Pizza dough help

[motherofreptiles]

We recently got a pizza oven and have been experimenting with different dough recipes. I currently do the following:

500g strong white bread flour
Yeast 7g
1 tsp salt
330 ml water

This sometimes gets stuck getting it on the pizza peel resulting in a mess rather than a nice pizza. What am I doing wrong? I use flour etc on the peel and under the base it's annoying as we are wasting a lot by not getting the pizza on/off the peel.

I think my dad uses semolina on his peel.

Try a lower hydration, 300ml should be enough for 500g.

Semolina is definitely a better option for the peel. Has your dough over-proved? Sometimes I find that can cause problems with sticking...

I use a mixture of flour and semolina sprinkled liberally on the peel and keep moving it by gently shaking the peel every 30 seconds or so.

However, having recently eaten somewhere that used baking parchment circles under the pizza, I'm going to give that a try next time!

Semolina under the base for sure - I also find my pizzas stick (normal oven not pizza oven) if I haven't cooked them for long enough or if I use "wet" mozzarella rather than the stuff that has had the moisture squeezed out of it.

I've never heard of a pizza peel.
https://www.pizza-porta.com/blog/2022/8/23/peel-skills was interesting.

I use this recipe.

I use polenta on a pizza stone and it gives a nice crispy base.

Use lots of semolina on the peel and make sure the pizza can move on the peel before trying to slide it in the oven

Thanks for all the advice everyone we are having pizza tonight and I have semolina so we will see how it goes

Are you putting the pizza together beforehand ? you've got to do the pizza and put it straight in the oven.
I use the Ooni basic recipe, make sure I flour my wooden peel well and then whack it straight in there. Make sure you have no holes in the dough and aren't putting on too much topping. I don't bother with semolina, just flour
i won't bore you with the reasons why but you need a wooden peel to transfer rather than metal.

As @StiffyByngsDogBartholomew says you need to make the pizza and immediately get it on the peel. Dh got an Ooni 3 years ago and has always experimented with dough recipes, mainly hydration level, different flours from different supermarkets (M&S is the best for us.) We now do an overnight prove so we don't have to get up early on a weekend to make the dough.

To help with advice and to feel less alone in the quest for the perfect pizza have a look on Reddit Ooni thread, really supportive bunch, plus lots of videos on youtube with tips on getting it on and off the peel. Dh uses a wooden peel to collect and launch and a metal peel to turn it inside the oven. Dh did perfect it a long time ago with practise (any excuse to make pizza and we had teenage sons) and honestly it has ruined pizza from anywhere else, so delicious.

www.reddit.com/r/ooni/

You can try kneading the dough more to put the gluten fibres in the right place.

I also leave pizza dough in the fridge for a few days after I make it, it's much easier to handle and gives a nice golden colour when it's cooked. Let the dough come to room temperature before you handle it.

Thanks everyone for all the tips. So it definitely went better with the semolina I will check out the board suggested above. I feel I'm about to go down a pizza dough rabbit hole!

This is what I have @motherofreptiles
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BBTVFCS7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

we have a cheapo metal peel for turning