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Our pizza expert-approved picks keep your dough intact and your pies perfect. Homemade Outdoor Oven
You've gathered all the ingredients to make the ultimate pizza at home: fresh dough, your favorite sauce, lots of cheese, and a spread of delicious toppings. But getting your creation from your work surface to the oven is no easy feat. Pizza dough is sticky and can bunch or tear, leaving you with a tangled, doughy mess — or, worse, a smoke-filled kitchen and messy oven.
Starting your pizza journey, you might want to invest in a new pizza stone or fancy pizza oven. But a pizza peel is an oft-forgotten tool you need for stress-free pizza making. Look closely next time you're at your favorite pizza restaurant; peels are the tool you'll see professionals wielding to flawlessly handle hundreds of pizzas per night. This large paddle helps move dough in and out of the oven seamlessly. You can even build your pizza right on top of some peels to cut down on mess, and how many times you have to move your delicate dough.
Peels are super important for the best quality crust; they keep everything lying flat, knock off excess flour to prevent burning, and lift the pizza during cooking to get that perfectly baked crust. We spoke with a few pizza pros to get their insights on the best pizza peels for any budget or material preference. With one of our favorites, you'll be well on your way to becoming a master pizzaiolo.
We love the beveled edge and the size match of this peel to most pizza stones.
The acacia is beautiful but requires more upkeep than other types of wood.
Steven Richard of Paddlefish Restaurant at Walt Disney World has used the same pizza stone and wooden peel in his home kitchen for over 30 years. Take a page from his book with the Ironwood Gourmet Napoli Pizza Peel, crafted from durable, food-grade acacia wood with a smooth, slanted edge for easy sliding. The size and shape of this peel are a perfect match for most pizza stones, so you don't have to worry about estimating the proper pie size. "When the two tools are the same size, they work together as a team. I can build a pizza that will cover the whole stone right on the peel. With a bit of coarse cornmeal between the peel and the pie, the hardwood peel slides the pizza to the stone without sticking," says Richard. All wooden peels require some maintenance, but acacia in particular needs frequent oiling to prevent drying out and cracking. It might be a good idea to pick up a bottle of food-grade mineral oil when you buy one of these peels.
Material: Acacia wood | Paddle Size: 14 x 14 inches | Handle Length: 6 inches
This lightweight, heat-resistant aluminum peel has cutouts to make maneuvering pies easier.
The fairly thin metal can bend or warp if abused, and the long handle makes it tough to store.
John Arcudi of San Francisco's Delfina is a longtime user of metal pizza peels. "My favorite peel to use is metal because it's super-light, longer, smaller, and much easier to manipulate in the oven. We load the pizzas with a standard wooden pizza peel, but we much prefer the metal peel while in the oven and for removal," he says. You can hold a metal peel in the extreme heat of an outdoor pizza oven for much longer than wood, giving you time to rotate and remove your pies carefully. The cutouts help avoid sticking and allow steam to escape, keeping your crust from getting soggy as you move and serve it. When you build your pizza on a perforated peel, excess flour falls through the holes, keeping it from caking to the crust and burning.
Ooni makes our favorite pizza oven, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that we also recommend the brand's peel. The 14-inch width should fit most standard pizza ovens, but there's also a 12-inch size if you want small pies and a 16-inch version for extra-large ones. There are two negatives with this (and most any) metal peel: The thin aluminum that makes it light and agile is apt to warp if you leave it in the oven for too long, or bend if you don't treat it with care; and the long handle requires a very tall or deep cabinet for storage.
Material: Aluminum | Paddle Size: 14 x 14 inches | Handle Length: 13.5 inches
This inexpensive peel is easy to wield, and its basswood material helps prevent cracks and warping.
The unfinished surface of the wood is prone to pick up stains.
New Star is one of the more popular peel brands on the market, a favorite among pizza chefs for their build quality, reasonable price, and many different size options. With a tapered edge and thin body, it can quickly slide under a pie without disrupting the dough, and the lightweight basswood material resists cracking and warping through many cycles of washing, drying, and heating. You can choose from all sorts of paddle sizes and handle lengths to suit your own pizza setup, but we picked this model as our default for its 14-inch-wide paddle that'll fit most ovens and 10-inch handle that's easy to move around but not so long that you can't store it away.
