In this video, I explain what I do and use to launch the pizza so please check out my video here on YouTube!

Here are my tips for launching a pizza into the oven:

The launch tool is the first pizza peel to consider when you purchase a pizza oven.  And getting the right peel for the launch is really important.

From my experience, the lighter and thinner the peel the better.  I use a wooden peel in two sizes – a smaller peel for pizza ovens up to 12 inches and a larger pizza peel for ovens up to 16 inches.

This Italian peel is lightweight, good value and easy to use.   I’ve tested and used metal pizza peels and they’re another popular launch tool.

I’ve not had much success with the perforated metal peels – my pizza has more often than not become stuck in the holes!  So I don’t use them at all.

Should I use fine Semolina or Flour?  I’ve used both and for the first year of pizza making, I used flour, then switched back to semolina, and now I’m 100% settled that it is the better of the two.  Why? 

Because it doesn’t absorb damp juices from the dough or pizza toppings before the launch.  Even when I keep the pizza hanging around for a bit, it doesn’t stick to the peel. 

This is because the fine semolina acts like small hard roller balls.  This gives the pizza dough a nice swift roll action to launch the pizza off the peel.

Before the launch, I do a movement check to see whether the pizza can move easily off the peel beforehand.  This is really important because if it sticks at this point then it is unlikely to come off the peel on the launch.