The main purpose of a perforated pizza peel is to get rid of excess flour from the pizza base. But why do you want to get rid of the flour?

When you’re baking pizza on hot stone or steel, you don’t want flour on the baking surface because it burns. Fine wheat flours that are most commonly used for baking pizza burn at fairly low temperatures. It’s this flour that causes trouble. Dusting your pizza peel with semolina flour, which can handle higher heat better, can also help. Burnt wheat flour will make the oven smoky and will result in more cleaning work when you’re done baking. The burnt flour tends to stick and can be a real pain to get rid of. Especially on an unglazed pizza stone. And if you’re not able to clean the stone properly, the flour can keep smoking next time you use the stone.

Less Contact Surface – Less Sticking
A perforated peel has a smaller surface that is in contact with the pizza dough. This means pizza is less likely to stick to a perforated pizza peel. The reason is that the larger the contact surface is, the more friction there will be between the peel and the pizza. And more friction means it is more likely to stick.

A smaller contact surface also means that you’ll need less flour when you’re dusting the peel. As noted above, you want as little flour as possible in the hot oven. So in addition to removing more flour from the dough itself, the peel need less flour due to the holes. Perforated pizza peels are also lighter than solid pizza peels, due to less metal on the carrying surface. This will make it easier to use the peel.

Less Condensation – Crispier Pizza Crust
When you take a hot pizza out of the oven, you may have noticed that water sometimes is formed under the pizza. This moisture makes the pizza less crispy, or even soggy. Using a solid pizza peel may create condensation when the hot pizza meets the cold (room temperature) surface. This is mostly a problem with metal peels since hot air is trapped between the pizza crust and the smooth carrying surface. Condensation happens when this hot air is cooled down to a certain point (it’s dew point), and water drops are created. When you’re using a perforated pizza, on the other hand, you will experience less condensation. The reason is that the holes let the hot air escape through the peel.

14" Square x 31" Long

Lightweight aluminum construction. Phillips Head screwdriver required for assembly.