This site contains affiliate links, purchases may earn me commission at no extra cost to you. See my policy.
Sometimes cooking pizza can get messy. Especially when you’ve got a sticky pizza dough and you need to use flour to stop it sticking to your worktop or your pizza peel.
So you might be wondering if you can use some kitchen staples such as parchment paper (also known as baking paper) or aluminum foil to help with your pizza making.
You can cook pizza on parchment paper. The paper can help you transfer the pizza to the oven and cook with no mess or sticking. The downside is that the pizza does not get quite as crisp as if put straight onto a pizza stone.
Aluminum foil can be used to cook pizza on the oven rack to stop it falling through. Foil isn’t often used with a pizza stone as it stops the stone from drawing moisture from the base. Foil also reflects heat away from the pizza rather than transferring it efficiently.
If you need a foolproof dough with detailed step-by-step instructions then check out my pizza dough recipe to give yourself the best start.
If you’re struggling with making your dough or stretching it out, check out my pizza making video course which covers dough and the other ingredients and tools in depth.
Using Parchment Paper On A Pizza Stone
You can cook your pizza with parchment paper and a pizza stone and the pizza will still come out great. The stone was not designed like this, but it is convenient for some people to cook pizza this way.
If you do not use parchment paper, then you need another way to transfer the raw dough to the stone, as the stone should be hot in the oven from preheating.
One way is flouring a pizza peel and sliding it onto the pizza stone.
How To Cook Pizza On Parchment Paper On A Pizza Stone
Start off with some dough from my go-to pizza dough recipe. The recipe has all the instructions to prepare your dough properly before you start.
- Preheat the pizza stone at max temperature for 40 minutes on the rack 3/4 of the way up the oven.
- Stretch or roll out your pizza on the worktop, and cut a piece of parchment paper that can comfortably hold the pizza but without too much excess paper.
- Place the pizza on top of the parchment paper and add tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings.
- Open the oven. You can pull the rack with the pizza stone out fully for ease of access. Pick up the parchment by the edges and drop the pizza and paper in the middle of the stone.
- After 3 minutes of cooking, the pizza will have cooked so it is firm. Spin the pizza 180 degrees to cook the other side. Optionally remove the parchment paper and cook the pizza on the stone directly for a crispier pizza.
- Cook the pizza for 5-6 minutes more, until golden brown.
My best tip for making pizza in a home oven is to use a pizza “steel”. It adds intense heat from below for amazing crusts – I have this size steel from Amazon which is lower priced than other brands but works perfectly. Steel conducts heat better than stone, they don’t shatter and are easier to clean.
If it’s out of your price range then the 2nd best option is a pizza stone made from cordierite. To see a round-up of the most important pizza equipment check out my essential pizza equipment list.
Using Foil On A Pizza Stone
Foil is not recommended to be used with a pizza stone because it does not allow moisture to be drawn away from the pizza as it cooks. It effectively steams the pizza from below, as the water has nowhere to go apart from upwards.
The foil is also a good reflector, so it will reflect the heat away from the stone. This means the stone can’t transfer heat to the pizza base as well, so it ends up being wetter and cooler and doesn’t cook as well.
You will not get the benefits of cooking with a pizza stone, and won’t get the crisp base that you aimed for, so I would either get a pizza peel or use parchment paper.
The Pizza Might Get a Soggy Base
The base will be less crisp if cooked on parchment paper on top of the pizza stone, than if cooked directly on the pizza stone. Although the effects are not bad enough to make the pizza soggy.
A pizza stone works by drawing moisture from the dough as it cooks, so that the pizza crust crisps up nicely. The stone is preheated before the pizza arrives so the high heat transfer and the lack of moisture cook the dough quickly.
Parchment paper allows some moisture to travel through it, as the material is not waterproof. This will allow the base to retain some of these crispy qualities, and it will overall still be a fantastic pizza.
The foil is waterproof, so no water can be drawn away from the pizza dough. This will mean the foil-cooked pizza will be the soggiest.
There are a few factors here. The temperature of the stone, how long ago the last pizza was cooked on it, and how long it is being cooked will determine how soggy the pizza will be.
My advice is to avoid this one and go for a different method.
How To Cook Pizza On The Rack With Parchment Paper Or Foil
You can cook the pizza directly on the rack if the bars on the rack aren’t spaced too far apart.
It won’t get direct heat from the bottom, so the bottom can sometimes get a bit soggy, and definitely won’t be as crisp as on a pizza stone.
Start off with some dough from my pizza dough recipe.
- Heat the oven on max temperature for 10 minutes.
- Stretch or roll out your pizza on the worktop, and cut a piece of parchment paper or foil that can comfortably hold the pizza but without too much excess paper.
- Place the pizza on top of the parchment paper or foil and add tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings.
- Pull out a rack on the second to last rack of the oven. Drop the pizza and paper on top.
- Cook the pizza for 4 minutes until it has firmed up. You can now spin the pizza around to cook the other side and remove the paper or foil from underneath.
- Check the pizza 7-8 minutes later and remove when the crust is golden brown and the cheese bubbling.
Try Using A Pizza Peel
Using a pizza peel is the classic way to transfer a pizza to the oven. An added bonus is the lovely taste and texture from a mixture of flour and semolina that you add to the peel to stop the dough from sticking.
Start by rolling or stretching the pizza the same, then place it on the peel to add toppings before sliding it off onto the pizza stone in one quick action.
You can get a peel very cheaply now, and they are straightforward to use. I wrote a guide on how to use a pizza peel properly if you need some help there.
If you don’t have a peel then you can use something else which is in your kitchen. A rimless baking sheet or serving board can work well. I have a list of 7 Kitchen Items To Use As A Pizza Peel Substitute.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this answered your questions if you can cook pizza dough on parchment paper in the oven, and if you can use parchment paper or aluminum foil on a pizza stone.
There are a few options you can use here, so go for the one which suits you the best. Most will still produce great pizzas. However, I would avoid using foil. For me, this loses the effects that a pizza stone has on cooking and crisping up the base well.
Another option you might want to look at is called the pizza steel. Here a quarter-inch piece of steel heats up faster than a stone, and transfers heat more efficiently, making the crispiest of bases.