A peel does three jobs: it carries the raw pizza into the oven, turns it while it bakes, and brings it out. How many peels you need depends on how many of those jobs your oven asks of you. Technique (dusting, the slide check and the launch itself) is covered in launching and rotating pizza; this page is about choosing the peel.
What each job needs
- Launching needs a surface raw dough won’t grab. Forkish recommends a wooden peel because the moist, unbaked pizza slides off wood more easily than off metal, and dresses his pizzas on the peel itself. He dusts it lightly with the same flour as the dough.
- Turning depends on the oven. In a kitchen oven, Forkish turns a pizza front to back with a pair of tongs, and only if one side is browning faster. In a pizza oven, the side nearest the flame colors fast, so you turn it several times. A small turning peel does that without taking the pizza out.
- Retrieving needs an edge that slides under a baked crust. A thin metal peel does it most easily, though Forkish’s equipment list for a kitchen oven has just one peel, a wooden one.
Materials
| Material | Good at | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | Launching raw dough, which slides off it more easily than off metal (Forkish) | Thicker edge; keep it dry |
| Solid metal | A thin edge for turning and retrieving | Raw dough is more likely to stick to it (Forkish) |
| Perforated metal | Less surface for the dough to stick to, and excess flour falls through the holes (Forkish, Ooni) | Ooni’s aluminum peels are hand-wash only |
| Composite | Building a pizza and moving it in and out of the oven, per Epicurean | Rated to 350°F (176°C) and not cookware, per Epicurean: for transfers only |
Forkish notes that some Italian metal peels are perforated for this reason: there’s less surface area for the dough to stick to. Ooni says its perforations let steam escape and excess flour fall away, and gives its perforated peel a tapered edge to slide under the base.
A composite peel carries a pizza in and out; it isn’t a baking tray. Epicurean rates its paper composite to 350°F (176°C) and says its cutting boards and pizza peels aren’t cookware for the oven, grill or microwave, so don’t leave one on a hot deck, under the broiler or in a flame. For turning and retrieving, which keep a peel in high heat for longer, metal is the clearer choice.
Size the blade to your pizza and your oven
Width. Buy a blade at least as wide as your largest pizza. Forkish recommends a wooden peel about 14 inches wide for his pizzas of about 12 inches. Baking Steel tells buyers of its 16 × 16-inch Pro, which is made for 16-inch pizzas, that they’ll need a 16-inch peel. The Pizza Planner’s New York pizza is 14 inches, so a 14-inch blade suits it.
Fit. In a kitchen oven, check that the peel goes through the door and reaches across the steel or stone without hitting the walls. In a pizza oven, the opening and the largest pizza the maker lists set the limit: a peel wider than the opening is no use.
Turning peels are small on purpose. Ooni sells its turning peel with a 7-inch head, which it suggests for smaller ovens and more experienced cooks, and a 9-inch head for larger pizzas and beginners.
Handle length
- Kitchen oven: short or medium, as Forkish recommends. A long handle is awkward in a kitchen.
- Pizza oven: longer, to keep your hand back from the opening. Ooni’s perforated peels are about 26 and 27.5 inches long overall, and its turning peels about 32 inches.
One peel or two?
Kitchen oven: one. A wooden peel launches and retrieves, and tongs turn. A thin metal peel makes retrieving easier but isn’t essential.
Pizza oven: two. A launching peel plus a turning peel. A perforated metal peel can both launch, with light dusting, and retrieve; if your dough tends to stick to metal, launch from wood instead.
Peels compared
Sizes and materials as each maker lists them, checked October 14, 2026. They aren’t our measurements. Prices change often, so check the maker’s current price.
| Peel | Blade | Overall size | Material | Care | Maker’s page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ooni Perforated Pizza Peel | 12 or 14 in | 26 or 27.5 in long | Anodized aluminum blade, glass-reinforced nylon handle | Hand wash; don’t leave in high heat | Ooni |
| Ooni Pizza Turning Peel | 7 or 9 in, perforated | About 31.5 or 32 in long | Anodized aluminum head, glass-reinforced nylon handle | Hand wash | Ooni |
| Epicurean Pizza Peel | 10, 12 or 14 in wide | 17.5, 19.5 or 21.6 in long; 3/16 in thick | Paper composite, rated to 350°F (176°C) | Dishwasher safe, per the maker; not cookware | Epicurean |
Care
- Wood: keep it dry. Start each pizza on a cool, dry peel, since flour turns sticky on a damp surface.
- Aluminum: Ooni says to hand-wash its peels, not to put them in the dishwasher, and not to leave them exposed to high temperatures for long periods.
- Perforated: once the peel is cool, brush trapped flour out of the holes, and otherwise follow the maker’s cleaning instructions.
- Composite: Epicurean lists its peels as dishwasher safe. Use one only to move a pizza in and out; Epicurean rates the material to 350°F (176°C) and says peels aren’t cookware.
Sources
- Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza (2016): chapter 4 (“Wooden Pizza Peel”) and chapter 5 (“A Quick Note About Hearth Pizzas” and steps 7 to 9: wooden and perforated metal peels, dusting, the 12-inch pizza, turning with tongs).
- Ooni: Perforated Pizza Peel and Pizza Turning Peel product pages (sizes, materials, care, perforations). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Epicurean: Pizza Peel product page (sizes, thickness, material, care) and product facts and features help page (350°F heat rating; peels and boards aren’t cookware). Checked October 14, 2026.
- Baking Steel: Baking Steel Pro product page (16-inch pizzas and peel size). Checked October 14, 2026.