Just slide it parchment and all on to the stone. You can then leave it for the full baking time on the parchment or 1/2 way through the bake when the loaf has set up well you can remove the parchment and complete the bread directly on the stone. There shouldn't be any difference in the outcome. Hope you will post pics ! c

I agree with trailrunner, I leave mine right on the parchment. I let it rise on parchment on the back of a sheet pan (I don't have a peel), then just grab the parchment by a corner and slide the whole thing off onto the hot stone, or in my case, another sheet pan which has been preheated in the hot oven.

Annie

The other option is to use a paddle to lift and slide the loaf on to the hot stone. Which is what I use. But , the easiest option is to do as Trailrunner and Annie suggest.

~Ann

If I'm leaving it on the parchment, I'll trim the parchment close to the loaf, especially if it is a loaf that is cooking at high temperature.

I've been working to get better at sliding bread off the peal without shaking it so much as to deflate it. I'll put corn meal or semolina on the peal (to act as ball bearings that the loaf can slide on) and put the loaf to rise on the peal. It helps to give the peal some gentle shakes to make sure the loaf is free before opening the oven and sliding it in.

Ann, I haven't tried raising it on parchment and then sliding the peal between the dough and parchment to lift and transfer it to the oven. When you do that, do you put something like semolina under the rising dough to make it easier to lift off the parchment?

Cloud, I have a large pastry/bread board that the loaves are left to rise on. It is floured well, sometimes just flour, sometimes flour and a little cornmeal .

It is important to use the cornmeal for pizza. Makes it easy to slide the paddle under the pizza and on to the stone with cornmeal.

You carry the loaf on the parchment paper and set it on the heated stone. Then you whip the paper out from under the loaf, so fast that the loaf quivers once and stays in place. You know, like how you whip away the tablecloth if a spot appears after all the crystal and china has been set in place. Don't you? Ha, neither do I. And who remembers to lay down a second tablecloth anyway? I leave the parchment paper on the stone. It won't interfere with the baking, and we won't break any crystal.

See - that just never occurred to me. I can surely just leave it on the paper and put the paper and all on to the stone.

No china or crystal needs to get hurt and no loaves need to end up on the oven floor. Actually, I can almost see the paper cuts on my fingers if I tried whipping that paper out from underneath.

Thanks so much.

Ha...John..I want video of that maneuver ! You can't get anything between parchment and the bread so don't try ! It will adhere like glue till partway baked. As cloud mentioned you should trim parchment if cooking at 500 which is what I do my pizza and breads at on an open stone. Otherwise will burn.

To get a teflon like release from any other surface other than parchment use 1/2 and 1/2 regular flour and rice flour. Rice flour allows NOTHING to stick...it is amazing everyone on The Fresh Loaf has been using it for years to make sure that dough comes free from a linen couche or peel . You can get it at any Oriental grocery. You will love it when you try it. Look forward to pics ! c

Trailrunner - you're absolutely right about rice flour. I first saw it in a "Baking with Julia" episode in which Steve Sullivan of Acme Bakery was the guest. He used rice flour when proofing his bread before moving it from the counter to the oven. I've used it ever since. Though parchment is really foolproof.

Cheryl

Hmmm, interesting about the rice flour. I've always used pastry flour as bench flour because it releases so much better than AP or bread flour. I'll try rice. Thanks!

/tricia

tricia..1/2 and 1/2...and make sure and dust it off of the loaf if you are using it on the bench as you shape/stretch and fold your bread. You don't want to fold in the raw flour as you are making your seams in the bread..it leaves white creases. Hope this makes sense. I only use it to rub into my linen that I line my rising baskets with. I also use it in my banneton. On the bench when doing stretch and fold I just use regular flour and a gingerly touch ! Also a bench scraper. c

Way late follow-up and no pictures :(

Our house was broken into and the only thing the thieves took was our 7 year old digital camera. They broke a storm door, the exterior door, the jamb and some trim. Mighty impressive that someone would go through all that trouble for a old camera. Unfortunately for them, the rechargeable batteries are likely worth more than the camera. The repairs are surprising expensive but just below our deductible - so no new camera for me for a while.

Leaving the parchment paper works fine and was easy to manage. The loaves stayed stable pretty well and I got a nice final rise in the oven off the hot stone.

I'll try the rice flour thing after I find a $9 peel!

Oh bmor, how terrible! I certainly understand that deductible thing, but hope the emotional aftermath isn't horrific too.
Thankfully, they didn't take anything more than an old camera.

I leave the parchment on breads and trim the edges closely.
The biggest messes I have ever made involved cornmeal and pizzas and I am never doing that again!
While I am intrigued by the rice flour idea, those messes are still vivid!

bmor, I'm sorry to hear about your house. Mine was broken into several years ago by a local juvenile delinquent. The only aftermath was that I was seriously ticked off for quite a long time, every time I realized something ELSE was missing or broken. Grrrr.

Kind of like BB, my worst messes have been made with a peel, or trying to slide dough off the bottom of a sheet pan or something else that I should have known better than to have tried, LOL. The parchment works well for me and the peel can stay in Elery's possession. Not that he uses it either...

Annie

Glad the parchment worked. My DH bought our peel at a restaurant supply store. I have a couple of wood ones but the one that is easiest to use has a metal blade which is thinner for slipping under things.

Sorry to hear about the house break-in. Someone broke a window to get into our car once because we'd left a tea cozy with a teapot in it in the back seat. The thief may have thought it was a purse. The damage cost a lot more to fix than the worth of the item. That made me even more angry about it. But I've also not found a good tea cozy like the one that was taken.