The negative with the unfinished basswood surface of this paddle is that it's apt to get stained with grease, sauce, and ash more easily than a oiled acacia. But as long as you wash the peel between uses, the stains won't really interfere with performance — and you can see them as a record of your great pizzas of the past.
Material: Basswood | Paddle Size: 16 x 14 inches | Handle Length: 10 inches
The wide shape, ergonomic handle, and convenient hanging loop make this peel convenient to use.
It requires special cleaning to avoid warping and splinters.
The smooth acacia surface of Crate & Barrel's peel ensures that pesky dough won't stick, allowing your pizza to slide seamlessly into and out of the oven. Finished off with an ergonomic handle, it'll give you no trouble maneuvering all types of pizza, even larger pies. We also love the thoughtful hanging loop for easy storage of what's normally a bulky pain. It's also thick enough to resist warping over time — if you dry it immediately after washing and avoid rough sponges or scrapers. Moisture can increase the likelihood of warping, and scrubbing under water can raise small wood shavings can pill from scrubbing under water.
Material: Acacia wood | Paddle Size: 14 x 14 inches
This round steel peel comes with a long-handled brush for keeping your pizza oven clean.
The 40-inch handles make these tools hard to store and maneuver in tight spaces.
If you're serious about at-home pizza making in a large outdoor oven, you need the right tools for both cooking and cleaning. Bryant Haren of Barca Pier & Wine Bar in Alexandria, Virginia, recommends this set. "While the peel allows you to drop the pizza into the oven, the brush removes the ash from the wood and flour away from the deck of the oven. If the deck isn't swept regularly, then the pizza will char on the bottom, leaving it black and bitter. How often an oven is swept has a direct effect on the quality of the pizza coming out."
This round peel has a perforated carrying surface like the Ooni above, though in a smaller size. Both tools are over 40 inches long, so you can easily reach deep into any oven. But they're mostly meant for big ones and will be awkward to use with an indoor pizza oven, or in a cramped outdoor space like a balcony. You'll probably also want to hang them for storage, as they take up a lot of drawer or cabinet space.
Material: Aluminum | Paddle Size: 9-inch round | Handle Length: 40 inches | Includes: Oven brush
The wide rectangular shape of this peel makes moving large pizzas easier, and we love that the bamboo material resists oil absorption and bacterial growth.
It's thicker than other wood peels, which can make it difficult to slide under pies cleanly.
This pizza peel from Zulay is made from three layers of restaurant-grade bamboo and finished with a light coating of oil for lasting durability. Bamboo is less susceptible to absorbing oils from cooking and resists bacterial growth more than other types of wood. It's also fairly inexpensive, so it's a great choice for a pizza peel. This model is slightly wider than standard at 15 inches, and it's extra-deep, with lots of room to hold large pizzas and move them around securely. Like other wooden peels on this list, it features tapered edges, but it's a bit thicker than other peels; it might take some practice to nail the technique of sliding all the way under a pie.
Material: Bamboo | Paddle Size: 22.85 x 15 inches
This low-maintenance peel combines thin metal paddle with sturdy wooden handle.
The paddle lacks perforations, which can cause cooking issues.
Typically, metal peels require less maintenance and upkeep than their wooden counterparts: a quick wipe and it's clean. But a wooden handle is nice to hold and easy to move around. This American Metalcraft peel gives you both. "This will be your best friend for moving and rotating the pizza as it cooks. It works well to remove the cooked pizza to a cutting surface to serve," says Rick Moonen of Perry's Restaurants, which has locations around the country.
Besides heat-resistance, another big advantage of the aluminum paddle is that it's thinner than wood, easy to slide under dough without deforming or tearing. However, this paddle doesn't have the perforations of other aluminum options, which can trap flour as well as moisture under the dough. It's important to move quickly and have a light hand with the flour with this professional-style peel.
Materials: Aluminum, wood | Paddle Size: 16 x 18 inches | Handle Length: 12 inches
We loved the Ironwood Gourmet Pizza Peel for its beveled edge and perfect size for most pizza stones. The New Star Pizza Peel is our best value pick, given its durable wood, ergonomic handle, and low price.
