Ditch the Pizza Stone and Cook Your Pizza on Parchment Paper

Can You Cook Pizza on Parchment Paper?

Baking Pizza on Parchment Paper

As pizza enthusiasts with countless pies under our belt, we understand the insatiable craving for that perfect homemade pizza.

But did you know that parchment paper can be your secret weapon in achieving the best pizza?

In this post, we’ll explore the benefits of baking pizza on parchment paper, the do’s and don’ts, and how it can transform your pizza-making experience. We’ll also answer those burning questions: How safe is cooking pizza on parchment paper? Is the dough going to stick to the parchment paper? Will you get a crispy crust? Should you use parchment paper for baking pizza on a pizza stone?

So, fellow pizza aficionados, grab your favorite toppings, gather around, and embark on a journey to uncover the culinary magic parchment paper holds for your homemade pizza creations. Trust us; you’ll be a parchment paper pizza PRO by the time you finish reading!

So, let’s get started!

Also, we place the parchment paper on the base before placing the pizza on the top.

You know how complicated it gets when you have placed your pizza toppings on the dough and need to put it in the oven. At this point, you need all the precision you have to transfer the pizza.  

The dough can lose shape or stick to the surface. Getting parchment paper will make your baking effortless because it makes moving your pizza dough around easier before you start cooking.

Many people enjoy baking their pizza at hot, high temperatures. Baking at high temperatures is advantageous because the crust gets crispy, as we all love.  

You will sacrifice the crispy crust for a well-balanced pizza using parchment paper. The crust will not be soggy or brittle, but it not be as crispy as you would get in a high-temperature oven. However, the effects are not bad enough to make a soggy base. 

It would be best not to raise the oven temperature because parchment paper will burn when you increase it above 450F.

Parchment paper can withstand high temperatures, but that doesn’t mean it is heat resistant.  

At high temperatures, the parchment paper will turn dark brown. We understand that cooking at low temperatures can overcook the toppings, making the crust limp and soggy.  

But those temperatures are as low as 350F. Therefore, cooking pizza at 450F is the optimum level. The pizza cooking time will be affected as it will not cook as fast as at 650F, but you will have a pizza that is not soggy or brittle.

If you place your pizza on a plain surface to add the toppings, you will find the dough sticks when transferring it to the oven.

Corn meal flour is one of the best ways to stop the dough from sticking and is used in pizza making around the world. But it can be very messy.

Using parchment paper will reduce the mess in your cooking process and evenly cook the pizza at the bottom. 

Best Parchment Paper for Pizza

We think King Arthur Heavy-Duty parchment paper is the best for pizza and many other applications.

Here’s What the PROs at Homemade Pizza Pro Use and Recommend

Why Do We Recommend King Arthur’s Parchment Paper?

Easy, its temperature resistance. It can be safely used in an oven up to 450F. Other options like the Reynolds Kitchen Parchment Paper and many others can be used in ovens only up to 425F.

Cooking pizza is different from baking a cake or cookies; you need better quality parchment paper that could resist higher temperatures for better results.

However, 450F is the optimum level, and your crust will brown when you cook it longer than 15 minutes.

You need to watch your toppings as they can overcook if you leave the pizza in the oven for an extended period. 

So, your pizza crust will also be crisp, but it will not be crisp better than a pizza cooked at 650F.

The parchment paper keeps the uncooked dough from falling between the spaces on the oven rack. Place the dough on the parchment paper and add your toppings when making pizza.  

The parchment paper will help you transfer your uncooked pizza to the oven rack. Also, the parchment paper will prevent sticking to your pizza rack.

The parchment paper will help ensure the pizza cooks evenly and doesn’t stick to the baking sheet. 

Parchment paper is also helpful for keeping your pizza pan or pizza stone clean and preventing it from getting messy.

You can use cooking spray to prevent the dough from sticking to the paper, but it could change the flavor. So use it with precaution.

After some minutes in the oven, the pizza dough will let go of the parchment paper when it’s half-cooked.  

Therefore, you can remove the parchment paper at this point and let the pizza continue cooking. That is if you want to cook at higher temperatures.

Parchment Paper on Pizza Stone

Pizza made on parchment paper is cooked at a lower temperature than pizzas baked directly on an oven rack or a pizza stone. 

Typically, you should preheat the pizza stone in the oven for better cooking results. A pizza stone works by drawing moisture from the dough as it cooks, so the pizza crust crisps up nicely. 

Placing the pizza directly on the stone will allow the pizza to develop a fantastic crust that will be evenly cooked and golden brown.

The parchment paper does make it easy to transfer the pizza dough and toppings to the pizza stone. But, the crust will not be as crispy as without the parchment paper.

Have you had instances where the pizza bottom burns while the rest of the pizza is well cooked?

