Are you tired of sticky dough, dirty hands, and pizza dough that doesn’t want to come together? Then you probably don’t own a pizza dough scraper. This is one of those tools that doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
For a long time, I didn’t own one, because I didn’t know that I needed one. But because it’s such a cheap piece of equipment, I went ahead and bought one. And it has revolutionized my pizza baking! No more sticking, and it’s now easy to handle high-hydration dough. But the most important thing is that I now can release and lift Neapolitan pizza dough balls from the rising box without deforming, and make a perfectly round pizza every time!
Improve your dough handling to ensure a light and airy crust with this high-quality Italian dough scraper. A must-have for serious pizza bakers.
This article will explain what a dough scraper is, when you need one, and how to pick the best dough scraper for your use.
What Is a pizza dough scraper?
A pizza dough scraper or spatula is a tool mainly used to move, manipulate, cut, and, portion pizza dough. What makes a pizza scraper different from other dough scrapers is the handle. The handle makes it easier to use the scrape. Especially for releasing dough balls from the rising box when you bake Neapolitan pizza.
Do I need a pizza dough scraper?
A dough scraper is a cheap and versatile tool for baking. But for pizza baking, it’s most useful for:
- Baking Neapolitan pizza
- Work with high hydration (65% or more) or sticky dough
A dough scraper is an important tool for baking Neapolitan pizza. Specifically to release the pizza dough from the rising box after fermentation. Without a dough scraper, you run the risk of dough sticking to the container or each other. Which is likely to result in the deformed or punctured dough. This will result in uneven pizza that doesn’t puff up to create a nice fluffy rim in the oven.
A dough scraper is also a useful tool when you working with sticky dough. Especially when with 65% hydration or more. The dough at that hydration tends to stick to everything. The mixing bowl, the countertop, and your hands. A dough scraper will help you loosen the dough from the bowl, fold and manipulate it during initial mixing, and release it from the working surface.
You don’t need a pizza dough scraper to make great pizza, but it will make your life a lot easier. Especially if you work with sticky dough or bake Neapolitan pizza.
The best pizza dough scraper
Improve your dough handling to ensure a light and airy crust with this high-quality Italian dough scraper. A must-have for serious pizza bakers.
The best pizza dough scraper is Tenartis 469 Professional Pizza Dough Spatula & Scraper. This is a super high-quality dough scraper made in Italy.
It’s durable and makes it really easy to move manipulate and cut pizza dough. No more sticking!
The blade is made from Molybdenum and Vanadium stainless steel, which will last. It’s also dishwasher-safe! And at 4.75 x 4 inches (12 x 10 cm), with an overall length of 9.5 inches (24 cm), it’s the ideal size for handling Neapolitan pizza dough.
So if you want to handle your pizza dough like a true Neapolitan pizzaiolo, this is the pizza spatula for you!
An essential tool for Neapolitan pizza
When you bake Neapolitan pizza the dough is left to rise twice: fermentation in bulk and ball. After the initial bulk fermentation, the pizza dough is split into dough balls. Here a dough scraper comes in handy since it makes cutting the dough into dough balls super easy. When the dough is split into portion-sized dough balls, you leave it for a second fermentation in a rising box.
After the second leave, you take the dough out from the rising box to shape it into a pizza. This is one of the main purposes of a pizza spatula. To loosen, release and lift the dough balls out of the rising. After being left to rise and relax for hours, the dough balls are soft and stick to each other. But a dough scraper is used to separate them from each other and the rising box. This ensures that the dough balls are not deformed or punctured. A dough scraper is therefore essential for even and nice Neapolitan pizza.
If you want to know more about Neapolitan pizza, check out our complete guide to Neapolitan pizza.
What is a pizza dough scraper used for?
A dough scraper is used for:
- Release, move and handle pizza dough
- Cutting and shaping pizza dough
- Releasing pizza dough from the rising container
- Cleaning
Working with pizza dough
The most obvious use for a dough scraper is handling the dough. Using a pizza dough scraper is extra useful when you’re working with sticky, high-hydration pizza dough because it will prevent sticking to both your hands and the working surface. But it’s also useful if you need to move the dough or get it off the dough hook of a stand mixer or out of your mixing bowl.
Cutting pizza dough
Dough scrapers can also be used to portion pizza dough. Especially when balling pizza dough. Because of the straight (and fairly sharp) edge, cutting dough is really easy. A huge benefit of using a dough scraper for this instead of e.g. a knife is that you don’t need to worry about making scratches on your countertop.
Releasing pizza dough balls from the rising box
Perhaps the most important use of a pizza dough scraper is to get pizza balls out of the rising container. When you leave pizza balls in a rising box for the second leave or fermentation, they stick to the box. The dough balls also often grow so much during rising that they stick to each other.