The most important dimensions for any pizza peel are the length and width of the surface that actually holds the pizza. The size of your paddle affects both how big of a pizza you can make and what ovens it's compatible with. A typical pizza oven has a very small opening to hold in heat, and you'll want to pick a peel that can actually fit in yours. A width of 14 inches is fairly standard for ovens; this can fit a 12-inch pizza with room to maneuver. Make sure you choose a peel that matches your oven or pizza stone. Some professional-style peels have small round paddles rather than squares or rectangles; these take more practiced technique but can also be more nimble in a crowded kitchen.
Traditional, restaurant-style pizza peels have extra-long handles that can reach deep into large pizza ovens that need to hold many pies at a time. Since most of us don't have a 5-foot-long pizza oven in our kitchen, a short handle will do just fine in most setups. But if you have a dedicated pizza oven and some space to move around it, a longer handle is helpful to keep your fingers away from high heat. Storage also comes into play; a short handle can fit in a cabinet, while a longer one might need to hang on a wall.
Pizza peels are general made of either wood or metal, typically aluminum. Metal is much easier to clean and requires little maintenance or upkeep, but its smooth surface means dough loves to stick. Some models have perforations to help deal with this, but using lots of flour is a good idea. Wood peels have a rougher surface and require less flour to prevent sticking, but they don't react well with water and can warp or crack over time if they absorb too much moisture. Certain types of wood need regular oiling and careful washing.
The short answer is no. This is especially true if you're new to home pizza making and don't want to invest in specialized equipment yet. You can bake pizza in a regular oven, using oven mitts for protection, on a sheet pan. But the best pizza requires really high heat — 500°F and often higher. A long-handled peel helps keep you from burning yourself around those dangerous temperatures.
Peels are also helpful when it comes to building your pizza. The dough is sticky, and transferring a floppy pizza from the counter into the oven can be nearly impossible without a wide, flat surface to carry it on.
Pizza peels have two uses: providing a surface on which to build your pizza, and ferrying pies to and from the oven. For the first step, start by liberally dusting your peel with all-purpose flour, cornmeal, or, like many pizza restaurants, coarse ground semolina flour. This will keep your pizza from sticking. Next, stretch the dough into shape, place it on the peel, and give it a gentle jiggle; if it can't slide around easily, add more flour or cornmeal to prevent sticking. Finally, top with whatever sauce and toppings you like, giving it one more gentle shake so there's no surprise sticking when it comes time to "launch" it into the oven. It's good to work fairly quickly once dough touches peel, as the longer the dough sits the more likely it is to stick.
When it's time for cooking, you also want to move quickly to conserve as much heat as possible. Open the oven door and place the edge of the pizza peel on the furthest edge of your pizza stone or baking sheet. Gently tilt it up from the handle, quickly pulling the peel towards you as you tilt, sliding the entire pizza off onto the baking surface in one motion. When your pie is done baking, place the edge of the peel right at the edge of the crust, keeping the peel level with your baking surface. With one quick thrust, push the peel all the way under the pie and carefully lift it out of the oven.
You can, but we really wouldn't recommend it. Even though they may look likewooden cutting boards, wood peels are not meant for cutting. They easily absorb oil and liquid from toppings or sauce, which can mean staining and even bits of rancid food steeped into your peel. Plus, the scratches a pizza cutter will leave in the wood will lead to sticking next time. It's best to just skip the risk entirely and cut your pizza on a cutting board. On top of that, if you're making more than one pie, cutting the first one on the peel backs up the process of getting the next one in the oven.
For wood pizza peels, avoid exposure to water as much as possible. Wood is porous and can absorb water, leading to cracks and warping. Dust off any excess debris and use a damp cloth to wash off any other food. For deeper stains, soap and a sponge are okay, but don't soak the board, and be sure to dry it thoroughly right after washing.
For stainless steel and aluminum peels, hand-washing with soap and water is your best bet. Some peels are dishwasher-safe; check the manufacturer's instructions to be sure. All peels, metal or wood, should be thoroughly dried to prevent damage.
Tabletop Pizza Oven Clarissa Buch Zilberman is an acclaimed food writer with nearly a decade of experience. She has written for Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Visit Florida, and more. For this piece, she researched and tested different pizza peels and consulted chefs and pizza experts.