If that is the case or you want to control the cooking of the crust to a less crispy crust, then using parchment paper, evenly spreads the direct heat at the bottom of the cooking dough to avoid burning, which will prevent the dough from sticking to the pizza stone. 

How Do You Transfer the Pizza from Parchment Paper to a Pizza Stone?

You can transfer the parchment paper on the pizza stone with the uncooked pizza onto two opposite sides. Here’s what to do.

How to set parchment paper on a pizza stone:

Step 1: First, you need to preheat the pizza stone in the oven.

Step 2: Place the parchment paper on the surface and dust it with flour, cornmeal, semolina, or fine polenta.

Step 3: Then stretch your dough and place it on the parchment paper before placing the toppings.

Step 4: Gently place the parchment paper on a pizza stone.  

The heat transfer of pizza steel conducts heat faster and stores it for longer. Therefore, you first need to preheat the pizza steel in the oven at high heat.

If you are not an experienced pizza baker, transferring the pizza dough to the steel can be challenging as it may destroy the shape of your dough or worse.  

You can make things easier if you use a pizza peel to transfer the uncooked pizza to a pizza steel, but it takes practice. But the results are amazing!

If you do not have a peel or are not ready to experiment with transferring the pizza to a pizza steel, then you can use parchment paper to ensure that you move the uncooked pizza while it’s intact.  

The parchment paper evenly cooks the dough, making it easier to clean the pizza steel. Don’t worry if the parchment paper turns brown. It won’t catch fire unless the oven temperature is increased to over 450F.  

How Do You Transfer the Pizza from the Parchment Paper to the Steel?

You can transfer the pizza to the steel on the parchment paper by carrying it on the opposite sides. Here’s what to do:

1. Preheat the pizza steel in the oven for about 1 hr for the best results before placing the pizza.  
2. Shape the dough into the size you want and put it on the parchment paper. Now transfer the pizza on the parchment paper to the preheated steel. 
3. Place the pizza on the parchment paper on the pizza steel.

Can You Use Parchment Paper with A Pizza Peel?

Yes. It is possible to use parchment paper with a peel. Place the parchment on top of the peel. People use pizza peels to safely transfer the pizza to a pizza stone, pan, or peel in the oven.  

To use a peel without parchment, you must sprinkle flour or cornmeal.  

Sprinkling prevents the dough from sticking to the peel. However, you can use parchment paper instead of flour to reduce the stickiness. 

Then carefully carry the peels by the handle and transfer the uncooked pizza to your preheated oven. 

How Do You Bake Pizza On Parchment Paper?

Baking pizza on parchment paper is easy because you don’t have to handle the dough pulling and losing shape. Here are the steps that you should take:

Step 1: Preheat the oven from 400F to 450F with the pizza stone or steel inside.

Step 2: Place the parchment paper on a clean surface or the peel. 

Step 3: Form your dough with your hands to your desired size and place it on parchment paper. The other way is to place the dough on the parchment paper and use a rolling pin to create a circular shape.

Step 4: Place the sauce and add toppings to the dough. Do not add too many toppings, as it will get heavy.

Step 5: Make sure the oven temperature is set to 450F. Carry your baking paper that contains the dough using your fingers on opposite sides.  

You could carry the components using the peel’s handle if you placed your parchment paper on a pizza peel.

Step 6: Place the parchment paper with the components in the oven. You can slide the uncooked pizza on the parchment paper in the oven for those with peels.

The parchment paper will change color because of the higher temperature but will not burn for 450F. 

Step 7: Turn the pizza and the parchment paper over so it’s half cooked and bake evenly. Put the pizza back in the oven and cook for 8-12 minutes. 

Step 8: Check to see if the finished pizza is done. You will know the pizza is ready when the pizza base turns slightly brown and the cheese starts bubbling.

Some pizzas are frozen while still uncooked. When you put it on parchment paper, it prevents the dough from sticking.  

The parchment paper also evenly distributes the heat at the bottom of the dough. If the pizza is cooked and frozen, cooking it on parchment paper is unnecessary. You can place the pizza directly on the oven rack.

How Do You Bake Frozen Pizza On Parchment Paper? 

Baking frozen dough is manageable. You can bake it like the way you cook your pizza. Follow these easy steps to help you out:

Step 1: Remove the pizza from the freezer and discard the packaging. At the same time, preheat the oven for 10 minutes. 

Step 2: Lay the parchment paper on the peel or any other surface. Put the frozen pizza on parchment paper. At this point, you can add some toppings like cheese if you want. 

Step 3: Transfer the parchment paper with the pizza to the oven. The parchment paper makes carrying the frozen pizza to the oven easy. You don’t have to touch the cold pizza, and the dough doesn’t stick to the surface of the pizza peel.

Step 4: Place the parchment paper on the oven stack, preheated pan, steel, or stone.

