Pizza wheels

[hobbess]

Other than cutting pizzas, do they have any other function or use? I saw them at Bed Bath Beyond, and surely there's not that many people making their own pizzas at home.

They look cool and I'm tempted to buy one, but I need to first justify finding other purposes for it. :)

And, what's the best or your favorite pizza wheel?

[redips]

A lot of people have talked about scratching cookie sheets, etc... Not great pratice.
I know everyone has their own methods, yadada, but I never cut on anything but a cutting board and especially not on a cookie sheet, or a stone. Anything cooked on a sheet pan is on parchment paper which is then slid/transferred to a cooling wrack to cool or a cutting board to 'cut'. Pizza is taken off the stone by a peel or tongs and then slid/transferred to a cutting board to 'cut'.

[sunrider]

I think pizza wheels - even good ones - are cheap enough to be treated as essentially disposable. Cut them on the stone, cut them on plates, then throw them out and replace them once they dull after a few years. We're not talking about a $300 knife here!

[MOSFET]

Thats why I said buy the Dexter @$20 nice sharp blade and the blades can be replaced for about $7.50

[shallots]

I make our own pizzas. That's the only way I can control content (calories AND content). We have one pizza delivery service and it delivers a poor imitation of what pizza should be. (Also I like to be able to mimic the assortment of pizzas that places like California Pizza Kitchens offer.)

I store all my heavy usage kitchen spoons and ladels and that sort of thing on the wall in back of my cooktop. When I found a Pizza Wheel with a hook on the end, it was an easy decision to buy it and it lives up on the wall where it's easiest to find. (We made a pot lid holder that goes above it and a second lid holder that fits behind the spoons for less used lids.)

[hobbess]

If I had a choice between identical pizza wheels where the only difference was the size of the wheel, should I always choose the one with larger wheel?

[SanityRemoved]

Larger wheel will prevent toppings from hitting the center. More blade too.

[hill food]

call me the crank, but I find a pair of scissors work just as well if not better as the cutting pressure is coming from both sides of the object and doesn't scratch up the cookie sheet or get dull on the stone.

the wheel does look cool though. I had a beautiful and really vicious looking one once.

[Philly Ray]

They are also good for cutting quesadillas into triangles.

[lauraloo76]

Oh, I forgot that I also use my pizza cutter to cut tortillas and pitas to make baked chips.

[grnidkjun]

I have one like this.. probably not the same brand.. but the build is similar.. I love it.
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/rocki...

[jmcarthur8]

My pizza-eating son likes this Zyliss pizza wheel. He took it to college with him, so I use a big cleaver.

[ferret]

We have an institutional Dexter and the Zyliss, which offers a little better control.

[lauraloo76]

I also have this one and love it. It provides a lot of control and seems to cut easier since your hand is directly above the blade. It is easier to clean than any I've had before too, since the red part pops open and the blade comes out (no arm to try and clean under).

I can't say that I've used it for a whole lot other than pizza, but I do make quite a bit of homemade pizza. This is also the one recommended by Alton Brown and he uses it to cut quite a few things as some have suggested above (bar cookies, puff pastry, etc).

[jmcarthur8]

I didn't know the blade popped out! ;-)
I always grappled with it to be sure I got all the cheesiness off the blade. Wonder if my son knows that and never thought to tell me?!
And I agree, lauraloo, it has nice control with the force of your hand right above the blade.

[hobbess]

The Zyliss looks interesting because it takes up less space than other pizza wheels which can be a concern when you're already running out of space without adding another kitchen gadget, especially when that gadget might not get used all that much.

It seemed a little bit gimmicky, but if people feel it really does give good control then I'm going to look for it.

But, can that red cover cover the entire blade when its not in use. I'm afraid that I'll reach into a kitchen drawer, and cut myself with a pizza blade.

[lauraloo76]

The red cover does not cover the whole blade. But the whole blade does come out and I suppose can be stored separately if necessary. Of course, I am the biggest klutz and haven't had an issue with it being in the drawer.

[hobbess]

I'm looking at the Amazon reviews for the Zyliss, and more than one person metions how the plastic thing will break.

Anybody have that problem?

[lauraloo76]

We have had ours for a couple years, use about once every 1-2 weeks, and the plastic part is fine (along with everything else). Of course I'm only one person. :) I'll have to take a look at the reviews and see what the problem seems to be.

[jmcarthur8]

We've had ours for several years, and never had a problem. No cracks, nobody's sliced their hand open digging in the drawer. It's a pretty sturdy plastic.
It does give good control, and just feels heftier in the hand than a regular pizza wheel.

[flourgirl]

I have one of these too - it's a few years old and it's fine. It works well too.

But I also have one of these and I love it:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/produc...

It not only does an excellent job of cutting pizza and other flatbread but it's perfect for cutting things like bar cookies. It's quick, easy, efficient and I get perfect squares/rectangles etc. (I found mine for $3 at Marshall's, so I figured, what the heck, who cares if I already have a pizza wheel?)

[MOSFET]

Dexter makes the only pizza cutter worth anything. three quarters the Bed bath beyond gadgets are crap...

[Novelli]

yeah, but it's so fun to wander around and play with them! It's like Toys R' Us for adults! LOL
I can waste an entire afternoon in one of those places.

[Pumpkinseed]

As a general rule, I try to avoid single-purpose gadgets, but I'm very happy to own a pizza wheel. It really does work better than a knife for cutting pizza. It's also the ideal too to use when I make cheese straws.

[I used to know how to cook...]

Hi all,

Best tool I've found for cutting puff pastry, it doesn't compress the edge.

Also sheets of pasta for square ravioli.

Lucy

[rainey]

Absolutely!

Also, if you're making a lot of roll cookies, using a pizza cutter to cut them into simple squares, triangles or diamonds can speed things up tremendously. AND there's no waste dough to re-roll and be tougher.

Likewise, biscuits or scone dough can be cut in squares or patted into disks and cut into wedges for waste-free cutting.

[flourgirl]

I always cut my biscuits into squares for precisely this reason - no waste, and no re-rolled dough.

[ferret]

"surely there's not that many people making their own pizzas at home"

There are hundreds of millions of frozen pizzas sold in the US every year, so while people aren't necessarily "making" pizza at home, they're eating pizza at home.

[MrsT]

The sale of pizza dough at supermarkets such as A & P and ShoprRite, (not the Pilsbury dough either) and pizza stones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Williams-Sonoma make me think people making their own pizza at home is on the rise...no pun intended.

I can barely go one month without seeing a pizza recipe printed in a magazine or TV show.

I have a cheap OXO pizza wheel. It does the trick just fine. I use my cheap knife sharpener to keep sharp.

[BiscuitBoy]

Not really a mandatory tool...but I have one, wustof, I believe, and did buy it because I thought it was cool. Also handy to cut up brownies

[redips]

They are great for cutting items cooked on a sheet (granola/energy bars), kopytka, and homemade pasta (I don't have a pasta maker)

[hobbess]

So, if you're using to cut items cooked on a sheet, are you using non-stick pizza wheel for that or still using stainless steel pizza wheel?