All you need to do to get the dough balls out of the container is to sprinkle a little flour around the dough ball to avoid further sticking to the container. Then use the dough scraper to separate the dough from the edge of the container or other dough balls. Get the dough scraper under the dough with one fast movement, and lift it straight up.
Cleaning
Have you tried baking pizza and ended up with dry pizza dough on the countertop that’s almost impossible to get off? I’ve found my dough scraper to be the best way to remove this residual dough. It also works great for removing any dough that’s stuck to your rising box.
What is the best material for a dough scraper?
Pizza dough scrapers can be made from many different materials, but the most common are plastic and stainless steel.
Plastic pizza dough scraper
Plastic dough scrapers are cheaper and can be found in most kitchen stores. I’ve seen both thin, flimsy scrapers and thicker, sturdy ones. If you’re going for a plastic scraper. One of the benefits of plastic dough scrapers is less likely to scratch your rising containers and countertops than the metal version.
My first dough scraper was one of those flimsy soft ones, and it ended up bent, and hard to use. I, therefore, recommend going for a hard solid scraper if you want one made from plastic.
Stainless steel pizza dough scraper
Professional pizza dough scrapers are usually made from stainless steel. The benefits of a steel scraper are that they are more durable, and therefore will last you longer than a plastic dough scraper. They also often come with a sharper edge that makes cutting and scraping easier than with a plastic scraper. Most metal dough scrapers are thin and flexible, something that makes them ideal for cutting, releasing, and lifting pizza dough.
They may cost a little bit more, but dough cutters are so cheap that I recommend spending 5-10 extra dollars to get a quality stainless steel pizza dough scraper.
How to pick the right pizza dough scraper?
The ideal handle
Dough cutters come either with a straight horizontal handle along the edge of the cutter or with a vertical handle. For general dough manipulation, I prefer the horizontal handle dough cutter. While for moving the dough, especially getting it out of the rising box, the vertical handle makes it easier.
I mainly use the dough scraper to get the dough balls out, cut the dough, and clean my working surface. I rarely make super-high hydrated doughs, so a vertical handle scraper is more useful to me. It also works for dough manipulations if I need it. So if you only want one pizza dough scraper, I recommend a vertical handle dough scraper.
I do however own a cheap, plastic dough scraper designed for baking. I use this when I work with sticky dough. That’s just something I picked for 1-2 dollars in a grocery store a few years ago, and it works great! You don’t need anything fancy to work with the dough. But it simply doesn’t do a great job at cutting dough, and it’s also too small and flimsy to move pizza balls.
Choose the right size
Pizza dough scrapers come in several different sizes. The most important consideration when selecting size is how large your dough balls are. This is because you want them to be able to lift the ball out from the rising box. If the dough scraper is too small, the edge of the dough balls will fall over the edge of the cutter ruining the shape. On the other hand, if the dough scraper is too large, you will also mess up the other dough balls around the one you’re trying to lift. It’s therefore important to choose a pizza dough scraper that is close to the diameter of your pizza dough balls.
Is There a Difference Between Baking Scraper and Pizza Dough Scraper?
Unlike other types of dough scrapers for baking dough scrapers for pizza usually come with a straight edge. Many dough scrapers are meant for scraping dough out of baking bowls. The straight edge on a pizza dough scraper makes it easier to cut pizza dough. It also makes getting the pizza dough balls out of the rising box easier. Having a straight edge also makes it more suitable for cleaning.
The straight edge is also important when you’re getting the pizza dough out of the rising box. Dough scrapers for pizza are also often bigger since they’re used to move the pizza dough. That said, there is nothing wrong with using any other type of dough scraper for pizza baking. But the size and shape may not be ideal. If you’ve already got a dough scraper, give it a try and check if it works for pizza too!
Conclusion
A pizza dough scraper is a useful tool that no one is talking about. It makes handling sticky, high hydration doughs easier. In shaping and cutting pizza balls, getting pizza balls out of the rising box, and cleaning both your rising boxes and work surfaces.
Considering the price, I think it’s worth investing in a quality pizza dough scraper. Especially getting the pizza dough out of the rising box has been a challenge for me. I’ve tried using other tools, such as spatulas and other types of dough scrapers, but none of them worked very well. Therefore, getting a proper dough scraper has made baking pizza a much more pleasant experience.
I recommend going for a metal pizza dough scraper with a vertical handle. The reason is that metal dough scrapers are sturdier and more durable than plastic, and also do a better job cutting and scraping, since they tend to be sharper. The vertical handle makes it easier to get the dough scraper under the pizza balls when you’re removing it from the rising box, which is the reason I got a pizza dough cutter in the first place.
A horizontal handle feels more natural when you’re working with the dough, but horizontal handles also work for this. If you’re often working with sticky, high hydrated doughs, having a cheaper dough scraper with a horizontal handle is also great.
If you want to try your new pizza dough scraper, check out our authentic Neapolitan pizza dough recipe.
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