On Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:46:38 -0600, "Janet Bostwick"
> wrote:
> JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
> > Stopped at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday to get a pizza peel, and the
> > one they had in stock was about as thick as two pencils, with a
> > business end that didn't seem tapered enough to slide easily under a
> > pizza. It was also made of some kind of wood that wasn't much heavier
> > than balsa. Seemed like it end up gouged all to hell by the pizza
> > cutter. Made in China, of course.
> > I haven't had time to look elsewhere yet. If you've got one, how
> > thick is it, and is the leading edge blunt, sharp, or what?
>
> I have a metal one with a wooden handle. The metal part is about 18 inches
> square and the handle is perhaps 2 feet long. Very hand for rising bread or
> developing pizza. The metal is thin enough that it slips easily under
> anything.
Mine is like Janet's, except that the blade is a bit smaller; the
handle is also somewhat shorter and it folds for storage. I like it
very much. The heavy oak (I think) handle pulls the center of gravity
back toward the user, even when loaded, which makes it easier to
handle.
I have a lightweight wood peel, too. They're made of basswood, not
balsa, as a rule. The lighter weight of this wood is a feature, not a
bug. Using a heavy wood like walnut or maple or oak would just kill
my wrists at full extension and it would be very hard to maneuver. I
never had any problem with the edge going under the bread or pizza, as
it's tapered. I usually use a spatula or a cooking fork to keep the
pizza or bread from sliding off the back of the stone on its little
corn meal roller bearings and I lift the front edge with that, to make
it easier to slide the peel under it.
I don't cut pizza on the peel, wood or metal, because I assume that
the cutter will score the peel, making it less slick. I have enough
trouble getting bread that has risen on flour, not cornmeal, off the
peel that I'm not taking any chances.
Mary "I got the metal and wood peel at cooking.com two weeks ago."
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
or
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