Pizza Paddle

A large, almost oval-shaped wooden or metal contoured sheet, which is used to hold a pizza when placing it into and removing it from an oven. Tapered around the edges, this utensil enables pizzas and breads to easily slide off onto a baking sheet or pizza stone when they are being prepared for baking as well as allowing ease of scooping onto the paddle when being removed. Generally, cornmeal is sprinkled onto the surface of the paddle to improve the ease of sliding the pizza off the surface and onto a baking stone. Pizza paddles are also called baker's peels or pizza peels.