Update International (WPP-1436) 14" x 16" Wooden Pizza Peel

For the price I was very happy with this. Eventually it warped so much it broke but I got great use out of it for 8 years. This was very useful for “launching” my pizzas on my pizza steel and I would use a metal peel to get it off the steel when the pizza was done. I would recommend this product

This pizza peel is nothing 'short' of awesome--it's huge, cheap, well-made, and great for pizza making. I'm using Alton Brown's terra cotta tiles in the oven technique because I wanted to make big pizzas that wouldn't fit on my old pizza stone. This peel was fantastic. However, as a peel noob I did learn a couple things after my first few tries that I can pass on to you. 1. You must heavily coat the peel with corn meal before putting your pizza on--this works like a can of ball bearings spilled on the floor, letting your pie slide off the peel easily. Otherwise, the wet dough will stick to the peel. A little flour helps, too. 2. If you make a really big 18" pie, be aware of the overall weight of your creation relative to the thickness of your pie dough. If you're like me and prefer super thin crust New York style pies, you need to be careful not to overload the dough with too many toppings. Otherwise your delicately thin dough won't be able to support it, and the pie can tear. 3. Sanding the peel with very fine grit sandpaper, especially the leading, tapered edge really helps the pie slide off and on. 4. Washing this peel seems to be a mistake. When I washed it with soap and water, the peel warped afterward--fortunately this was only temporary, because when it dried, it resumed it's normal flat shape. Now I wipe down any little bits spilled (cheese, dough, sauce), then use a scraper on anything that remains, which seems to work fine. 5. You may be amazed at the quality of pie you can turn out. Even so, remember you're family doesn't necessarily want to eat pizza every night.I recommend this item highly.

Please see updates review below!MAY 18:I used it once so far and it has made baking sourdough bread so much easier and safe. I bake at 450-475F so pulling bread out with oven mittens are still scary since the rest of my arm is exposed. So this is a game changer.Only flaw: it came with a 1” crack at the end.l (pictures). I’m not too worried about it, but will have to keep an eye on it.It’s not that heavy but it’s not light either. Photoed im using my left arm (I’m right handed) to carry it.Also, it’s long enough to keep you away from the hot oven. Not as long as I thought it would be so, I am happy with it. I was afraid it’d be too long. I also bought this specifically because I didn’t want one too short. So the dimensions was exactly what I needed.Aside from the crack at the end, this is exactly what I wanted. It was cheaper than any others this size so, I’m not worried about the crack.UPDATE JUNE 8, 2020:It’s been about a month since I received it. I’ve used it for bread loaves and pizza that I cook directly on an oven stone. Since I first started to use it, I’ve made about a 6 loaves of bread and a dozen pizzas (I make sourdough pizza and my kids love it). I absolutely love it. I usually use parchment paper for the pizza. This makes it very easy to slide off and on. But I recently ran out and put the pizza directly from the paddle to the oven stone. Works very well. The curved edging REALLY is helpful when sliding the pizza on the paddle. As for the crack, I completely forgot about it! I love this thing.

This paddle is the genuine article. The wood is very, very light with no finish at all. I carefully heated it over the stove top and then applied olive oil several times until the wood was well loaded. Then I sanded it down to cut back those little fibers that always spring up when it gets wetted. Now it works very well, the pizza slide off into the oven. Before I did this the paddle was terrible, everything stuck to it and it was driving me crazy. One more thing, the handle is crazy long for kitchen use, I cut 8in off and now it's perfect.

This peel has been working out great for us. I bought it for its larger size, as my pizza stone is 15" in diameter. They are a nice match together. With a good dusting of cornmeal, transfer from peel to stone works fine, though some practice and technique are required. I do not use the peel to retrieve the pizza, so I can't comment on its suitability there, though it looks a touch thick for an easy scoop. The handle is really long, which is great if you have a huge commercial pizza oven, but not so great for storing in cabinets or drawers.

Very useful. It is used almost every week. Very useful. It is used almost every week

I'm not sure what kind of wood it's made of. But it's very soft (like pine), and dents easily. In fact, mine arrived with a nice dent along one edge that I had to sand out.The wood appears raw without any type of coating. I coated mine with vegetable oil. Lightweight. No splinters. All edges are sanded reasonably smooth. There's a hole at the end of the handle for hanging.DIMENSIONS:36" overall length. The handle itself is approximately 22" long X 1 5/8" wide. The handle is part of the peel and does not fold or unscrew. The total width, (including the tapered edge) is 12". The flat (non-tapered) area of the peel is about 10 1/2" wide X 11" deep. The thickness of the entire peel is just under 1/2". The front edge of the peel is tapered to a thickness of about 1/8".Overall I think it's OK for the money. But I wish they would have made it from a type of wood that's more dent resistant.