How to Keep Pizza Dough from Sticking to a Pizza Stone
Making pizza at home can be fun and rewarding instead of baking a frozen pizza or ordering takeout from a pizza chain. You can choose your own toppings and layer the pizza any way you want. You can also put on as much cheese as you desire. Yet, one of the problems home cooks face when making homemade pizza is transferring pizza to a stone without it sticking.
Why Do I Need a Pizza Stone?
When you want to make authentic-tasting pizza at home, you need to use a pizza stone or get an outdoor pizza oven that already has pizza stones built into the base of the oven. Pizza stones are designed to handle the high temperatures needed to bake pizzas to perfection.
Pizza stones will not burn the bottom of the pizza dough. Yet, they cook the pizza much faster than simply placing it on the baking rack or a pizza screen. Furthermore, the high temperature and faster baking features found with a pizza stone cannot be replicated with any other material, baking sheet, or cooking accessory.
In fact, pizza stones have been around for quite some time. They have been used in Italy for generations to make various Italian foods, including breads, pizza, roasted meats and vegetables, and desserts.
How to Keep Pizza Dough from Sticking
It is not too difficult to learn how to keep pizza dough from sticking when using a pizza stone with fresh dough by using these great tips:
#1. Ensure your pizza dough is not too wet.
Wet dough translates to sticky dough, and it will stick to the pizza peel and make it difficult to slide it onto the pizza stone. Also, if the dough is too wet, it can be challenging to remove it from the pizza stone once the pizza is baked. If your dough feels wet and sticky, simply add a little bit more flour until it is no longer sticky.
#2. Use flour or cornmeal on the surface where you stretch out the dough.
Before putting the dough on the countertop to stretch it out, sprinkle flour or cornmeal on the surface. This will help prevent the dough from sticking. You can also lightly dust your hands with flour to make it easier to work with the dough.
#3. Always use cornmeal or flour on the pizza peel.
When transferring pizza to a stone, one of the biggest problems people have is the dough sticking to the pizza peel. The best way to avoid this is to flour or cornmeal the pizza peel, and then slide it under the dough.
#4. Always preheat the pizza stone to the desired temperature.
The stone must be preheated along with the oven or outdoor pizza oven to bake pizza correctly. The most common cause for pizza sticking to a stone is because the stone was not preheated.
#5. Keep the pizza stone clean.
Leftover bits that remain on the stone can cause the next pizza you bake to stick. Use a brush to remove the bits before baking the next pizza.
#6. Use parchment paper on the pizza stone.
If you are having sticking issues when using a pizza stone with fresh dough, you can place a sheet of parchment between the pizza stone and the pizza.
#7. Avoid using flour or cornmeal directly on the pizza stone.
If you put flour or cornmeal on the pizza stone, and then put your pizza on the stone, the flour or cornmeal will burn, and that burnt flavor will bake into your pizza. This is why you should only use flour or cornmeal on the pizza peel. When it is on the bottom of the crust before being placed on the pizza stone, it bakes evenly and will not burn.
#8. Never use oil or cooking spray on the pizza stone.
It might seem tempting to oil the pizza stone or spray it with cooking spray to prevent sticking. However, doing so could cause your pizza stone to crack and break, so don’t do it.
Outdoor Pizza Ovens and Pizza-Making Accessories
By using the above tips, you will soon become a pro at using a pizza stone with fresh dough and not having it stick. When you want to take your pizza-making skills to the next level, you should get an outdoor pizza oven for your home from Fontana Forni.
We offer several different hand-crafted models in Italy using the highest quality of materials. We also carry various pizza-making accessories that you need when using a pizza stone. Please feel free to explore our online store or contact us at 877-842-9822 for further assistance today!
