps ensure a great result.

If you are planning on making pizza on a regular basis or just want a reliably good result when you do, then a pizza peel is a good investment. Pizza peels are inexpensive, they last a long time, and they enhance the enjoyment of pizza making by removing the most common frustrations of making pizza at home.

So which is the best pizza peel?

They are a wide variety of pizza peels available, with the major differences being size, thickness, and composition. Size generally isn’t much of a differentiator as most pizza peels can easily accommodate a large family size pizza.

Thickness is an important consideration, especially when removing a pizza from a pizza stone - if the pizza peel is thick then it can sometimes push the pizza to the back of the pizza stone rather than slide underneath it. Some pizza peels overcome this by incorporating a bevelled edge whilst others are made of material that has enough strength to be very thin.

Composition, or the material your pizza peel is made of, is probably the major consideration when comparing the different pizza peels on the market, as the composition plays a large part in ease of use, non stick characteristics, and performance. The different types of pizza peel composition can roughly be sorted into the following groups:

• Wooden pizza peels
• Metal pizza peels
• Wood fibre pizza peels – such as an Epicurean pizza peel
• ‘Conveyor-type’ pizza peels - such as the EXO Super Peel

Wooden pizza peels are generally inexpensive, long lasting, and provide a good all round result. These can be made of many types of wood including bamboo, ironwood, birch, cherry and ash.

One thing to be aware of is that depending on the wood type and whether it has been treated with oil, you can sometimes get a taste from a wooden peel. This can be especially true if your wooden pizza peel absorbs a lot of moisture - wooden pizza peels are not dishwasher friendly and should be carefully hand washed.

Care needs to be taking not to get your wooden pizza peel too wet as this can make it prone to warping or cracking and some people find they work best when they simply scrape down their pizza peel rather than wash it. Wooden pizza peels have good non stick properties, especially when used in combination with cornmeal on the pizza base. Although it may be tempting, care should be taken to not use your wooden pizza peel as a cutting board as the indentations and cuts left on the peel can cause pizza dough to stick.

Like with other pizza peels that don’t have a ‘conveyor belt’ action (see below), inexperienced wooden pizza peel users can find it difficult to slide a fully laden pizza onto a hot stone without losing some toppings with some preferring to slide an un-topped pizza base (or one that has only tomato sauce and cheese on it) onto the stone first before adding other toppings.

Metal pizza peels are most often made of either stainless steel or aluminium.

General feedback on Amazon from buyers of aluminium pizza peels suggest that these are best avoided as they can lack sufficient structural strength, especially when used on large pizzas. Aluminium pizza peels can be prone to metal fatigue where the peel joins the wooden handle and can also suffer from bending, making them much less effective.

A stainless steel pizza peel is a better option than aluminium peel due to stainless steels strength and durability. Stainless steel pizza peels often have a wooden layer underneath which also provides additional rigidity.

One important thing to note is that stainless steel pizza peels are mostly suited to removing a cooked pizza from the oven rather than for transferring a pizza onto a pizza stone or pan, and many stainless steel examples are marketed this way. This is due to stainless steel being prone to sticking to pizza dough.

Whilst not as foolproof as a conveyor-type peel like the EXO Super Peel, stainless steel pizza peels are generally a cheaper option although more expensive than comparable wooden pizza peels.

The Epicurean brand offers pizza peels made out of wood fibre. These pizza peels are generally thicker than metal peels but thinner and stronger than wooden peels. In terms of performance Epicurean pizza peels perform better than metal peels for transferring pizza into an oven as they are relatively non-stick, however like with wooden peels the thickness of a wood fibre pizza peel can make it more difficult to remove the pizza than with metal peel.

An attractive bonus with a wood fibre pizza peel is that they are knife friendly, they won’t warp or crack and are even dishwasher safe. Heat resistant to 350F, Epicurean pizza peels can also be used as a board on which to place hot items. Wood fibre pizza peels are generally maintenance free and do not require oiling like some wooden peels.

There is effectively only one common example of a ‘conveyor type’ pizza peel, which is the EXO Super Peel. The EXO Super Peel comprises a wooden peel (Ash or Cherry) with a sliding cloth conveyor which provides a non stick surface for pick up and transfer of pizza dough.

Generally regarded as the most effective and foolproof way to transfer pizza onto a pizza stone, theEXO Super Peel deals very effectively with sticky or delicate dough and can transfer a fully laden pizza without losing toppings or distorting the pizza’s shape.

A great feature is that the cloth ‘conveyor’ is removable and machine washable. Whilst generally more expensive than other peels, most users find the EXO Super Peel is well worth the extra expense. From a performance basis, when compared to the other types of pizza peel the EXO Super Peel is the clear leader and has gained the recommendation of Cooks Illustrated as well as many other authorities on kitchen equipment.

The widely accepted star performer is the EXO Super Peel – it's foolproof and very effective however it does come with a price premium. If the price isn't a problem and you want the best then this is the pizza peel to buy. For those who are more budget conscious, a wooden pizza peel is the way to go – they perform well and are inexpensive. (However, when looking for kitchen equipment, be it the best pizza pan, pizza stone or pizza peel, you tend to get what you pay for - so avoid anything that appears is cheap but that appears to be cheaply made)

Whilst stainless steel pizza peels appear to be the favoured type for removing pizza from an oven, their performance in transferring an uncooked base onto pizza stone is debatable and they are probably best avoided by anyone who wants and all-round tool.

The best pizza peel is one that suits your individual needs, so try to find a pizza peel that has the right combination of performance and price. One of the best ways to do this is to read reviews from other home pizza chefs who currently use a pizza peel. The best place for this is on Amazon – where you will not only find the widest number of pizza peels for sale but also a huge amount of product reviews andimpartial feedback from current pizza peel users.

Buon Appetito!