The Pizza Heaven

Cornmeal on the Pizza Stone – Do You Really Need It?

Pizza Stones, Tools / pizza stone / By / January 13, 2024

Using cornmeal on the pizza stone is a common way to prevent the pizza from sticking, but do you really need it? And are there any other, better ways to prevent sticking?

You don’t actually need cornmeal on your pizza stone. I would even recommend to avoid it. The reason is that the pizza will not stick to the pizza stone if it’s properly heated. A hot pizza stone will crisp the pizza, making it easy to slide your pizza peel under the pizza and remove it from the oven. Cornmeal may even burn on the hot pizza stone and can add unpleasant flavors the the pizza.

What Is Cornmeal?

Cornmeal is a type of meal, or coarse flour, made from ground corn. Cornmeal can be found in several levels of coarseness: fine, medium, and coarse. But even the finest grind is coarser than e.g. wheat flour.

The Reason People Use Cornmeal on Pizza Stones

The main reason people use cornmeal on their pizza stone is to prevent the pizza from sticking.

Cornmeal is often used to dust pizza stones to protect the pizza from sticking by creating a protective layer between the crust and the stone. The reason cornmeal is used instead of just plain flour is that it’s coarser, making it easier to slide the pizza on and off the pizza stone.

Cornmeal is also pretty commonly used to prevent the pizza from sticking to the pizza peel.

Another reason you may want to add cornmeal is for the flavor and texture. Many people I’ve talked to enjoy the flavor the cornmeal adds to the pizza crust, and is one of the main reasons they use it.

What Kind of Cornmeal Do You Use for Pizza Stones?

As already mentioned, the reason cornmeal is used is the coarseness. That being said, coarser isn’t necessarily better. So if you’re using cornmeal for your pizza stone or pizza peel, I recommend going for medium coarseness. In my opinion, the coarsest grinds add too much texture to the pizza crust, which I’m personally not a huge fan of.

Why You Don’t Need Cornmeal on Your Pizza Stone

This might surprise you, but pizza sticking to the pizza stone is actually not a problem if you use the pizza stone correctly!

The Pizza Will Not Stick With Correct Use of Your Pizza Stone

Using of cornmeal or other types of dusting, such as flour, is only one of the things I see people do to prevent pizza from sticking to their pizza stone. Others use parchment paper (read why that’s not a good idea here), or aluminum foil. But all those people are doing, is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t even exist!

If the stone is hot enough when you’re baking your pizza, it will get crispy (just like you want, right?), and not stick to the pizza stone! So if you experience that the pizza sticks, it simply means the pizza stone isn’t hot enough. Probably you haven’t preheated the stone long enough. I can’t stress enough the importance of pre-heating the pizza stone. I recommend preheating the pizza stone for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour before you attempt to bake any pizzas. The surface temperature of the stone also drops when you bake many consecutive pizzas, you should therefore also let the stone re-heat after every 2 pizzas. If you want to read more about how to properly preheat your pizza stone, check out this article.

That said, cornmeal can still be useful for pizza baking. Especially when you transfer the pizza from the counter to the oven, dusting your pizza peel to prevent sticking is a good idea!

Cornmeal Can Still Be Useful for Pizza Baking!

Even though I don’t recommend using cornmeal on your pizza stone, it can be useful for your pizza peel and in a pizza pan.

Pizza Peel

Cornmeal works great to prevent pizza from sticking to the pizza peel. Raw pizza dough sticks much more than baked pizza, so sticking to the peel is a real issue. There are a few things you can do to prevent sticking.

Firstly, you should not use a super sticky dough, this will definitely cause problems. You should also avoid adding too much sauce, cheese, and other topping to the pizza, as this will make the dough more moist and stick more. You should also try to avoid leaving the raw pizza on the pizza peel for too long.

But to make sure the pizza doesn’t stick to the peel, you can also add flour or cornmeal to the peel before you add the pizza. This will create a barrier between the dough and allow the pizza to slide off more easily.

pizza peel

Pizza Pan

Another use of cornmeal is when you’re baking pizza in a pizza pan. I always drizzle some cornmeal in my Chicago pizza pan when I’m making Chicago-style deep-dish pizza (check out our recipe). Since I already use cornmeal in the pizza dough, it doesn’t add any different flavor to the dough. And the cornmeal prevents the pizza from sticking to the pan. The pizza is also baked at a lower temperature, so I don’t need to worry about the cornmeal burning.

pizza in pizza pan

Cornmeal vs Semolina

Semolina is a more traditional option for dusting the pizza peel than cornmeal. Semolina is a coarse type of wheat flour and therefore works the the same way as cornmeal. In other words, it helps the pizza slide easier on and off the pizza peel.

semolina

The main benefit of semolina is that it doesn’t burn as easily in the oven. Cornmeal can be a good option if you’re baking your pizza at a lower temperature, like a pan pizza. But for a pizza stone, this can be a problem. When you’re baking on a pizza stone, you want it to be really hot, like a pizza oven. And in this environment, you may experience the cornmeal burns. This will add some unpleasant flavors to your pizza crust. Semolina, on the other hand, can handle higher temperatures, and will therefore probably not burn on your stone.

Cornmeal typically adds more texture and flavor to the pizza than semolina. Semolina has a more neutral flavor, and you’ll not notice it as much as cornmeal.

Semolina is my preferred option for dusting my pizza peel when I’m baking pizza on a pizza stone. The reasons are that it handles the heat better, and adds less flavor than cornmeal.

Caputo Semolina Flour 2.2 lb bag
Caputo Semolina Flour 2.2 lb bag
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Andreas
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