When Cleaning Your Wooden Pizza Peel, Avoid This Mistake At All Costs

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A high-quality wooden pizza peel can instantly bring a touch of Old World charm into your at-home pizza making experience. Whether you're sliding a homemade Margherita pizza into a piping hot brick oven or transferring a fresh calzone onto your dinner table, a wooden pizza peel combines rustic vibes with functional prowess. While there's ongoing debate between the benefits of wooden versus metal pizza peels, wood's rough surface texture helps to reduce the stickiness factor of your pizza dough, which makes it perfect for sliding your homemade pies into the oven when cooking with a pizza stone. With so many benefits, proper maintenance is essential to ensure your pizza peel's longevity. So, when cleaning your wooden pizza peel, be sure to avoid soaking it at all costs.

Soaking your pizza peel in the sink might seem like an easy way to remove stuck on bits of pizza dough, but it actually causes more harm than good. Wood is a porous material, meaning it's filled with microscopic holes that absorb moisture. This means that when its exposed to water at prolonged rates, your wooden pizza peel can bend out of place, which ultimately causes it to warp. Also, when wood is soaked for too long it can grow bacteria and mildew in hard-to-reach crevices that are a nightmare to clean. Don't let this scare you, though, as with proper care, a wooden pizza peel can last for ages.

Now that we've shared what not to do, here's how you should clean and store your wooden pizza peel. For one, you should always wash your pizza peel in the sink with gentle soaps and, if there's any stuck-on gunk, use a sponge or cloth to remove it. Strong, chemical detergents or a run through the dishwasher can damage your pizza peel, so it's always good to avoid them. It might be a bit tedious to always wash it by hand, but it's worth it in the long run.

Once you've cleaned your pizza peel, properly drying it is crucial. You might think that it's best to prop it up on its side to increase airflow, but this can cause it to unevenly dry and bend it out of shape. Instead, simply wipe it down with a towel and place it horizontally on a flat surface in a cool, dry place. To help ensure longevity, be sure to treat it with finishing oil such as mineral oil from time to time. During the treatment, the oil makes its way deep into the wood's pores, with helps seal it off from any moisture.