Pizza stuck to the peel — the fix
The heartbreak launch: toppings on, oven roaring, and the pizza won't slide. Sticking is almost always about time and moisture between the dough and the peel — and it's very preventable.
It sat too long on the peel
How to tell — It slid fine at first, then glued itself down while you took your time topping it.
Fix it now — Lift an edge, puff a little flour underneath, and shake it loose — or slide it onto a fresh floured peel and launch fast.
Next time — Build the pizza in under a minute, or assemble it on parchment and slide that straight onto the stone. the hydration guide goes deeper.
Not enough flour or semolina underneath
How to tell — The dough is touching bare peel with nothing to roll on.
Fix it now — Dust the peel with semolina — coarse grains act like ball bearings — and shake-test before you add toppings.
Next time — Always dust the peel, and keep semola rimacinata around for launching; it slides better than fine flour and burns less. the flour guide goes deeper.
A wet underside
How to tell — The dough's bottom is damp from a watery sauce, juicy toppings, or very wet dough.
Fix it now — Slide a little flour under the soggy spot and launch immediately; blot obviously wet toppings first.
Next time — Go easy on sauce and drain wet toppings — and remember the wettest doughs stick fastest, so work quickly with them. the hydration guide goes deeper.
Start from a good recipe
Most dough problems are planned away, not fixed at the bench. Set your real schedule in the calculator and it weighs the dough and writes the timing for you.
The clock is a suggestion. The dough is the boss. In bocca al lupo!
Impasto is a free pizza dough calculator for Neapolitan, New York, Roman, Sicilian, Detroit, thin crust and focaccia doughs — flour, water, salt and yeast weighed in baker's percentages, with the fermentation schedule written for you.