How do I launch my pizza off of my peel and into my oven?

When you’ve completed the above, move on to the steps below:

Step 1. Put a generous dusting of flour or semolina onto your peel

Step 2. Place your pizza base onto your peel if it isn’t there already

Step 3. Do the ‘shoogle’

• Pick up your peel and give it a shake - your entire pizza base should move freely.

• If any edges are sticking, add more semolina underneath.

Step 4. Add your toppings

• Keep them light.

Step 5.  Do the ‘hovercraft’

• Lift up one edge of your pizza base and give a gentle blow of air.

• This creates air pockets underneath your pizza and spreads excess flour to any areas that might be sticking. 

Step 6. Launch your pizza

• Hold your peel inside your oven just above your baking stone.

• Shake your peel back and forth slightly while pulling it back out of the oven to slide your pizza onto the baking stone.

• Move fast, but don’t panic!

Step 7. Use a different peel to rotate and retrieve your pizza - this step is only necessary if you're making more than one pizza and if you’re not using an Ooni peel.

• Using two peels will prevent your next pizza bases from being in contact with a hot peel (hot peel = dough sticking = launching issues)

  • Ooni peels, however, are not susceptible to this. If using an Ooni peel, you can use one peel to launch, rotate, and retrieve no matter how many pizzas you make.