Step 5: Allow your pizza to cook for 8 minutes before turning. You can also remove the paper peel and leave the pizza to cook.

Step 6: Continue to check every 8 minutes. You can remove the pizza from the oven if the crust turns brown and the cheese bubbles. 

Can I Reheat Pizza On Parchment Paper? 

Yes. You can reheat cooked pizza by placing it directly on the parchment paper.  

The problem with reheating pizza is that the crust becomes soggy with low heat.  

On the other hand, the cheese burns when you use a lot of heat. To ensure that you perfectly warm the pizza, you can follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Before doing anything, preheat the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350F. You can place them in the oven to preheat for those using pizza stones or steel.

Step 2: Place the slices of pizza on the parchment paper.

Step 3: Move the oven racks forward slightly, close to the oven door, and place the parchment paper on the pizza stone, steel, or oven rack. Close the oven.

Step 4: Reheat the pizza for 4-6 minutes. You will also know that the pizza is ready when the cheese starts to crisp or the cheese bubbles. 

What Should You Use Instead of Parchment Paper for Pizzas?

You don’t have to buy more when you run out of parchment paper. You can use some great alternatives, like:

Wax Paper 

Wax paper is almost similar to parchment paper because it has a thin inner coating. The nonstick and water-resistant coating prevents the dough from sticking to the surfaces.  

However, waxed paper cannot tolerate high temperatures. If you use it for cooking pizza, it will melt and catch fire.  

You can only use it while transferring your pizza from the surface to the oven, but don’t let it sit in the oven.

Aluminum Foil 

Aluminum foil is another option for parchment paper. Instead of directly placing the pizza on a pizza rack, you can use it.

Unlike parchment or wax paper, aluminum doesn’t have a layer that makes it non-sticky.  

Aluminum on a pizza stone or steel reflect heat rather than spreading. 

Therefore, your dough will stick more to the aluminum foil. It would be best not to use it because it does not absorb water, making the bottom of the pizza soggy.

Pizza Peel 

You can also use the pizza peel as a substitute by sprinkling the flour or semolina on its surface. The flour or semolina reduces the stickiness of the dough. 

However, it doesn’t match the parchment paper because the dough will stick to the pizza peel if you don’t use flour.

You can check our article on pizza baking surfaces to find other options for baking your pizza.

However, cooking your pizza with parchment paper at any temperature above 450F will burn!

For perfect pizzas, you can use parchment paper in the pizza oven at 450F until the pizza is halfway cooked. Then remove the parchment paper and increase the temperature.

Ooni pizza ovens heat up to 950 degrees F. You can quickly cook your pizza at a maximum of 900-950F without parchment paper. 

The parchment paper will burn at temperatures over 450F. That means the parchment will quickly burn on the pizza stone, steel, or pan. 

Check out our Ooni Pizza Oven FAQs if you have any other Ooni questions.

What Is the Best Surface to Bake Pizza On?

The pizza steel cooks faster than any other surface. The pizza steel bakes pizza 30 percent more quickly than a pizza stone. 

The quicker a surface cooks, the better the pizza. That is because higher temperatures do not dry out the pizza. The steel bakes pizza faster, leaving the dough crusty and the internals moist and tender.  So, for a perfect pizza, we strongly recommend a pizza steel.

Here’s What the PROs at Homemade Pizza Use and Recommend

The pizza steel cooks fast because it absorbs more heat and releases it faster than the pizza. 

The other advantage is that steel is nonreactive. You can use acidic ingredients; the steel will not poison your food. 

Also, pizza steel does not rust. That means the pizza steel is durable and long-lasting.

When to Use Parchment Paper for Baking Pizza 

The good thing about parchment paper is that you can make pizza on any surface. You can also use it in various ways, like transferring the pizza and preventing the dough from sticking. 

Therefore, the best time to use parchment paper is when the temperatures are 450F or less.

At these temperatures, the pizza will require you to cook it for longer than at higher temperatures. You will need to cook it for 8-12 minutes to get the crispy crust.

Additional Resources on Pizza Accessories

 The Last Slice

Finally, we’ve seen how to handle pizza on parchment paper, what temperature to cook, and how to transfer the pizza.

We’ve also looked at the various surfaces, including parchment paper on a baking stone. Also, you can use other substitutes that serve the same purpose as parchment paper. 

You’ve also discovered that you can use parchment paper in any low-temperature normal oven but not the Ooni pizza oven due to the high temperatures. 

Remember the best temperatures to bake pizza on parchment paper and the best surface to use.

Hopefully, this answered your questions if you can cook pizza on parchment paper in the oven. If you follow these simple tips, you’ll be able to enjoy delicious, hassle-free, perfect pizza at home.

Therefore, you can hurry, grab your parchment paper, and start making your favorite pizza!

Enjoy!

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