Bakeware - Best Pizza Screen

If you enjoy baking home made pizzas, a pizza screen will prove to be worth its weight in gold.

They're a top bakeware item and will allow you to create a crispier base and a better pizza overall.

They come in non-stick, aluminum and stainless steel and can be used in conjunction with a pizza peel, to make handling the screen a lot safer.

They remove the normal fuss and mess that can sometimes occur when baking a pizza: sticky residue on the oven floor, bases sticking to the racks.

An inexpensive item, pizza screens are highly rated by those that already own and use them.

Produce better pizzas - and remove the messy clean-ups.

Pizza Screen

A pizza screen will enhance your ability to turn out better pizzas.

Used as a means of sitting both home made and frozen or shop bought pizzas above and off the oven racks, they help avoid messy baking.

A good quality one won't warp over time or with use, will allow for easy removal from the screen post-cooking, and produce a crispier, evenly baked end product.

They generally come the same shape as a pizza - round, but you can purchase a rectangular pizza screen.

They range from lightweight almuninum to stainless steel and are a great alternative to placing a pizza straight onto an oven rack.

Easy to clean and care for, you have a wealth of choice available to you on Amazon.

Choose your perfect screen - and enjoy pizzas with an improved flavor, a crispier base and an altogether less fussy cooking process.

The Pampered Chef company doesn't produce pizza screens - but they do manufacture other pizza bakeware, such as a pizza stone.

A pizza - or baking stone - will enhance the cooking process, as well as provide a crispier base. You can use a pizza screen in conjunction - just place it on top of a pre-warmed stone.

There are also other items available that are useful when making pizzas - such as a pizza roller and cutter.

A trusted and well loved brand name - and very popular with home bakers all over the US.

All pizza screen racks are designed for is easy storage of your pizza screens.

They resemble a standard plate rack and are good for those that may have several different sized screens or run a commercial kitchen.

A rectangular pizza screen will come in handy for larger sized pizzas. No one ever said that a pizza has to be rounded, lacking corners or indeed should resemble a plate. They just do.

A rectangal shaped pizza provides a larger surface area and they're much easier to slice into regular portions. Great for larger gatherings or families.

Wondering which is best - pizza screen vs stone?

Both work well - and they also work well in conjunction with each other. You can cook a pizza on top of a screen and the results will be a fine tasting pizza, great base and no mess.

Using a pizza stone means that during cooking, the porosity of the stone will turn moisture into steam and create a thicker, springier base.

Alternatively, place your pizza on a screen and then onto a pre-warmed stone and voila! ... you benefit from using both together.

There really is no hard and fast rule. If you just use the stone, and there's a little mess, simply clean the stone (once cooled!) with a dough scraper and a rinse under warm water.

If you need a heavy duty pizza screen, the one featured to the left is the best selling in the heavy hitters category.

The Food Machinery of America screen is one of several different sized screens - which start at 21" and go up to 30".

All are crimped along the edge and will stand up to heavier use, wear and tear.

A pizza tray will come in useful for serving your pizzas post cooking. More commonly used in restaurants, they're handy if you like food served upon appropriate platters.

Perfectly suited to pizzas, most come in different sizes, allowing you to choose the size that's most suitable to your pizza and screen.

Also good for pies and general serving usage - more so if slightly pre-warmed.

Knowing how to use a pizza screen will probably go a long way towards preventing finger burns. Plus you'll end up with better tasting pizzas as a result!

Thankfully, there's no great mystery to using them, other than having a common sense approach:

• don't use if pizza dough is overly sticky - otherwise you're in a mess before you start
• lightly spray the screen with a spray-on oil, to encourage easier removal of the pizza post baking
• place the dough onto the screen - add the sauce and toppings
• simply pop into a pre-heated oven either straight to the rack or on top of a baking stone

And that's all there is to it. Simple, easy, no fuss. Enjoy your pizzas!