Here's how to stretch dough, 2 pizza video links, I learned
some new tricks here, just copy & paste

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5347508625907345088&q=using+a+pizza+peel&total=2&start=0amp;num=10&so=0amp;type=search&plindex=0

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5347508625907345088&q=using+a+pizza+peel&total=2&start=0amp;num=10&so=0amp;type=search&plindex=0

Have fun, lots of fun!

Lucy

Hi, put the pizza on some parchment paper, trim to pizza and then put it on a cookie sheet. Slide it right onto the pizza stone. The paper won't burn as long as you trim it to the pizza. Good luck!

You need a pizza peel and so do I!!

{{!gwi}}

Michelle

Yep, the pizza peel is the answer. Got one for my husband for Christmas. He puts corn meal on it and it slides right off. NancyLouise

Lucy: I saved your addresses and put 1 in Google.
The Garden Web comes up. Is this right ?
Lou

Yes, use a pizza peel. A sprinkling of cornmeal acts like little ball bearings so the pizza will roll right off, onto the stone, if you give a quick snap of your wrist. You need to sprinkle your peel with cornmeal, then make your pizza on it, then transfer to the stone in the oven.

If you don't have a peel, you can improvise by using the back of a cookie sheet.

You don't want to use parchment when using a stone. The point of using a pizza stone is that the stone is porous, and as such, absorbs some of the moisture from the dough, so the crust becomes crisper. If you use parchment, you might just as well bake your pizza on a cookie sheet--the stone won't have the opportunity to do it's job properly with the barrier between it and the dough.

It sounds like you are assembling the whole pizza before baking it. Oven peels and cornmeal sprinkles will work, but just for kicks here is a different approach: pre-bake the pizza crust before you put the toppings on. Transfer your raw dough sort of like a pie crust -- get it the shape and thickness you want, roll it around a rolling pin, then unroll it from the pin directly onto the hot baking stone. Bake until lightly browned, pull it out of the oven, flip it over on a cookie sheet. Spread the soft 'underside' with sauce, toppings, cheese. It's easy to slide it off the cookie sheet back onto the pizza stone for final baking -- and you can be assured of a nicely browned bottom crust.

Pizza peel sprinkled with conrmeal here, too!

scarab4life,

A pizza peel is the way to go.

Here's a link of my pizza baked w/2 baking stones w/photo's

Lucy

Here is a link that might be useful: pizza

I use parchment paper with a pizza stone. The reason it works for me is because I like to oil the crust so it bakes up crispy. (Since I like a thin crust pizza myself!) There's no way I could get my oily crust off a peel onto the stone, which is why I use the paper. Nor could I begin to get the crust I get with a stone by using a cookie sheet...and I don't like cornmeal on the bottom of my crusts since I bake my pizza at 500 degrees; the cornmeal always ends up burning on me...

A peel is helpful, although I usually slide the pizza (on the paper) off the back of a cookie sheet onto the stone so I don't have the rim as a barrier.

I use a pizza screen. I've tried using a peel, but I got better results with a screen. A screen is much better than a cookie sheet and is made specifically for that purpose. I would use a peel, but I don't have enough space in front of my oven.

If you don't like cornmeal on the bottom of your pizza and want to use a peel, you can use semolina flour instead.

Lars