Gear I Use
The tools that help me make great pizza
You don’t need a lot of specialized equipment to make great pizza at home. Most of what I use is simple, durable kitchen gear. The exact brand usually doesn’t matter. What matters is understanding what each tool does and when it’s useful.
Baking Surface
The baking surface is the most important piece of pizza equipment. It stores heat and transfers that heat into the dough quickly, which helps the crust set and brown.
Steel
Custom cut 3/8” A36 mild steel, seasoned.
Alternative
Baking Steel or similar steel in the 1/8–1/4” range. Thinner steels heat faster but store slightly less energy.
Peels
Peels are used for launching, turning, and removing pizzas from the oven.
Wooden peel — Loftern 16”
Used for launching pizzas. The wood helps dough slide more easily onto the baking surface.
Steel peel — American Metalcraft extra large blade (30”)
Used for turning pizzas during the bake and removing them from the oven.
Dough Tools
These tools make handling dough easier and more consistent.
Dough whisk (optional)
Useful when mixing dough by hand to quickly combine flour and water.
Plastic bowl scraper
Flexible scraper when mixing or handling dough.
Bench scraper
Rigid metal scraper used for dividing dough and cleaning the work surface.
Dough Fermentation
Bulk fermentation
Large Tupperware or Cambro containers.
Individual dough balls
Deli containers or round containers.
Proofing box
Round containers keep individual dough balls round. A rectangular container can store multiple dough balls that are removed with a dough knife.
Baking & Finishing
These tools help manage the pizza during and after baking.
Pizza cutter
Cooling rack
Resting pizza on a rack briefly prevents steam from softening the bottom crust.
Pizza screen
Occasionally useful if the bottom of the pizza is browning too quickly. It slows the heat transfer from the steel.
Docker
Used when making thin pan pizzas to prevent large bubbles from forming.
Pans
For pan styles of pizza.
Lloyd’s pans
Detroit style
Sicilian
Grandma
South Shore bar pie
Cutter pan
Measurement Tools
Accurate measurement makes pizza dough much more consistent.
Kitchen scale
Used for weighing flour, water, and dough.
Micro / jeweler’s scale
Helpful for measuring very small yeast quantities in long-fermented doughs.
Infrared thermometer
Used to measure the temperature of the baking steel or stone.