7 Kitchen Items To Use As A Pizza Peel Substitute

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So your recipe says to preheat your pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven. Now you realize you’ve got to get your pizza dough onto this blisteringly hot object but you don’t have a pizza peel.

One of my best tips for making pizza at home is to use a pizza “steel”, which works hand-in-hand with a peel, check out all my recommended tools.

Here are 7 things to use as a pizza peel, and how to use them:

1. A Rimless Cookie Sheet

A cookie sheet differs from a baking sheet in that a cookie sheet has 1 raised edge and the baking sheet has 4 raised edges. This is to allow the cookies to slide off easily when cooked.

This design also works well for the pizza – we want to slide the pizza off easily to the cooking surface in the oven. Cookie sheets are usually non-stick surfaces also.

2. Rimmed Baking Sheet Flipped Upside Down

As it has 4 raised edges, you have to flip this one upside down. This can be a bit problematic if the raised edges are too large.

The pizza has a long way to drop off so I’ve made a mess of a few pizza stones doing it this way. It can be hard to grip flat also, so harder to get your technique right.

Recommend getting the thinnest sheet you can find, or using parchment paper.

3. Parchment Paper To Build And Transfer The Pizza.

This is called baking paper in some parts of the world and is basically a disposable non-stick surface. This isn’t waxed paper though – you don’t want to put that in the oven as the wax will smoke and affect the taste.

Parchment paper is a mess-free way to transfer the pizza and doesn’t involve any flour or semolina mixture.

Once you’ve stretched the dough, you can transfer it to the paper and continue topping. When ready, you open the oven and pull out the rack with the pizza stone, and then put this directly on top.

The paper can withstand the heat but will darken and become brittle when touched. So you need some other equipment to retrieve the pizza – use a pair of tongs to pull it out to a plate and then dispose of the paper.

4. Use A Stiff Piece Of Cardboard As A Pizza Peel

This works well as the cardboard is so thin so is easy to transfer. But you do need to find cardboard stiff enough as it needs to support the weight.

Things like old pizza boxes, or online delivery packaging work well. Just cut a square out that is 14″ wide. It won’t last forever though.

If your pizza sauce touches the cardboard it is a nightmare because the dough will automatically stick to the wet card here, so be extra careful when topping the pizza.

5. Use A Cutting Board As A Pizza Peel

This can work well as most are thin and some have handles that actually resemble a pizza peel. They aren’t always the perfect shape as they are rectangular.

This isn’t a problem though – just stretch your dough slightly lengthways so that it fits the shape better.

These can be wooden or plastic. Be careful not to touch the plastic board on the hot pizza stone as it will melt within seconds and ruin your stone.

6. Use A Serving Platter As A Pizza Peel

This is a similar concept to the cutting board. Check your kitchen for any wooden serving platters which don’t have a rim as these will work to slide off the pizza easily. Especially good if it has a handle.

7. Cook The Pizzas In A Frying Pan

This is a great alternative to cooking pizza without a pizza stone and peel.

The idea is that you cook the dough on the stovetop first in the frying pan. This crisps the bottom while you put your sauce and cheese on top. You then transfer it to your oven and put it close to the broiler (that is the grill at the top of the oven).

This is either a gas flame or heating element and can get very hot – it will cook and char the pizza crust and toppings. Make sure this has been preheated so it’s hot.

How to cook a pizza in a frying pan:

• Preheat the frying pan and broiler until hot.
• Stretch the dough and drop it into the dry pan. Cook until the underside starts to brown – only a few minutes.
• Add sauce and toppings.
• Move as close to the top of the oven as possible and cook until golden.

How To Use A Makeshift Peel

Stretch some of my pizza dough to around 12″. Dust the “peel” with flour then put the dough on top, stretching it to the edges. Add your toppings but don’t hang around too long before it sticks.

Open the oven, pull the rack out with the pizza stone, and use a swift back-and-forth wrist action to drop the pizza on the stone. Like the magic trick with the tablecloth – pulling back quickly and confidently.

Try not to angle the peel down too much otherwise the edge of the dough will get caught and your toppings will fall off.

How to stop the pizza from sticking to the peel

Using a peel substitute needs some help to stop the dough from sticking to it. Rub some flour on the surface, or better, use some flour mixed with semolina. The little grains help it slide.

• Stretch or roll the pizza on the worktop then transfer to the “peel” to add toppings.
• Work fast once on the “peel” as it will absorb the flour and stick to the metal.
• Shake the “peel” every now and then to ensure it isn’t sticking.
• If it starts sticking then lift the edge and add some flour and shake to release.

Tips On Buying A Pizza Peel

You will inevitably want to buy a pizza peel as they are such a fundamental piece of kit for making pizza. They can be bought extremely cheaply online now.

Here are some tips on the best ones to buy, as there are some bad ones out there (I’ve made the mistakes!).

Wood Vs Metal Peel

Wood pizza peels are better to transfer the pizza to the oven as the wooden surface is porous so absorbs moisture from the dough and stops it from sticking.

Metal peels tend to stick a lot more (which can ruin your pizza party), but they are thinner so are more suited to retrieving the cooked pizza.

I would buy both sets, but if you can only get one then go for a wooden peel and move on to a metal one when you get more experienced.

Best Size Of Peel

Make sure to get one that is big enough as it is frustrating to buy a smaller one and then be limited to the space when you want to make bigger pizzas. A 14-15″ peel is better than a 12″ peel, so aim for that.

If you are making pizza at home in a home oven, then a short-handled wooden peel is fine. If you are cooking in a wood-fired oven then you need to buy a peel with a longer handle so that you don’t burn yourself, and so you can reach into the back of the oven.

Recommended Peels

A wooden peel that is at least 14″ wide is a great option like this Update International peel from Amazon. You can get it different handle lengths – I would recommend a 24″ for the home oven, or 36″+ for a pizza oven so you don’t burn yourself.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many substitutes for what to use as a pizza peel. You will hopefully have one of these in your kitchen already or can pick one up for next time.

Getting a good pizza peel and a pizza stone is one of the easiest ways to start making better pizza at home. You will have extra crispy crusts and they are easier to make, giving you the best results every time.