Read Before Buying Cheap Pizza Peels!

It's rare for us at The Pizza Oven Store to express our concerns about the quality of products available outside our realm. However, today we find it necessary. We believe that well-meaning customers are being unintentionally misguided by low-specification products in the market. There seems to be a knowledge gap, with both sellers and customers often unaware of what they should be selling or buying, respectively.

Saving money and getting good value for things is what we all want right? So with such large price differences in pizza peels, why would you spend more that you have to?  Great question.  In this article we’re going to go through the reasons you shouldn’t cheap out and spend a bit little bit more.  

And when it comes to crafting the perfect pizza, every tool in your arsenal matters. Including your pizza peel. Recently, there's been a surge of low spec cheap pizza peels flooding online. While these budget buys may seem attractive, they often present issues that can compromise both the quality of your pizza and your overall pizza-making experience.

Loose Connections

One major issue with these cheap pizza peels is their construction. Many of them come in a box in pieces with bolts and a screwdriver that you have to build yourself.  It’s not that much of an issue.  But with these screw connections, while initially tight, they will often loosen over time due to the constant temperature fluctuations of a pizza oven.  

Now is it going to cause problems with pizza making having a shaky head that you have to tighten up each use or every other use?  Probably not, it’s just going to be annoying having head shaking around on the end of the handle.  And if you never tighent them up, eventually all the screws will come out.   Not ideal.

Plastic and Silicon Handles

The metal handles of these cheap peels frequently come either with a tacky feeling plastic handle on the end, which quite frankly is pointless as if you’ve ever held a pizza peel you’ll know that it’s just not right.  Or they come with a cheap silicone strip that sometimes is for covering the screws that come with the peel, you know the ones you have to screw in?   

Although both of these options which come on the metal handle are designed for a comfortable grip, neither achieve this.  The silicon also is a great place to store bacteria from the pizza making process if you don’t take it off and clean it.  Pointless.

Faceless, Uninformed Vendors & A Lack of Passion

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of these now readily available cheap pizza peels is the source. Often, they're sold by faceless Amazon/eBay sellers with little to no passion for the art of pizza-making. These sellers are primarily motivated what’s popular right now and how many units and profit they can make a month.  Not by a genuine desire to enhance your pizza-making experience. They lack the knowledge and passion to guide you, the customer, in your pizza journey.

A Mismatch of Sizes: The Misinformed Selling to the Misinformed

Perhaps one of the most overlooked issues is the sale of incorrectly sized products. Owing to the faceless vendors lack of understanding about pizza making, these sellers often unknowingly offer unsuitable tools to their equally uninformed customers. This mismatch can lead to an unsatisfactory baking experience and potentially hamper your pizza creation process.  

What we mean here is, are you sure you know how long your handle needs to be?  Will you burn your hands still?  Or is it too big? Can you actually manourvre the turning peel in the pizza oven easily? Of course, sellers don’t have to provide education with their products.  But when sellers are selling turning peels that have an 8” / 20cm head, just consider the fact that this is going to be harder to turn the pizza in the oven than a more perfectly size 7” / 17cm head peel. Pizza ovens such as Ooni Koda 12, Ooni Karu 12, Ooni Fyra 12 or even a Gozney Roccbox if you’ve that way will be great with a 7” head with a 60cm handle for turning.   

Conclusion

While the idea of saving money on a pizza peel might be tempting, in our opinion it’s better to speed a little bit more from a reputable pizza specialist that have your pizza making interest at heart. 

Having to tighten bolts every few pizza uses, having to hold an unnecessary plastic/silicon handle, plus possibly buying the wrong sized pizza peel from a faceless vendor can be avoided.

Not only will you have a more durable, hygienic tool, but you'll also be supporting those who truly care about enhancing your journey in the world of pizza. Remember, pizza-making is more than a task – it's an experience. And every slice of that experience deserves the best.