The Secret

I have found the secret to using the pizza stone. It removes all the frustration and mess that results when the prepared pizza does not slide neatly off the peel and onto the stone. The secret is parchment paper. In my research on how to use the stone I had come across this suggestion but had never come across parchment paper. I knew what it was but hadn't had any personal experience with it. I called my friend Pat who does a lot of baking to ask if it was available here in the rainforest. Not only is it available but she had an extra roll so she gave me some to try out.

Last night after happy hour and a foiled attempt to go to see my friend Donnie Walsh perform at a local restaurant, I decided to go home and experiment. The foiling was done by my little Sally Dog who surely would not have been permitted entrance to the restaurant where Donnie was playing. When we left Perla's we locked her inside with Perla's Rottweiler, Lizzy. As I was parking at the restaurant, Sally showed up and had evidently done her Houdini thing to get out of Perla's. So it was a no go.

In any event, I had promised Pearla a pizza and my peel-to-pizza stone transfer technique was pretty hit-or-miss. But I had high hopes for the parchment paper. So I took a batch of dough and worked it a little stiffer-than-usual. Then I formed it into a round on the work surface. I placed the parchment paper on the peel, sprinkled it with cornmeal and moved the crust from the work surface to the parchment paper. Then I built my pizza while the stone was pre-heating.

The transfer to the stone was flawless. I was thrilled. The pizza just slid right onto the stone and sat like it grew there. Nothing spilled or dropped. It was awesome. So now I just had to find out how to get the pizza off the parchment paper. That turned out to be as simple as the transfer. Nothing stuck and with two spatulas I was able to lift the pizza onto my cutting board. The pizza was a little larger than the cutting board but I managed to cut it up in any case. As usual it was delicious.

So today I made Perla's pizza. She's a little fussy so I made a pretty basic pizza - tomato sauce, onion, mushroom, pepperoni, tomato and cheese. I just realized I forgot green and red pepper - oh-oh I'm in trouble. It too transferred flawlessly. Now I had to transport it to her bar. I drive a Honda Quad. I had a large pizza pan so I put the pizza in that and covered it with an inverted cookie sheet, sat the works on a pillow and bungeed it to the front rack. I drove slowly up to Perla's for the big moment. She was asleep! So I left the pizza in her kitchen. She'll probably microwave it later and it will go all soggy and lose the beautiful crispy crust the stone delivers. Ah well, it's the thought that counts, right? Perla will be delighted just for the attention it will bring her.